Panaplex display history

[Jules Richardson]

On 05/29/2015 08:53 PM, Brent Hilpert wrote:
>> I'm almost certain that they're from old gas pumps - maybe the
>> displays are just more readable in bright sunlight than LED? (there's
>> a sticker on one of the PSU boards with a 'shipping date' in 1999)
>
> Funny, I was about to mention that use. I remember them in use on gas
> pumps up to somewhere around the late-80s or early-90s. One of my bike
> routes takes me on a dike behind an industrial area. Sometime around the
> mid-90s I remember there being a yard filled with scrapped pumps, a lot
> of them missing the display/keyboard cover, so all the displays mounted
> on the big controller boards could be seen. I wanted to rescue some of
> them but never got around to pursuing it. I was kind of dissuaded by the
> thought they had mostly seen a long and continuous service life and may
> now(then) be of questionable reliability.

Yes, I've no idea how many of these ones are still working - although given 
that they're intact on PCBs, my guess is that they're the result of 
board-swaps and so one or two digits/modules may be out (or there are other 
board faults) but the rest are still operational.

In total, not counting ones which physical damage or obviously-failed 
segments, I think I have around 20 each of dual and triple-digit ones, plus 
a handful of quads, which is enough to do something with while having a 
spares stock. Hopefully the pair of PSUs that I rescued are OK, as they've 
got handy 6V->180V DC convertor modules on them.

cheers

Jules