The Sinclair QL Forum

One of my case LEDs has gone short circuit (mdv1). I'd be grateful if someone could tell me whether they're supposed to pull out or if they're glued in (and if they are glued then what the preferred method of replacement is).

The LEDs appear to have a square base. Does anyone know of a UK supplier of them? All the ones in my component boxes are the usual round base.

Alan

They are common online. I changed mine to white ones ages ok, I think it was pretty easy. It must of been because I managed it

Thanks for that. Given that you mentioned the ease I assumed a push-fit and successfully removed it (in bits). I noted that the parts list didn't give the voltage. However, a voltmeter across the mdv2 led during formatting showed 1.6V so that seems to answer that.

Alan

I have plenty of spare QL LEDs complete with wires (pulled from old cases) - drop me a line if you need one.

Thanks. Useful to know. I'll be having a delivery from Farnell tomorrow so I'll see how those LEDs perform. It's not uncommon for LED brightness to change with age so I may end up having to replace the MDV2 LED to match. The wires would be a slightly retrograde step as I took the opportunity to replace the LED connector block with a molex one.

Alan

As a final update, the 2V LEDs arrived from Farnell, performed well and were the right size for the case slot. However, they were not gripped in position by the case protuberances. I solved that by reaching for my tube of Dow Corning 3140 RTV silicone preparation (RTV = room temperature vulcanizing) and applied a drop at either side of the LED. Many electronics enthusiasts will have such a thing to hand - it's the rubbery stuff commonly used for preventing movement of both components and wires attached to PCBs. It is, in effect, a weak adhesive which can be pretty easily be removed if required. It takes a day to fully cure. One warning, don't use just any old RTV silicone as a lot of it is corrosive. DC 3140 is non-corrosive. It's also very expensive at £25 per tube so is unlikely to be the goto of choice for infrequent users.

Alan

I think I'd reach for the hot glue gun

vanpeebles wrote:I think I'd reach for the hot glue gun

Or blu tack