Poor backlight in Squeezebox Controller - some ideas?

[dayus]

Hello you
I have a problem with a backlight in my SB Controller.
I have two Controller and one of them shines normally, the other one is unfortunately not 100% lit.

I searched the forum for similar topics - with no positive results.

Maybe after such a time someone has found the reason and developed repair technologies?

Best wishes,
dayus

[slimhase]

I don't have a solution, but I can confirm the problem:
As I only have 1 controller, I wasn't sure, if it really got darker, or if I was imagining things.
But now I am pretty sure: About a month ago, mine got much darker and I had to crank up bightness in settings quite a bit.

It doesn't look like uneven brighness, so its probably not just a broken backlight LED.
More likely the LED driver has a problem.

It served me well over the years, but nowadays since the development of material skin, i hardly use it....

[Starminder]

I just picked up a preowned Duet and the controller has exactly this problem. I've tried everything I can think of: new battery, updating firmware, checking brightness setting and other settings that might affect it but al seems normal. It's so dim it is unusable. Has anyone been able to repair one?

[SeanV]

The problem is the backlight technology.

The controller uses a florescent tube for the backlight powered by a high frequency supply.
A characteristic of these tubes is that they grow dimmer over time. Having them on all the
time shortens their life substantially. Don't have the clock screen save turned on all the time,
your backlight won't last long. It uses a very tiny fluorescent tube which are uncommon but
they are available online. You need the hands of a brain surgeon to replace the tube but it is possible.
A more robust solution would be to replace the bulb with LED's. I was going to do this but
then I discovered the Squeezer phone app and have been using it instead. There isn't much
incentive to fix the Duet controller now. I think Squeezer has a much better UI.

Sean

[w3wilkes]

The controller uses a florescent tube for the backlight powered by a high frequency supply.
A characteristic of these tubes is that they grow dimmer over time. Having them on all the
time shortens their life substantially. Don't have the clock screen save turned on all the time,
your backlight won't last long.

Wondering what your definition is of "won't last long" is? I have 3 Duet controllers that have been running the analog clock screen saver with Wallpaper set to Black for 10 or more years and the displays are all still fine. This problem with the screen going very dim seems to be a "luck of the draw" sort of thing.