knight rider online

Hi everybody,

I was hoping I could get a bit of help? I bought the JC Whitney scanner (I know, cringe), and was hoping I could slightly upgrade it. I wanted to take the bulbs that came with it out and solder in either bigger or higher wattage ones. Could anybody recommend bulbs to use? I've tried looking at the unit briefly, and please tell me if I am correct:

The red wire in the middle is constant power, and the other colored wires are cycling negatives, correct?

Is that JC Whitney board able to handle 55W halogens, or do I have to use something smaller? I don't want to hurt anything.

Thanks for all your help!
Lee
leewrisley@hotmail.com

No the JCW scanner will not handle 55 watt halogens. They use tiny bulbs using 9volts each.
There is a stepup converter someone made years ago that you could make inline between the control box and the scanner. Justin from Ratcliff electronics had it posted for years. It stepped up the 9volt signal to handle 35 watt halogens.
You could buy a controller board from Christian Forget and build your own from scratch. The one Christian sells can power 12 volt automotive bulbs. But those have a worse trailing effect because of the nature of the bulbs.
Hope this helps.

Say true you can up grade it but scanner is very sesative, they burn out very quikly!! you can replace the bulbs with led pods found at ALLELECTRONICS.COM LOOK FOR THE RED PODS THEY RUN AROUND 6.00 BUCKS EACH. PLUS SHIPPING . YOU NEED SIX TOTAL JUST REPLACE THE SMALL BULB AND SOLDER THEM IN REMEMBER TO KEEP POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE OF EACH ONE CORRECT. THIS WILL BRING IT TO LIFE. YOU WILL NOT GET A TAILING EFFECT?? BUT LOOKS BRIGHT !! DONT FORGET TO SUPER GLUE THEM IN PLACE.

sorry folk's that was 8 led pods, yea or look up led pods and you will be looking for small led pod side markers.

say anthing new for you scanner? found sevral ways to bring it to pro level bright tailing ect.. get back with me.