Can the LED be dimmed? if so, could someone please post the steps required? I've done some checking, and am not having any luck finding the answers I need.
Thanks!
Thanks!
How to dim the LED?
- Thread starter BigJimbo
- Start date
- Status
mikey60
Member
PHOENIX_SCANNER
Member
Another cheat is to make the duration of the "on" cycle much shorter, so your eye doesn't see as much light. It works for me. I use a VERY short flash time and find it to be less intrusive.
InDICa
Member
You can try Win500 software and get just about any color or dim the color down,very easy with the software,good luck!
Mike won't blow his own horn here, but the PSREdit software package makes it very easy to dim the LED's. I usually keep mine at his setting for 1/4 strength.
73/Allen (N4JRI)
btritch
Member
How do you dim the LED's on the PSR 500 using Win 500 software?
Everything I changed of moved just changed the colors...not the brightness
Everything I changed of moved just changed the colors...not the brightness
Click on the color in the general settings tab you will see the windows color selector
ok lets use red - bright red is R:255 G:0 B:0
so in order to dim the led in half you would have R:127 G:0 B:0
someone correct me if i am wrong
ok lets use red - bright red is R:255 G:0 B:0
so in order to dim the led in half you would have R:127 G:0 B:0
someone correct me if i am wrong
btritch
Member
so the R setting on the colors is the dim setting, Got it..
PSREDIT is easier definately, but
No R is Red G is green and B is blue the Radio uses RGB Values to set the LED color,
Red was an example
in Win500 click on the colored square you want to change
then see the attached pic
No R is Red G is green and B is blue the Radio uses RGB Values to set the LED color,
Red was an example
in Win500 click on the colored square you want to change
then see the attached pic
Last edited:
btritch
Member
that adjusts the brightness, I thought that was the color..
Rgb
You have to understand that in electronics the three primary colors are (R)ed, (G)reen, and (B)lue hence why you see the older (but still used) "RGB" analog monitor ports on the back of your PC's.
Now, in the 500/600's the LED indicator at the top of the scanner is actually composed of the three primary colored LED sources (I am not sure if it is one tri-color LED or three separate LED's - someone, probably DonS, will fill this in for me).
So, in the software, you can alter the intensity of any of those three primary colors to get many different colors AND intensities of colors.
BUT - you have to be aware of a few things like:
1) There are normal factory variations in the LED's so the actual appearance of the light may vary from unit to unit.
2) Usage of the LED's over time will likely alter their characteristics so you may have to re-adjust in future.
3) It will probably look different outside in direct sunlight vs. inside under artificial lighting.
Also, you should know that the colors depicted in the WIN500 software (I can't speak about the PSREdit SW as I haven't tried that yet) the colored boxes depicted next to the RGB settings depict an IDEAL and do not reflect the actual color and intensity of the LED lighting you may get from your unit (though it may seem close or dead on even, at least initially).
And be aware that there is no clear LED - the "white" setting is made by combining the R, G, and B at maximum levels (FF which is HEX for 255 or the maximum setting) so you get R and G and B all set to 255 or Hex FF all combined to, ideally, appear as "clear white" light.
But there may be variations, as I said, not only due to normal factory variations but also due to aging and to the overall non-linearity of LED's.
Ideally, if all you want to do is lessen the intensity of the default colors without changing the color itself then, ideally, all you need to do is lower each of the levels by exactly the same amount. Ideally. The problem is, you may not get exactly what you intended and may have to play with the levels of each color a bit before you get the intended appearance. Hence the up/down slider controls next to each color intensity setting in WIN500. You will, likely have to "fine tune" the settings somewhat. But you can start with a 1/2 or 1/4 setting across the board and see what you get - it's at least a starting point. And remember, the colors depicted in the boxes in the software GUI are IDEAL - they may or may not match what your eye sees on your scanner.
As an example, in my case, my "white" setting at the maximum level using FF on R, G, and B actually gave me a more light blue look after some usage. So I tried reducing the Blue level but, because the mixture was somewhat non-linear, I ended up needing to play with all of the levels and came up with R at B2, G at F6, and B at 81 to get a relatively white or clear light (sorta-kinda, at any rate). This made the software's color box for that setting look like a pale avocado-like green since it probably uses an ideal linear estimation (I don't know - Don will likely correct me, but whatever it is, it is still an ideal estimation).
-Mike
You have to understand that in electronics the three primary colors are (R)ed, (G)reen, and (B)lue hence why you see the older (but still used) "RGB" analog monitor ports on the back of your PC's.
Now, in the 500/600's the LED indicator at the top of the scanner is actually composed of the three primary colored LED sources (I am not sure if it is one tri-color LED or three separate LED's - someone, probably DonS, will fill this in for me).
So, in the software, you can alter the intensity of any of those three primary colors to get many different colors AND intensities of colors.
BUT - you have to be aware of a few things like:
1) There are normal factory variations in the LED's so the actual appearance of the light may vary from unit to unit.
2) Usage of the LED's over time will likely alter their characteristics so you may have to re-adjust in future.
3) It will probably look different outside in direct sunlight vs. inside under artificial lighting.
Also, you should know that the colors depicted in the WIN500 software (I can't speak about the PSREdit SW as I haven't tried that yet) the colored boxes depicted next to the RGB settings depict an IDEAL and do not reflect the actual color and intensity of the LED lighting you may get from your unit (though it may seem close or dead on even, at least initially).
And be aware that there is no clear LED - the "white" setting is made by combining the R, G, and B at maximum levels (FF which is HEX for 255 or the maximum setting) so you get R and G and B all set to 255 or Hex FF all combined to, ideally, appear as "clear white" light.
