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Old 02-02-2012, 04:21 PM
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dewdude dewdude is offline
i <3 my Denon
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Manassas, VA
Posts: 113
I don't work on VFDs that often, because Gottleib was the only pinball company that used them. Their system1 and system80 games used a seven-segment VFD with 6 digits (possibly seven). These things often start going dim, and we found if left on for a few hours...it brightens up. One tech suggested applying a tiny bit of voltage higher than the normal filament voltage...just enough the glow redish-orange. A few seconds of this usually livens these VFDs up if they haven't gassed. I don't know why exactly this works when so many other VFDs start going dead and never work again.

However, I love a good VFD to a point. My EQ has a nice bluish spectrum analyzer bar display on it. After 30 years it still looks outstanding. No dimming...no issues. I get what looks like ghosting...like if one bar is maxed out...ill see a faint glow from another bar...its either some kind of weird reflection or something because I've done everything but look at the voltages driving the VFD with a scope. My Onkyo cassette deck has a VFD on it that was causing a harmonicy buzzing when it was turned on..when I changed the belt and took the cassette transport out it stopped doing that.

But, yeah, I've always liked the physical look of a good vfd meter...seems faster and sharper than most LED implmentations.

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Audio: SMSL M8 -> Little Bear P5 -> Sansui SE8 -> Yaqin MS-12B -> Denon PMA-770 -> Ohm Model L | Ham: NQ4T - IC-7300
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