Results

The results are pretty damn nice by me. No more of that ugly, not so elite, orange glow from your Digi-Doc. You will have a nice subtle blue glow now coming from the front of your Digi-Doc. Here, take a look.

Initial Power Up

Look How pretty.

Why does Initial Power Up look like it isn't that bright? I did the initial power up using a crappy 250w power supply that was probably 5 years old. After I installed the Digi-Doc into my main system to record temperatures, I noticed that I could now see it clearly and the blue LED's were looking damn sweet.

Troubleshooting

How come I don't see the blue LED's when I apply power to the Digi-Doc?

Did you plug in the power to the Digi-Doc correctly? Make sure you have plugged in the Digi-Doc using the correct power connector. Do you have you Digi-Doc setup to only turn the LED's on when you use it? To setup the Digi-Doc to use the LED's, press the "Set" button. Once in the setup mode, press the "Scan" button. Let the Digi-Doc now set itself, don't push any other buttons. There should be some blue now. No blue? Reset your Digi-Doc according to the instructions you received with it. Still no blue? Double check your LED solder points. If they are good, make sure you haven't soldered the LED's on backwards. The clear part should be facing the LCD. Everything look good? Turn it back on. Still no blue? Check the voltage at the molex you have plugged into. If you still don't have blue, but you have the LCD text, then you may have cooked your LED's.

How come the LED's aren't bright?

More then likely your power supply is lacking the juice to fully power the Digi-Doc. Is your Digi-Doc beeping at you because your voltages are low? If so, try a better power supply. You really shouldn't have this problem, unless of course you used a horrible power supply like I did for the first power up to test the Digi-Doc.

I see the blue, but I don't see any LCD text

2 things here. One, you didn't tighten the bottom PCB that contains the LCD good enough to the Digi-Doc front face plate. Make sure you have it nice and snug. If this isn't the problem, then the only other thing I could think of would be the simple fact that you either fried the Digi-Doc or the LCD during your mod. There might also be that possibility that your power supply isn't supplying enough juice.

Conclusion

Overall, this is a very easy mod to do just as long as you are careful. You will be soldering around some very small electrical components that you do not want to damage. If you aren't a seasoned veteran or maybe have only soldered a few times on larger connections. Find that one thing in the house that is small, electrical, and broken (break it if it isn't broken then), then practice on that first.

Who should do this mod? EVERYONE OF YOU !!! If you own the Digi-Doc or are planning on purchasing the Digi-Doc, then you will need to do this.

Well this concludes this mini how-to for changing out the LED's to blue ones in the Digital Doctor 5 by MacPower. I would like to thank KD Computers for sending me the Digi-Doc 5, and for having some patience while I waited for the LED's to arrive. The LED's I used for this article were supplied to me from LEDTronics, INC. They have LED's for everything you could ever imagine. If you have any questions, comments, and/or concerns, please feel free to E-mail me or go to our forums for more info on this article. Thank you.

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