But there may be variations, as I said, not only due to normal factory variations but also due to aging and to the overall non-linearity of LED's.
Ideally, if all you want to do is lessen the intensity of the default colors without changing the color itself then, ideally, all you need to do is lower each of the levels by exactly the same amount. Ideally. The problem is, you may not get exactly what you intended and may have to play with the levels of each color a bit before you get the intended appearance. Hence the up/down slider controls next to each color intensity setting in WIN500. You will, likely have to "fine tune" the settings somewhat. But you can start with a 1/2 or 1/4 setting across the board and see what you get - it's at least a starting point. And remember, the colors depicted in the boxes in the software GUI are IDEAL - they may or may not match what your eye sees on your scanner.
As an example, in my case, my "white" setting at the maximum level using FF on R, G, and B actually gave me a more light blue look after some usage. So I tried reducing the Blue level but, because the mixture was somewhat non-linear, I ended up needing to play with all of the levels and came up with R at B2, G at F6, and B at 81 to get a relatively white or clear light (sorta-kinda, at any rate). This made the software's color box for that setting look like a pale avocado-like green since it probably uses an ideal linear estimation (I don't know - Don will likely correct me, but whatever it is, it is still an ideal estimation).
-Mike
btritch
Member
Ok, I understand now, Thanks Guys!
Gonna have to shut down now, Getting one heck of a T-storm here now but thanks for the answers, I see what I have to do now.
Gonna have to shut down now, Getting one heck of a T-storm here now but thanks for the answers, I see what I have to do now.
HowD
Member
Hi, Brian.
You may notice a "jump" in that when you reach 50 in one of the RGB numbers, the LED will suddenly turn on with full brightness. Bring it back down one and try increasing one or both of the others, little by little. It's pretty much mix-and-match although you can get a good basic idea of what colors you want using the "RGB" mixers you can find online or in the software. You put in the numbers or use the slider and then try to get as close a match as you can with the scanner. If you want "real time" color testing (if you are using software to program the scanner), go into the setup on the scanner itself where you change the colors and test them right there. The LED lights up as you change the settings.
You may notice a "jump" in that when you reach 50 in one of the RGB numbers, the LED will suddenly turn on with full brightness. Bring it back down one and try increasing one or both of the others, little by little. It's pretty much mix-and-match although you can get a good basic idea of what colors you want using the "RGB" mixers you can find online or in the software. You put in the numbers or use the slider and then try to get as close a match as you can with the scanner. If you want "real time" color testing (if you are using software to program the scanner), go into the setup on the scanner itself where you change the colors and test them right there. The LED lights up as you change the settings.
I just noticed something. Mine used to "jump" in intensity. It was like they were discarding the last digit of the hex setting, providing only 16 intensity levels instead of 256.
Since I downloaded the latest firmware it now makes very gradual, almost imperceptible changes in intensity from one value to the next. This should make far more color combinations possible. Mauve, anyone?
DonS
Member
The Blue LED has always had 16 steps ("last digit of the hex setting is discarded"). The Red and Green LEDs have always had 256 steps - though you won't actually "see" Red and Green until their value is roughly 0x20 (32).
KC9NEG
Member
I've been experimenting with the dimming values to make the colors of my online scanner's LED easier to distinguish on the video feed. I've found that changing all the default 255 values to 95 works pretty well. It should also be noted that dimming, plus setting the LED to dim with the backlight (600 only) extinguishes some colors/values. I have disabled that option.
Todd/Indy
KC9NEG
Todd/Indy
KC9NEG
KC9NEG
Member
Just worked with PHOENIX SCANNER's suggestion from post #3. I set 1ms on and 10ms off and all objects with LED programmed to blink. Colors are back to defaults and LED dimming with backlight is re-enabled. Works better than anything for the video feed.
Todd/Indy
KC9NEG
Todd/Indy
KC9NEG
KC9NEG
Member
My Best Dimming Values
Best compromise for both a 500 and a 600 which gives "pure but dimmed equivalents" to the default colors seems to be the following R,G,B values:
Color 1: 55,0,0
Color 2: 55,55,0
Color 3: 0,55,0
Color 4: 0,55,95
Color 5: 0,0,95
Color 6: 55,0,95
Color 7: 55,55,95
This allows flashing to be used selectively to further ID via the LED. Note how the blue LED needs a little "bump-up" relative to the others due to its decreased resolution (16 steps vs. 256 for the red and green LED's). This took some experimentation--hope it helps someone.
EDIT: I changed all values of "63" to "55" (for red and green)... This setup looks way "too blue" in print but looks great on both my 500 and 600.
Todd/Indy
KC9NEG
Best compromise for both a 500 and a 600 which gives "pure but dimmed equivalents" to the default colors seems to be the following R,G,B values:
Color 1: 55,0,0
Color 2: 55,55,0
Color 3: 0,55,0
Color 4: 0,55,95
Color 5: 0,0,95
Color 6: 55,0,95
Color 7: 55,55,95
This allows flashing to be used selectively to further ID via the LED. Note how the blue LED needs a little "bump-up" relative to the others due to its decreased resolution (16 steps vs. 256 for the red and green LED's). This took some experimentation--hope it helps someone.
EDIT: I changed all values of "63" to "55" (for red and green)... This setup looks way "too blue" in print but looks great on both my 500 and 600.
Todd/Indy
KC9NEG
Last edited:
KC9NEG
Member
I tried this in a vehicle after dark over the weekend. Wow, what a difference. Thanks, all, for your contributions to this thread.
Todd/Indy
KC9NEG
Todd/Indy
KC9NEG
- Status
Similar threads
