back to problems with meter quality

dim display:




I REALLY liked the looks of the green voltmeters on the panel combiner boxes. When I built the second pair, I
was a bit disappointed by the visibility of the red, and wished I had used more green. (but I had ran out) So
when it came time to build my third pair, I made sure to order more green meters. I did a quick test of the
meters before building the third pair, and although I noticed they seemed to have a flicker and not be quite
as bright as I had remembered, I didn't give it much thought. Big mistake. The new green meters flicker
noticeably, and are considerably dimmer than the old green OR the red. Replacing these meters is quite a big
headache, and I had considered replacing the red, but these green just look terrible. I suppose I'll make my
final decision when I get them out in the sun, but I'm expecting them to be completely invisible even with the
smoked plexi covers. (spoiler: I had to replace them, and no, it was not fun to do)

I decided to do a side-by-side comparison to compare them, and the difference is pretty obvious. I measured
the current draw for the meters too, expecting the new green ones to be drawing a lot less power. Surprise!
The new dim green and the red both draw 10mA, and the really good looking bright green draw 7mA. Quick
note for those not paying much attention to the schematics... you can't attach a single power supply to adjacent
meters, since one meter's (+) is tied directly to it's neighbor's (-). Fortunately my power supply was set
to limit current to 1 amp and it said NOPE when I plugged in the second port. So now I'm testing with
ports that have a meter between them and it's all good. Be careful with your meters though, replacing one
that gets burned out would be a pain.

Lesson learned: test your components before assembly - not just for function, but make sure they don't have
any serious usability / visual issues that will be regretted later.



1 dim light:


2 bright light:



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