Yaesu FP-1030A Power Supply Meter Lights

I'm not sure why it's made this way, but the Yaesu FP-1030A linear power supply has no light for either the volt or amp meter. If you're like me, you wish the meters had lights too. After all, what good is a meter if you can't read it? Well, adding LED lights to the meters is very easy to do, and here's how.

A short virtual drive over to amazon.com and I landed on a 56 count box of 12 volt LED lights, in seven colors, for $7.09 with free Prime shipping. Not too shabby. I couple days later, the LEDs were here and ready to be installed.

Fourteen number 1 Phillips screws later, I had the cover off and the front pulled slightly away to allow access to the three screws holding the dual meter in place. Loosen the two bottom screws with one turn, remove the top screw, and the meter pulls out easily. Between the red, orange, yellow, green, blue, warm white, and white color LEDs, I chose white so it matches the light in my new Diamond GZV4000 switching power supply.

With a 2-inch piece of electrical tape, I secured one LED to the bottom of each of the two meter housings, with the LED light placed directly under the clear, fluted portion of the meter cover. Then I took some clear silicone caulk and applied a small amount of silicone to the LED and the bottom of the meter cover, enough to provide a good "weld" to secure the LED and help distribute light from the LED to the cover flutes. This works very well, by the way.

With the wire leads coming straight backwards from the bottom of the meters, I fed the wires over and soldered them to the feed wires at the back of the 10 amp cigar socket. These terminals were the most accessible to solder without further dismantling. A brief test found everything working, so I replaced the cover and put the power supply back in service. Now the Yaesu FP-1030A looks as nice as it works!

Update - Sep 20, 2021

Don't buy the LEDs I listed above, as mine have since gone completely dim. Now I'm looking for some better LEDs.