This Heathkit mod might make you red in the face...

janikphoto

Lunatic Member
I started to replace the bulbs in the Heathkit AA-11 and AJ-41 I recently picked up. All the bulbs except for one were blown, the units need new caps, some of the knobs could use some de-oxit and I'm missing the case covers for the tops... but, they are running!

Well, I thought about replacing the bulbs with LED's. I liked the green glow of this set-up I made, but I didn't like the output... they were just too dim for the face. I went to Radio Shack and bought some big, bright whites, but they only had two left. I tested them in the unit, and they looked very similar to the one working bulb... but, I couldn't wait to get the six more LED's needed. I used some spare NOS vintage bulbs I had in the workshop. They don't run as cool or as energy efficient as the LED's, but they do look right and original. Here's a picture of the green bulbs, doubled up to be brighter, but it still wasn't enough.

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Then I noticed the meters on the tuner don't light up. This was one place I didn't mind doing a little mod. The tuner light comes on red, so I decided to match it by adding a red LED to each meter. It'll be easy enough to remove, but I like it! What do you think? Now I've got a little more red in the face. Much sexier at night with the lights off!

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I've used series Christmas tree bulbs for replacements whenI didn't have the right one,,, worked well in a SSHeathkit, RtoR, and a Fisher receiver... They are small, bright and different colors...
Regards,

John
 
And let us not forget that red light will not affect our night vision! That is why it is used in the cockpit of aircraft.

(Just couldn't resist ... the devil made me do it ;))

But it looks nice. Purists may pooh-pooh the idea but hey, it is yours ... do what you like with it. And, enjoy.

Cheers Mate!
 
Actually, I think that all red would be nice on that tuner; the incandescent bulbs in it always struck me as a bit harsh.
 
sorry janik, my mistake. didnt mean any offense.

No offense. I just wasn't sure where I should look for this wiring. I checked over the whole unit when I first got it, and I didn't see any design flaws... unless, you are referencing the red and yellow wires in the picture above?!? That was not even installed. It was just sitting on the unit to see how the green LED's would look, but they didn't put out the massive amounts of light the conventional bulbs did. I scrapped the green LED idea.
 
Out of all the vintage audio I've owned over the last 50 years, I think these lighted Heath's are coolest looking of them all. Seeing these lit up at night with some good FM on is as good as it gets.
 
aH. SO YOU DIDN'T USE THE GREEN LEDS WITH THE YELLOW WIRING.

No, that was just a picture taken while I was building and testing them... but, they just don't put out the amount of light needed. They looked pleasant in the dark, but these original Heathkits glow like the Vegas strip! It needed more than the green LED's could give, so I didn't install them. In my text, I mentioned that I used some NOS bulbs and just added the red LED's to the meters.
 
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