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Commander HF 2500 meter bulbs

 


Hello,?
I have a Commander HF 2500. Have not had it to long. When I got it, only 1 of the 4 meter bulbs was working. After about 3 month, the bulb went dark.?
I believe there is a 12V 1A regulator that
supplies the meter bulbs and the relay. I read the pulls are Festoon type and need to be no more the 0.08A each so to not exceed max current and cause the relay to no key. I finally got in there and they are not the fuse looking type bulbs. They are little bulbs with with short leads soldered to the meter board.?
?
i finally got in there because I had another Issue with the standby switch. I think the standby switch was intermittent and a relay was not keying sometimes. I started noticing the problem when I would first turn on the amplifier after the short warm-up., I placed the standby switch into operate and the amp would not key. At first, I thought this issue may have been the regulator or something else, but I started to notice the symptoms would often happen after using the standby switch. I originally planned to bypass the switch and see if the problem went away and then I could replace the standby rocker switch. But when I got in there, I noticed there was another set of poles that were vacant and likely never used so I decided to utilize it those and see how things went. I cleaned all of the contacts and the plugs on the wire wires with deoxIt, And then plugged the wires onto the never used terminals on the other pole. So far it’s been great for the past 24 hours. I’ll give it some time, but if the problem comes back, then I’ll try bypassing it and if the problem still persist during bypass, I’ll look to see other possible causes but so far things are good and my fingers are crossed.?

after messing around with the standby switch, I pulled the metering board out and surprise, it was not the fuse type bulbs. These bulbs had short leads soldered to the meter board.
?
does anyone have a recommended replacement bulb suggestion? They likely need to be 12VDC at 0.08A. I should’ve used my caliber to measure the size so I’m not sure what size and what type of bulb or where I can source replacements. Any help would Be very appreciated!?

kG2RG
?
 

On all the HF2500 amps I buy or repair for customers I install strip LEDs above the meters. ?I don’t want to mess again taking the amp apart for meter bulbs. ?The originals are fuse type bulbs. ?Obviously someone changed the originals for these. ?I suggest the LED strip above the meters. ?The amp 12v??is rated 1 amp. ?There’s nowhere near one amp drawn some 100ma of LED strip is no problem.




On Friday, April 11, 2025, 7:33 AM, KG2RG via groups.io <justinandyazny@...> wrote:


Hello,?
I have a Commander HF 2500. Have not had it to long. When I got it, only 1 of the 4 meter bulbs was working. After about 3 month, the bulb went dark.?
I believe there is a 12V 1A regulator that
supplies the meter bulbs and the relay. I read the pulls are Festoon type and need to be no more the 0.08A each so to not exceed max current and cause the relay to no key. I finally got in there and they are not the fuse looking type bulbs. They are little bulbs with with short leads soldered to the meter board.?
?
i finally got in there because I had another Issue with the standby switch. I think the standby switch was intermittent and a relay was not keying sometimes. I started noticing the problem when I would first turn on the amplifier after the short warm-up., I placed the standby switch into operate and the amp would not key. At first, I thought this issue may have been the regulator or something else, but I started to notice the symptoms would often happen after using the standby switch. I originally planned to bypass the switch and see if the problem went away and then I could replace the standby rocker switch. But when I got in there, I noticed there was another set of poles that were vacant and likely never used so I decided to utilize it those and see how things went. I cleaned all of the contacts and the plugs on the wire wires with deoxIt, And then plugged the wires onto the never used terminals on the other pole. So far it’s been great for the past 24 hours. I’ll give it some time, but if the problem comes back, then I’ll try bypassing it and if the problem still persist during bypass, I’ll look to see other possible causes but so far things are good and my fingers are crossed.?

after messing around with the standby switch, I pulled the metering board out and surprise, it was not the fuse type bulbs. These bulbs had short leads soldered to the meter board.
?
does anyone have a recommended replacement bulb suggestion? They likely need to be 12VDC at 0.08A. I should’ve used my caliber to measure the size so I’m not sure what size and what type of bulb or where I can source replacements. Any help would Be very appreciated!?

kG2RG
?
 

Thanks Lou!?
placing lamps above the meter is where they should have been. I don’t mind the extra work taking things apart and spending time doing a job. I love working on projects with the Collins R-388 playing oldies and it’s just a FB way to was some time. But to do all this work just to chance bulbs is nuts.?

Maybe I can run some short leads from the meter board where the currently build are soldered in now. Have those leads nearly route up to the top of the meters and maybe to a bulb housing mounted somehow to the top of the meters to easily pop out bad bulbs and pop in new ones.?

is the top of those meters transparent enough to pass a sufficient ?amount of light??

where would I be able to buy 12V .8A LED strips and mount housing.?
would you recommend a capacitor across the terminals for RF protection, and if so, what type and value.?

thanks!
 

I use strip LEDs fully across the top of the 2 meters. ?No problem with RF. ?Run the wire to the 12v rail on the meter board and ground.




On Friday, April 11, 2025, 11:42 AM, KG2RG via groups.io <justinandyazny@...> wrote:

Thanks Lou!?
placing lamps above the meter is where they should have been. I don’t mind the extra work taking things apart and spending time doing a job. I love working on projects with the Collins R-388 playing oldies and it’s just a FB way to was some time. But to do all this work just to chance bulbs is nuts.?

Maybe I can run some short leads from the meter board where the currently build are soldered in now. Have those leads nearly route up to the top of the meters and maybe to a bulb housing mounted somehow to the top of the meters to easily pop out bad bulbs and pop in new ones.?

is the top of those meters transparent enough to pass a sufficient ?amount of light??

where would I be able to buy 12V .8A LED strips and mount housing.?
would you recommend a capacitor across the terminals for RF protection, and if so, what type and value.?

thanks!
 

On my SB-220, I have a standby switch and I have the plate meter lamp turned off in standby and turns back on in operate.?

I wonder if there is a ways to put 2 sets of strips, 1 green and one red. Have it wired so only red is on when in standby and only green when in operate.?

or if there is suck a thing where a single strip can switch from red or green.?

the standby switch has 2 poles with only one pole in use. Wish it was 3 poles. I’ll need to think about this. Would be kind of cool. Or maybe I will just keep is simple with full time on and white.?

I can get carried away, start thinking how I can turn the meters into lava lamps when in standby hi hi.?
 

I think I want to mount an ?LED strip right across the top of the meters and wire it to the 12V rail on the meter board and ground.?
But what I really would like to do is run 2 LED strips, 1 red and 1 green. I would like to have only red lit when in standby and only green when in operate.?
There is that extra pole not used on the standby switch. Wish it was a 3 pole switch to have 2 free poles.?
But I see 3 terminals on that unused pole, I think it may be a double through? If it is, maybe I ban have both LED strips share a neg on the center terminal. 12V on the top terminal to one strip and 12v to the bottom pole to the other strip.?
I just need to confirm that the middle and bottom terminals make the short in the operate position while top and middle are open. And that top and middle terminals become short while bottom and middle open in the standby position.?
If they do, then I could wire the top and bottom terminals to the 12V bar on meter board and the center terminal to ground.?
Would there be a problem in that??
That would be crazy cool!! Meters turn red in standby and green in operate.

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