Ice Charger mod w/pix

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jetmechG550

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Alright, as promised I'm posting some pix of the backlighting mod I just finished up on my Ice charger. For the life of me I can't figure out why the manufacturer doesn't do this. I bought the kit on eBay from Hobikit, it was like $22 and a couple for shipping. $26 bones for lights...yeah it's worth it to me! The directions are very clear and easy to follow and they do state, that this is not a novice mod. Patience is required and I will touch on that in a bit. Anyway here's the Ice opened up:
Ice01.gif


The two wires just above the big capacitor in the upper left corner is where you solder the inverter too, that was one of the trickiest parts, mainly cause my soldering iron isn't the best:
Ice02.gif

here's a shot of the two wires where you will solder the inverter:
Ice02highlite.gif


Under the aluminum tape is the screen you need to remove, this is where you need to start being careful, crack the screen and your SOL!
Ice03.gif


Here's the tape removed and you can see how the screen is held in place:
Ice04.gif


Ok, got the screen out and the white tape is what you have to remove. You need to be extrememly careful and patient here. You need to hold the screen and just slowly start working a corner to get the tape up. Too much pressure and you can crack it. Once you get a corner started, make sure the white tape has a silver backing, if it's black stop, you pullling the wrong part.
Ice05.gif


Backing tape is off here but it leaves a lot of residue, or at least mine did, maybe cause I pulled it off so slow. Anyway, goo-gone and alcohol and lots of time did the trick:
Ice06.gif


This shot shows the LCD installed back in the faceplate with the EL paper backing installed behind it. There's a little tip in the directions about using a business card to help you slide the EL paper in, use it! It worked great:
Ice07.gif


I skipped a few shots but here's the inverter installed and routed, and the aluminum tape replaced over the screen to hold it in place. The inverter is the small black box just under the two yellow buttons. It stays put there once you reassemble the charger:
Ice08.gif


Ok time to test:
Ice09.gif


HOLY SHNIKES!!! It flippin' works!!!
Ice10.gif


Overall this was fairly easy to do. Cleaning the glue residue is the most time consuming part. I did look around for the parts individually and finding exactly what I wanted and needed to work would have cost me just as much. Hobikit makes this specifically for the ICE charger and size of the EL is perfect and the little inverter fits nicely inside. You do here the high pitched whine of the inverter, but it's not bad and this is stated in the directions. PM me if you have any questions and I'll try to help you out as best I can.
 
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Thanks for the write up bro... My light kit has been ordered...:)
 
Nice job on the write up and install Jet. What color backlight did you get, white or blue? I'm a little colorblind.
 
It's blue. Thanks for kind words. The whole time I was like "don't crack the glass, don't crack the glass"....over and over. It wasn't near as bad as I was thinking, though you still need to be gentle with it. IB or anyone else, let me know if you have any ????'s
 
what holds the ribbon cable in place on teh charger side?
is it clamped in?
and does it automatically line up where it needs to go?

looks like a useful upgrade to the Ice...that's one of the features I really wanted in mine....
 
It just slides into the connector end. There's a tab on each side you just slide up about 1/8" It's almost like it pinches the cable in there. You just stick it back in when you reassemble it and push the tabs back down. It's the white connector to the right in this pic:
Ice11.gif
 
Just picked up a set of these Carbon Fiber skins from a guy on RCTech...

116876eb.gif
 
This threads needs to be renamed "Pimp my ICE". I think I will go with the red lighting to match the Triton panels.
 
Oh godddddammmmiiitt! (said that in my best Cartman voice)

Now I'm going to have to jump on board and pimp my ICE. I think it's time to get it chromed...
 
Daaaaaaamn IB, that was quick! What'd you do, next day air it?


Edit: Never mind, I see the date, must just be a pic of what you ordered. Gonna look cool! Leave it to a bunch of nitro guys to pimp out electrical crap!
 
jetmechG550 said:
Daaaaaaamn IB, that was quick! What'd you do, next day air it?


Edit: Never mind, I see the date, must just be a pic of what you ordered. Gonna look cool! Leave it to a bunch of nitro guys to pimp out electrical crap!

lol.. Yep, just a pic of what I ordered..
I have an addiction to mods/hopups.. lol
 
Jet thanks a ton man, I've posted your article on the front page of the site!


ImBroken, you should write how your install goes as well!




-Michael
 
Yeah IB, I wanna hear how some other went, especially if you bust the glass! LOL Actually wanna see with the stickies!
 
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