I had to replace some of the LEDs on my VCI-100 after a couple of the blue ones stopped working for no apparent reason (both headphone cues, both syncs, sampler) and this got me thinking about replacing the stock green ones that are virtually impossible to see in daylight with a more visible alternative. I'm half way through the job and I thought I'd post about my experiences so far to help anyone considering doing the same thing.
I have no prior experience of soldering but I do have a good friend who happens to work in electronic engineering
Replacing the blue LEDs to start with was relatively straightforward, particularly with the help of this blog post and the arcade mod video tutorial. Having also done 2 firmware updates I now have a pretty intimate knowledge of the inside of my VCI! However, the blue LEDs are easier to replace since they are raised up off the front PCB by a small plastic spacer.
The green LEDs are flush to the board and since I do not have a solder sucker, getting the new LEDs (I'm using white ones) all the way through is quite difficult. I've destroyed a couple by pushing too hard when they've been warmed up by the soldering iron.
I started by replacing the top left 3 LEDs, those assigned to Juggle and Fader FX modes on the DJTT mapping. I had no problems with the first and second apart from difficulty getting the hang of heating both sides of the LED at the same time (one side has much better heat sinking so it's harder to melt the solder).
The first major problem I encountered was the 3rd LED, specifically the grounding connection (the left hand hole when viewed from the front). I replaced it no problem, but when i tested it there was no output. A bit of poking around with an Ohmmeter (resistance meter) showed that the ground was still connected to its nearest via hole (where the connection passes from one side of the board to the other) but not to the other grounds on the board, so something was broken somewhere! I decided to hijack the ground on the LED above with a short piece of thin insulated wire (I used one of the strands from the inside of a telephone wire) and after a lot of fiddling it eventually worked.
I then replaced the Loop Active LEDs with no further problems. Overall I'd say that I'm very pleased with the results, the buttons are now a lot brighter (I can take a few photos if anyone's interested), but it has taken a lot of time and has been very frustrating at times! I'm planning to do the LEDs in the transport section across the bottom next but I doubt I'll be doing every LED on the VCI.
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