I acquired this NAD 5425 CD player in absolutely perfect, cherry shape the other day. It works flawlessly except the light bulb that illuminates/back lights the segmented display is burned out. In googling this is apparently a common issue for this unit.
I used a high intensity flashlight as a substitute back light to confirm the display module is working properly I would prefer to fix this before trying to sell it online. Beyond the fine wires leading to the PC board my main concern is the value of the lamp. My multi-meter is in another location at this point, but even if I had all I could determine was the voltage, I wouldn’t be able to tell the wattage spec of the lamp. Is there any way to tell by the pic?
I’m sure that’s true, but if you can’t find a replacement bulb, it’s probably the best solution. That, and I have tens of thousands (literally) of LEDs in my parts bins…
I’ve done this sort of thing before, and one of my solutions to the narrower angle of the LED is to use a Dremel to flatten and roughen the lens of the LED.
So are there 12 -16 volt super bright LED assemblies out there or is this a roll your own deal by using a resistor? I ask because the leads on this wheat lamp are very, very thin and my soldering iron is a generic, cheap 25 watt Radio Shack model. I don’t want to nuke the board.
I didn’t use the ebay sale but it did spur me to search again for one on the web and I found one free via a manual exchange service. Now I need to upload one to pay them back.
Search for LEDs with integrated resistors for use in Automobile accent lighting - they’re all over ebay. Be careful - many of these may be too big for the space available.
If you want to cobble this together yourself, I think your 25w iron should be fine - just make the LED/resistor assembly and solder on some small, stranded wire, tin it, and then poke the wire into the holes in the PCB where the old lamp leads were. This is a single-sided PCB, so keep the iron on the pad for as short a time as possible. I clean the tip of my iron, and then in one motion, melt a little solder onto the tip, and transfer that to the pad - the residual solder on the pad will melt, along with the solder on the leads and the solder on the tip, and will make a nice joint, without overheating anything.
It may be worthwhile to try that. These lamps seems pretty prone to burnout. I wonder if they are being over driven or overheated by being enclosed in that little white hood I removed.
Odd then, that that would be the choice for a supposedly premium piece of audio gear. They should have made it with clips for replacement. It’s soldered in there as permanent piece of the equipment.
