Alright I have been researching this part for the better half of 3 years and figure it’s time to show off the fruits of my labor.
First I want to let you know that this is an aircraft part and each bargraph runs $1000. This is the retail price. I tried to find it cheaper believe me.
There is also a specialty socket which runs $100 extra so if you’re serious about one you’re laying down about $1200 after fees, shipping and taxes.
I decided to take a shot in the dark and purchase three of these along with another member of the board so here it is:
Lit full (the camera didn’t pick up the individual filaments well)
With socket
The other member and I are looking into getting it to scroll and install one in a gun within the next few weeks.
Please do not contact any companies unless you are serious about buying one and you have money up front. Do not mention ghostbusters or prop building. We all know what happened to the hat light company so I ask you to use this information responsibly.
It appears to have 30 filaments. If you drove the filaments in pairs that would give you 15 pairs, the same as the number of LEDs in a standard thower bargraph. Then, assuming 20mA was sufficient to light a pair of filaments, then in theory you could drive one of these displays without any major modification to the kit other than wiring up each pair of filaments in series.
It would be crazy to install one of these though. Incandescent displays surely have the same issue as incandescent bulbs… they would burn out at some point. And at a thousand bucks a pop, it wouldn’t be cheap to replace it.
for those with the $ and the time this could be neat but personally ill stick with the LED and side of a CD case.
sure its not perfect but neither is the rest of my pack, it is made with parts that were made by other members and or my self and not the official parts that were used in the 80s. but at the end of the day only a hand full of people would ever notice, and im not losing any sleep over it.
however its always cool to know what was used and how they did it.
WOW! I think it is safe to say that that is the most expensive piece on the entire pack and ironically one of the smallest. Either way, it is a great find guys and the community thanks you.
You know it was pretty shitty of you two to sit on this information for three years and only release it after someone else independently discovered it and was kind enough to share what they’d learned with the community. Worse still is that it appears you created a new thread specifically to distance yourselves from the other guy; seeing as you have made no mention of him, or linked to his post.
Personally, I don’t think we should be celebrating a couple of jokers who hoard info and only decide to release it when they’re afraid they aren’t going to get to take credit for it. The one who should get credit for the discovery is the guy who chose to publish the information first:
PS:
It appears this guy may also have beaten them to the punch on creating a circuit to drive the thing:
