DX7 Add a LED light & Relocate Neck Strap Mod

[SB]

Hello, this is what i did i will try and show it best i can, (disclaimer) use at your own risk. I'm sure it will void your warranty
I want to apologize for my spelling now.

Radio Disassembly Step 1 - Step 11
Neck Strap Mod Step 12 - Step 14
LED Mod Step 15 - Step 18, Step 21 - Step 22
Radio Reassembly Step 19 - Step 20, Step 23 - Step 24

ok Tools Needed: Phillips Screw Driver, 5/64 Hex Wrench, Needle Nose Pliers, Side Cutters, Soldering Iron, Solder, 11/64" Drill Bit, 13/64" Drill Bit, Drill, Either a Dremel with a Cut off Disk or a Hacksaw.


Parts Needed: Chunk of small gauge Wire, short piece of shrink tube, 3.7 Volt LED (i used a Radio Shack 276-316 Blue LED, My Favorite Color) (or if your LED is 1.7 Volts you will also need a 47ohm resistor soldered inline on the Positive Led)


Step 1: Remove the battery. Then Remove the 6 Screws on the back of the Transmitter.


Step 2: Take the two half's of the transmitter apart. BE CAREFUL there is a wire connecting the two. now remove the screw holding the battery socket on the back half of the transmitter.

Then you'll have this


Step 3: Remove the 4 Screws Holding on the 2.4GHz Transmitter (I Chose to remove the ant wire, be very careful the plug is very small and kinda fragile, also takes patients to put back on)

Then move it out of the way


Step 4: Remove the 2 Small Black screws, and 1 Silver screw w/Washer from the Power Control Bord.

Then move it out of the way

[SB]

Step 5: Use your pliers to loosen and remove the brass nut holding the neck strap loop on. (this was only finger tight on mine i used the pliers and my fingers holding the loop on the other side to get it off)

MAKE SURE YOU GET THE LOCK WASHER you don't want that metal thing flopping around in your radio shorting out the electronics.


Step 6: Use your Hex Key (i said 5/64" earlier I'm not 100% positive thats the right size) to remove the 2 silver screws on the lower silver part of the face of the radio. (leave the top two alone they are fake)


Step 7: Remove the 4 screws holding down the LCD board.


Step 8: Carefully roll the LCD board up and remove the 2 Black Screws circled. This is also a good time to grab the 4 buttons from the radio cause when you turn it over next they will all fall out.


Step 9: Next Remove the 4 screws holding the Throttle Stick in place. (i zoomed in in the second pic to help. these are the only 4 screws you have to remove to get the whole gimbal assembly to let go the rest hold the sensors to the assembly)

[SB]

Step 10: Remove the 4 screws holding the Roll/Pitch Stick in place

Again i zoomed in to show which screw to remove


Step 11: Now you can remove the silver part of the face of your radio. it pulls out from the bottom and then pull down as the top is held in by tabs.


Step 12: Now break out your cutoff tool and cut the brass nut from the neck strap loop down to a nice short size. (yes that is a file in the background used to take the burs off)


Step 12-2: Thread the new nut on to the neck strap loop. dbl that distance and cut off the remainder of the threaded stud. (leave the nut on there as you cut, cause when your done all you have to do is unscrew the nut from the stud and it will fix the bur on the end of the threads you made with your cut off tool)


Step 13: Drill a hole with the 13/64" Bit right below the switch slot on the silver face plate.


Step 14: Put the neck strap loop in the whole, make sure you put the lock washer (star washer) on first then thread your short brass nut on good and tight.


Should look nice. (I put my neck strap loop so the whole is right to left, just so its out of the way of the switch)

[SB]

Step 15: drill out the whole where the neck strap loop used to be for the size of your led. in my case it was 11/64"


Step 16: Solder your wire to the LED. USE HEAT SHRINK! the long leg of the LED is positive, the short is negative. cut the leads down as you don't need them that long. (if you cut both of them the same length and forget which is which on a 5mm round led there will be a flat side on the clear part, the leg on this side is negative)


When your done it should look all pretty


Step 17: Feed the LED and wire through the whole in the mane frame of the radio.


you might have to modify the size of the whole to get the shrink tubing to fit. (i had to)


Step 18: Place the silver Face Plate back on the radio, lining up all the tabs on top and the new led in the whole.


Should look nice when your done

[SB]

Step 19: Put the buttons back in


And while your there put in the 2 black screws that hold on the face of the radio.


Everything should fit (and yes i forgot to put the screws in)


Step 20: Now place the LCD board back where it belongs and put in the 4 screws that hold it down


COFFEE BREAK


Step 20a: Pointed out by Bullaculla! you need to reinsert and fasten the power control board.
i stole his picture (hope you don't mind) you need to put in the 2 black screws on the bottom.
you DO NOT put the silver one with the washer in, it gets left out


Step 21: these 2 points are where your going to connect your wires. it is a regulated 3.3V on the Board. the Square contact is positive, the Round contact just below it is Negative.


I attached My Wires from the bottom, this will make it the easiest as the pads are on the top. (and yes that is a really bad soldering job)


Step 22: Resecure the 2.4GHz transmitter Board to the radio with its 4 screws. (if you removed the ant wire make sure you get it back on there correct or you will have absolutely no range)

[SB]

Step 23: Put the battery jack back on the back panel and secure it with the screw. (Not pictured: make sure the trainer jack and charge jack are where they belong)


Step 24: Put the 6 screws back in the back of the radio.


This is what you should have left over for parts


Finished Product (not bad for just a dum Kid)


All safe and sound back where it belongs (and yes i agree that HeliProz Neck Strap Needs to be replaced with a HELIFREAK one)


Hope this helps some of you.
I know I'm happy with it

If anyone has ?'s or can help me make this post better please let me know.

[Finless]

I am going to STICK this great tutorial.

Bob

[SB]

Originally Posted by bullaculla

This is a great mod, and an awesome walkthrough,
but you skipped this step in reassembly.
If you cut the long brass nut in half, I assume you are only using the 2 small screws at the bottom to secure power switch?

I did miss that
Thank you, lets see if i can fix that

[DebianDog]

Nice! Thanks!!!

[Gino CP]

I love out of the box thinking. You killed two birds with one stone here. I didn't realize that the tx was supported on the face plate. I hope it's tough enough. A great mod and thanks to Finless too for bringing it to our attention. Now, to develop the courage to do this...

[BarnOwl]

Originally Posted by Gino CP

I love out of the box thinking. You killed two birds with one stone here. I didn't realize that the tx was supported on the face plate. I hope it's tough enough. A great mod and thanks to Finless too for bringing it to our attention. Now, to develop the courage to do this...

This IS a great mod, thanks for the great tutorial SB!

However, don't forget there are also some great neckstrap balancing solutions out there. For myself I am using the FireUp balancer and I am just putting in a light so I can see the thing is on. This only involves connecting a led with a fitting and a resistor. You can even order a pre- assembled led with resistor and fitting and you only have to connect the + and - to the appropriate connections on the DX7 print (Step 21). This one is green but I ordered a red one:

[BarnOwl]

Ok, just took me 10 minutes to install the led. Thanks for the instructions!

[PTFlyer]

Yeah, it's alot easier to put it on top........no need to take much more than the two boards on top out to drill the hole (so you don't clip the board with the drill)....solder the two wires and button it back up.......

looks good.....where did you order the light with the built in resistor.....?

[BarnOwl]

I got it from a big local electronics outfit: >LINK<

[MarriedwithHelis]

I performed this mod only relocating the LED to the top so I could see it if the TX was facing away from me. I too used the blue LED from the instructions and well, lets kust say its soooo bright that it can double as an aircraft search light when flying at night. Ok maybe not that bright but it is a nice little flash light. I'm glad I mounted it on top now because if that thing was pointing at my face on the front of the radio it could make it difficult to read the LCD display. I would suggest to anyone to perhaps choose a dimmer solution. Just make sure it is a 3.7 VDC LED. But thanks for the info, its a nice mod!

[SB]

i agree mith MarridwithHelis this LEd is very bright putting a 33k-100K resistor inline with it will dim it. if you night fly like me i'm flying with a 300K resistor. if you want a different led make sure its 3.7V LED but look for a 25mcd to 100mcd or something like that not a 2600mcd like i picked. its way to bright hope this helps

[whattheheli]

anyone have any info on maybe backlighting the display ??? would be nice i think !

[SB]

Originally Posted by whattheheli

anyone have any info on maybe backlighting the display ??? would be nice i think !

whattheheli i already have this project as a work in progress
I'm trying to cut costs down and show how to do it your self instead of buying a $800.00 Kit :wink:

[whattheheli]

keep me in mind when you do figure it out ! thanks

[Spidious]

Glad I finally found this post. I flew last night and it was very hard to be sure that in fact the radio was on. I was only able to find a blue 3.7v led at radio shack. But installed it on top so it verifies that in fact the radio is on !
Next I want to put one near the top right toggles witch to come on when the motor is shut off. Just have to find a red 3.7v led to do it with.