A10 Mod: Anyone Know How To Keep The Screen Bright When Lights Are Off?

[player]

I hate the way the screen is basically unreadable when the lights are off.
It defies logic the have it always dark when the room is dark, and bright when the room is bright. No option... What idiot engineer designed that piece of genius? I know what flawed logic they used, but for me, I want to look at it in the dark, so it forces me to turn a bright light on.

Please tell me someone knows how to trick the sensor...

[AlanE]

I understand what you mean. It is hard to read at night.

The light sensor is just a basic photoresistor. They usually decrease in resistance the more light you add.



You can either tape a small LED to the light sensor here



or you'll need to open it up and measure the resistance across the sensor in normal daylight and hook up a resistor close to that value. Current follows the path of least resistance and the sensor will have higher resistance at night, higher than the resistor you are putting in place of it. It may work by just shorting it but that could be bad for the circuit.

Down side to this is it will also take longer for the screen to go dark at night.

[PoolQ]

"The light sensor is just a basic photoresistor" have you opened it up and KNOW for sure this is what they are using and its not a photo diode/transistor or even an IC sensor.

The brightness steps to off and is not linear so my guess is that the light sensor and the display backlight have the micro in between and what you are describing will not work and could cause damage.

[AlanE]

Perhaps true. Only one way to find out.

[talljames]

Unfortunately, it is pretty limited. However, what I do when I wake up at night and disconnect the hose, I turn my iphone torch on and shine it on the machine. It thinks its daylight and you have full brightness for a short time or until you connect up again.

cheers
James

[mesenteria]

Maybe a small, cheap, night-lite, shielded a bit to minimize spillover light around the room, could be placed near the photocell and simply plugged into a small extension cord. Aluminum foil will serve as a light shield.