It's always kinda nice to see inside components not readily available to ordinary mortals, so here's a look inside a couple of LED aircraft components. Mainly notable for the well-engineered approach common with aircraft electronics.
The Darlington transistor (two cascaded transistors internally for higher gain) may be a very simple soft-start device that is basically a transistor with a base resistor from the positive rail and capacitor to negative rail so it turns on slowly. That could be to emulate a tungsten lamp lighting or to avoid high inrush current at power-up.
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16 thoughts on “What’s inside an aircraft seatbelt sign? and swivel downlight”
  1. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Luiz Marxsen jr. says:

    Beautiful, by years I just could try to imagine how these reader lights were constructed, now I learn that, thanks…

  2. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars dbijenhof says:

    You do realize that "removing" that rivet didn't actually do anything, right? RIGHT?

  3. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars alte Bänder says:

    Little tip, you should go to an older ICE train. They have those nifty dot matrix LED signs with the individual dies bonded in it to form 16 characters of 5×7 lines.

  4. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars InSeries says:

    the transistor is likely a constant-current source to feed the led

  5. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Lea says:

    That's why all the 'stuff' was missing on my last flight.
    Im guessing you travel on my local trains several times a day ?

  6. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Daniel Crispim says:

    Who said Scotish do not have sense of humour? Not me, they can say the most amazing things without even grimming.

  7. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Kaylee Amelia says:

    You're worried about putting the polarity backwards…
    A workshop… colleague… plugged a set of car batteries in backwards, blowing up 6 months of my work.

    I guess red is the new negative.

  8. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars carlu bambi says:

    Fantastic as always

  9. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Creeper Mouse says:

    How… did you get them? Edit: What plane were you on? (737, 747, A380, A320)

  10. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Michael Odendaal says:

    Wow lol 😆 🤣 😅

  11. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Luke Davis says:

    Should've asked for one of the IFE displays XD… They're made by Panasonic and run a Linux client that connects with a server (running WinNT 4.0 on 747s)

  12. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Jacob Denton says:

    Anyone know where I can get one of these? I want to put it in my car lol

  13. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars bikkiikun says:

    FYI: The voltages for systems on commercial aircraft are either 28 VDC or 115 VAC@400Hz.

  14. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars RC Wagon says:

    No Lavatory smoke detector?

  15. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Luke S says:

    Do you think you can grab one of the engines next time? I would love to see you take one of those to bits and pick about it.

  16. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Ollie says:

    LED are junk

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