Producer 8 backlight - update

[The Robman]

I'm in the process of sorting out all of my Producer 8's and I've done a little testing with three of them that have a broken backlight. I transplanted the PCB from each of the "bad" remotes and put it in a "good" remote, and in each case the backlight worked.

Therefore, the problem with the backlight is not the transformer as we would have previously thought, but instead there must be something wrong with the "EL" backlight sheet itself.

If I find the solution, I'll post it here.

[Mark Pierson]

there must be something wrong with the "EL" backlight sheet itself

IIRC, the EL sheet sits on 2 (or more) pads on the PCB that can become oxidized. I had a problem with one of my 2104's this summer both with the backlight and the buttons not working (I think the cause was excessive humidity) . Cleaning the PCB with some rubbing alcohol and polishing those little pads with an eraser did the trick for me. YMMV.

[The Robman]

It's not the PCB, if it was I wouldn't be able to transfer the PCB to another remote and have the backlight magically work again.

I think I've figured this thing out though. All by P8s with broken backlights are the B00 version, while all the good ones are B01. The EL cheet in the B00s is white while the one in the B01s is green, which leads me to believe that it may come from a different manufacturer.

Unfortunately, this is totally a custom part, so finding replacements is going to be tricky. Hey UEI...