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Mit freundlicher Genehmigung von Chiumanfu (ion.chiumanfu.com).
Um zu schauen welche Version ihr vom T-Board habt schaut hier.
The stock T-Board indicator light is quite hard to see. It consists of a dual colour Red/Green LED and a single Blue LED. They don't really blend at all and you have to memorize various colour combinations for the different settings and modes. It is made worse by the fact that the LED are hiding behind the red translucent power button sticker.
This mod replaces the two LEDs with a single RGB LED which you can move to the back of the frame or anywhere else you'd like. It is a super bright LED which is quite viewable in day light.
The parts for this mod consists of:
1 x RGB common anode LED
3 x 220 ohm 1/8W leaded resistors
1 x 0 ohm 0603 SMT resistor
This is a connection line diagram:
Here's a short verbal description:
Remove D3
Remove D2
Solder the common anode lead to the top pad of D3
Solder the red cathode lead through a 220 ohm resistor to the middle pad of D3
Solder the green cathode lead through a 220 ohm resistor to the bottom pad of D3
Solder the blue cathode lead through a 220 ohm resistor to the bottom pad of D2
Flip the board over and short out R1 with a 0 ohm 0805 SMT resistor
Let's start out by laying out all the materials needed
1 x Tri-color RGB LED Common Anode (PN = Ledtronics L200CWRGB1KN-1A-IL)
3 x 220 ohm 1/8W leaded resistors (PN = Xicon 299-220)
1 x 0 ohm 0805 SMT resistor (PN = Koa RK73Z2ALTD)
4 feet Black Wire 28AWG (PN = Belden 8597 010)
4 feet Red Wire 28AWG (PN = Belden 8597 002)
6 inches Heatshrink 1/16" (PN = Alpha FIT-221B-1/16 BK)
The T-Board comes with the option to connect a membrane pad. I highly suggest you take advantage of Damon's thoughfulness and use it. Start by measuring out the position for the membrane pad. If you haven't already done so, do not stick it on yet! Make sure to put it high enough on the back of the grip so the connector is straight and lined up with the bottom of the battery compartment. Mark it's position with a pencil.
Measure out and mark the center line for the LED. Mark off a horizontal cross line about 10mm up from the membrane pad mark. This mark can actually be anywhere along the frame just make sure it is atleast 8mm above the membrane pad mark and on the flat part of the back of the frame.
Use a center punch to give the drill bit something to grab onto. This is important to ensure that the drill bit does not wander.
Clamp the frame in a vise using a folded paper towel to protect the frame from teeth marks. Make sure to clamp the frame by the lower handle only. If you clamp the frame on the upper section, you could easily squish the sides of the trigger frame together and the board will no longer fit. Drill a small pilot hole for the LED cross-hash. Use a 5mm drill bit. For you yanks and your wacky imperial system use a 3/16" drill bit and enlarge the hole slightly with a circular file. Take your time when drilling and make sure to line it up perfectly with your center punch.
Use a standard 82* countersink bit to finish the hole. Again, make sure to line it up on both x and y axis before lowering the bit. Remember to remove any flashing on the inside of the frame with a small file.
Here's the modded frame. Paint the countersink to match your frames colour.
Now you have to break out your soldering equipment. I can't stress enough that the T-Board uses very small surface mount components. Although the board itself is much better quality than the stock ion board, you can still lift the pads and destroy the board if you apply too much heat. A fine tiped iron is a must and a temperature control unit will help. A soldering gun will NOT work! A coldheat soldering iron will NOT work! You should have some water soluble flux and some solder wick to do a proper job. I highly suggest only attempting this if you have previous SMT soldering experience and the proper equipment. If you a soldering newbie and absolutely must attempt this, practice on an old cell phone board or an old graphics card or any other techno scrap you may have lying around. Try removing components and then putting them back on.
Desoldering SMT components is easier if you add a blob of solder to each side of the component. Then with the soldering iron, quickly bounce back and forth between the blobs like you're stick handling a hockey puck. Eventually, both blobs will be melted at the same time and the part will slide right off. Do not pry up the part with the tip! Do not leave the heat on one pad for too long! Make sure your tip is clean and tinned.
The first thing we want to do is replace R1 with a zero ohm 0805 resistor. Remove the old 220ohm using the hockey puck technique described above and clean off the old solder.
Position the zero ohm 0805 resistor in place then solder both leads. Remember to clean off any flux with a QTip.
