HI All:

Now that I have my tuner, I finally installed my empeg in my 98 BMW M3 complete with matching red lense to match the "BMW orange" dash lighting color. (The match is perfect).

Unfortunately the red lense seriously reduces the effective brightness of the display, pretty much making the display useless during the day.

After going through the BBS archives, I decided to give the original blue non-AR lense a try, and the difference is amazing. I can see the display under all lighting conditions (inlcuding direct sunlight). I have attached a picture to illustrate the difference in display birghtness depending on which lense is being used.

My guess is that the performance of the blue lense is superior because the VFD has a lot of blue/green color in it (and very little "white" light.) Can anyone confirm/deny this?

I'd really like to use the red lense to match my interior lighting, but my empeg is pretty much unusable with it in place. Can anymore offer some alternatives and additonal information? The blue matches *nothing* in my car.

Thank you!

-Ed
12GB MkII Blue/Red/Yellow lenses, tuner
98 M3/4

Good picture.

It's well-known that the red lens is the least readable of the options, and that the blue and green lenses are the most readable. It's just a question of frequencies. You're absolutely correct about the blue lens working best because of the color of the VFD itself. This has been specifically discussed before.

You're welcome to try different colors of gels and see what you can come up with on your own. If you can come up with something, there are some folks here on the BBS who have access to machines which can custom-mill plexiglass sheets. If you can find a particular combination of colors that works well, you might be able to talk them into milling some faceplates for you.

Another option would be to use a clear piece of plexiglass to which you attach a piece of acetate that's been printed on an inkjet printer. There are some folks on the BBS who have done this sort of thing. They make acetate that's designed to be printed in inkjet printers and then used on an overhead projector for boardroom presentations. You could experiment with different colors on your inkjet printer and see how they come out.

Remember that with any hand-made faceplate option, you're giving up FCC compliance as the back side of the faceplate has been treated with a electrically-conductive coating to block RF emissions. A home-made faceplate won't have this coating.

___________
Tony Fabris

Wow! That a quick and helpful response. Great idea about the inkjet/acetate option. Thank you.

Aside from FCC compliance, will the lack of an RF coating affect anything I should worry about?

If anyone on the BBS knows of a place/person I could obtain a clear plexiglass face, I'd appreciate it.

Awesome BBS!

-Ed

There was someone in the US making them and selling them. Can't remember all the details now, but if you have a bit of a search around you should be able to find something, or maybe one of his happy customers can help you out with more details

(list 6284, Mk1 S/N 00299 4GB blue [for sale]. Mk2 S/N 080000094 6GB blue)

Talk to DarkStorm; while this linked posting doesn't mention the clear or smoke variants, he does have them too.

/Michael

Aside from FCC compliance, will the lack of an RF coating affect anything I should worry about?

If it's anything like the PC's I would tear apart in my dad's house, it may affect police-scanner reception, etc., when its in the house. (it MAY even be noticeable to a police office if you were pulled over and his car was close enough, AND the RF emissions happened to be in the band his radio needed).

I know when I lived at home (way back when), if I turned on my computer, my dad would have to "lock out" a particular channel from his scanner because it would consistently hit and then play funky static. When I replaced the computer with another "built from scratch and with no FCC compliance", he still had the problem but on a DIFFERENT frequency.

So that MIGHT be an issue here as well, but also, probably nothing to worry about.

D