Topic: Modifying a Beseler 23C for 4x5

[original_ann]

I'm impressed by this!

http://www.deadbread.com/crumbs/23c.html

[Francois]

That's a pretty neat conversion.

All he really needed were green and blue LED's and a variable resistor. That would have made him a VC head like the cold cathode models...

[LT]

Thanks for the link Ann - it looks brilliant. I quite fancy doing something similar for my Devere 504.

Francois - do you think this is something a novice at wiring/ electronics could put together?  I have a housing i could use from a devere cold cathode head - this is not suitable for MG papers, and since I cant be ersed with using fixed grade papers, it sits unused.  Maybe I could adapt with blue and green LEDs and some way of controlling the ratios of each? ... an interesting thought.  It would certainly help me out - having to clean the condensor lenses each time I use my Varicon head is getting to be a real drag.

Do LEDs light up instantly, or is there lag and variability of brightness like with cold cathode?

[LT]

reading through the link page - it looks like making a variable LED head required a lot more effort all round than a simple white light and VC filters version.  AS I already use VC filters below the lens, I think I'd be perfectly happy with a white light version.

so ... watch this space.  When I've a bit of time to myself (probably next summer), I'm going to give this a go!

[Francois]

It really shouldn't be really very complicated to build.
Bring the positive power from the tranny to the center pole of the potentiometer and use the external poles to distribute the power to the LED strips.

What's fun with LED technology is that the newer LED's are getting more and more powerful. I have a flashlight equipped with a miniature 6 watt diode which can project a good beam all across the yard using only 4 batteries (6 volts)... That's about 100 feet away. They even say not to look directly into the light to avoid eye damage!

[LT]

Now Now Francois - this is a family based forum.  That's enough of your talk of Trannies and their centre poles.

[Francois]

Oops... 

[original_ann]

Haha, you two!

Leon, how great if you could parlay this hack into a DeVere hack!  Keep us posted!

Francois, I suspected you'd understand this very well.  To me, I can read it like a recipe and almost follow (I'd love to consider...) but I got lost when he started talking about finagling the power connections to ensure no power lag on start up or residual release on power off.  I'd need more intermediary steps, but all the same I'm very impressed!

[moominsean]

looking at that site makes my brain hurt.

[Francois]

looking at that site makes my brain hurt.

Well, this is actually a very good sign Sean
It can only mean one thing