Flip the board over and remove the Red/Green LED. It is labelled D3 on the PCB. Removing this component is a little tricky because it has three leads. I suggest adding a blob of solder to all three leads then lying the soldering iron tip across the back of the LED. Your trying to contact and melt all three at the same time, then it will slide off the board. Take your time and resist the urge to pry the part up with the iron tip.
When the LED slides off, make note of how it came out. There is a strip on the back side that shows the proper orientation. Write this info down just incase you want to put it back in for some reason. Clean off the old solder with some solder wick then add a touch of fresh solder.
Next, remove the blue LED. It's labelled D2 on the PCB. Use the hockey puck technique and remember to note the orientation.
Now that all the components are removed, we can start connecting the wires. Strip and tin a 1 foot length of red wire (we'll trim it down later). Solder it to the small middle pad of D3. Make sure that there is no solder bridges to any other pads. ???Tie the wire to the sail hose to provide a strain relief.
Strip and tin another 1 foot length of red wire. Solder it to the lower pad of D3. Again, make sure that there is no solder bridges to any other pads. ???Feed the wire through the lower hole in the trigger swtich to provide a strain relief (not shown in image).
Strip and tin a 1 foot length of black wire. Solder it to the upper pad of D3. Again, make sure that there is no solder bridges to any other pads. ???Feed the wire through the same lower hole in the trigger switch to provide a strain relief.
Strip and tin another 1 foot length of black wire. Solder it to the lower pad of D2. ???Route the wires up through the hose cutout and tie them each to the hose to provide a strain relief. The upper pad of D2 will always remain empty.
Clean the board throughly with isopropanol alcohol and q-tips. Remember, flux is conductive and you have to get it all out of there or your board will do funny things (or not work at all). Let the board sit for a couple hours (or blow it out with compressed air) so any residual alcohol can exaporate.
Here is the modded board with all the wires in place. ???I brought the wires down in the groove on the side of the capacitor. They have to stay in the capacitor groove or the board won't side in to the frame properly. This layout works very well and is very robust. All the wires have a strain relief and nothing binds when sliding the board into the trigger frame.
Trim all the wires except for the black wire connected to the top pad of D3. We will trim this one later. Make the three wires long enough so that they extend ???1 inch??? past the bottom of the board. Keep the trimmed ends... you'll use them later. Remember, do not trim the black wire attached to the top pad of D3 yet!
Strip and tin the ends of the three wires. Trim the leads of the 220ohm resistors to the length shown. Put a ???5cm??? length of heatshrink tube over each of the wires and slide them up and out of the way.
Trim the leads of the 220ohm resistors to the length shown. Solder the resistors to the three leads. You don't need to worry about polarity, they can go in either way.
Using the excess wires, make two ???10cm??? red jumper wires and one ???10cm??? black jumper wire. Strip and tin both ends then solder all three jumper wires to the resistors. Make sure the wire color didn't change on each side of the resistor. Put a ???1cm??? length of heatshrink tube over each of the jumper wires and slide them up out of the way.
Now we'll trim the black wire attached to the upper pad of D3. Match the length of the black wire to the length of the other wires with reistors and jumper wires attached. Cut off the excess and slide a 1cm length of heatshrink over it. Strip and tin the end.
Solder the end of the black wire coming from the upper pad of D3 to the LED lead closest to the flat spot.
Solder the end of the red jumper wire coming from the middle pad of D3 to the next LED lead.
Solder the end of the black jumper wire coming from the bottom pad of D2 to the next LED lead.
And finally, solder the end of the red jumper wire coming from the bottom pad of D3 to the next LED lead... the one furthest from the flat spot.
Now might be a good time to test it. Attach a battery and push the power button while holding the trigger down. Cycle through the firing modes. Make sure the board behaves as usual. Make sure all three colours are working in the LED.
Move the heatshrink tubing over the resistors and over the solder joints on the LED. Shrink the tubing with a heatgun or a lighter. Be careful if using a lighter. You do not have to put the heatshrink into the flame, just close to it. Do not melt the plastic case of the LED.
Looking from the front you can see the wires are all positioned out of the way for when the board slides into the slots on the trigger frame.
Plug the LED into the hole. It should fit just tight enough so that it stays in the hole but not so tight that you can't get it out when you have to remove the board. Lay the wires neatly in the bottom of the battery compartment.
Install the battery. If you did a proper job, there should be lots of room for the battery. Make sure the grips are not pinching any wires before you tighten the screws down.
Here's the simplified line drawing of all the connections.
Here's a vid of me switching through fire modes:
Download
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