Originally posted by Wrenchbender Ret.:
I,ve always liked those radio,s for old cars & trucks. They are easy to install without butchering the dash. I bought the last one available from one of the big electronic stores. It was the display model but they sold it for half price. I pick them up at swap meets for between $5 & $20.00. They usually work but the last one I just put in the display doesn,t light up.
If the radio works, but the display won't come on, that's a pretty easy fix, my man.
Those old digital display 'knob job' radios just used a little 1.5V light bulb to backlight the digital display, and once you get the old bulb out, you can get a close enough replacement from your local neighborhood Radio Shack store.
The newer radios, with much higher resolution displays need more light, so they use what is basically a little baby flourecent bulb.. a much bigger pain in the *** to source parts for, especially when your only real parts resource is an MCM catalog or Radio Shack.
But the old digital display 'knob job' radio backlights are cake to fix if you're handy with a soldiering iron and a screwdriver.
The other common reason those radios die is because some idiot kid thought he was an electronics expert and hooked 'em up to power backwards.. which pops a diode in the back of the radio designed as a 'safety' for the rest of the circuit.. kind of like a fuse.. they're easy to identify.. just look for the black scorch mark on the circuit board in the general area where the power wires go in the back of the radio.
Jumper the scorch with a chunk of resistor leg, and away you go.. just don't hook the radio up backwards!
