I finally replaced the broken light bulb in my Yaesu G-450C rotator controller

It has been bugging me for a long time, so yesterday I finally decided to do something about it. Several years ago, the illumination lamp in my Yaesu G-450C rotator controller failed. I read some articles online about how to replace the bulb, but was daunted because it seemed a complex job to access the bulb.

The new-look Yaesu G-450C with blue LED fitted. I think it looks great!

17 screws had to be removed to access the 
G-450C bulb.

Yesterday, I plucked up the courage to open the unit and to attempt to at least see what might be involved in replacing the failed bulb.

This required the removal of SEVENTEEN screws. When 13 of the screws had been removed, there was a delicate operation involved in removing the last four, which kept the display plate mounted to the front of the control unit.

Because there were lots of wires connected to this front part, I had to be careful not to pull it away from the unit very much in case I snapped any of the wires.

A short time later, I finally had access to the display plate, and could see the tiny (failed) bulb. I'll be honest and say that at this point, I was feeling quite daunted about my ability to complete this job. However, I decided to go to some local electronic/motor supply stores to see what kind of bulbs they had that could operate on 12V and provided a low wattage (preferably 2w or less). I was able to find a pair of blue LED lights which run on 12V and give out 0.35w.

However, those bulbs were too big to fit in the "holder" where the burnt-out bulb was located. I would have to come up with a solution whereby the new LED bulb would sit in a different location than the old bulb.

The old bulb.

The azimuth indicator display plate.

By carefully snipping some cable ties that kept the small wires bundled together, I was able to get some extra length on the two wires that feed 12V to the bulb. Having done this, it was time to get the soldering iron out for some delicate soldering of the wires to the two copper pins on the LED bulb. I stretched these out, and made a sort-of "hook" on each of them to better support the power wires.

With all that done, I taped up the wires, and began thinking about where I would position the bulb so that it would illuminate the rotator's azimuth indicator. The only place that suited was to the right of the indicator (the original bulb was in the upper-left corner), and with a bit of careful manipulation and some red electrical tape, I was able to fasten the bulb into its new position.

Now I know this might sound silly, but getting the unit back together with 17 screws was by itself a tedious and delicate job. The four screws that hold the azimuth indicator display plate to the front of the controller unit were, in particular, difficult to access - again because I had to be careful not to stretch wires.

The entire job - to replace one small bulb - took me about two hours.

Anyway, eventually I got everything back together and it was time for a quick test. Would it work? I made a short video, which you can watch below.

There's a bit of stray light showing through the 'left' and 'right' switches, but I can live with that. What do you think?