TheJackal
Explorer Addict
- Joined
- August 11, 2007
- Messages
- 1,060
- Reaction score
- 5
- City, State
- Mandeville, LA
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1999 Explorer XL 2WD
Over the past couple of days, I noticed an issue with the Sirius Sportster 4 radio. It suddenly out of the blue started making a "bee-beep" sound, like when you rewind all the way to the end of the buffer. It did it over and over and suddenly quit. This happened 2 or 3 times.
While this was going on, I noticed that my #9 preset kept changing to something else. To set a preset, you hold down the number button you want and it makes that sound. The issue must be the #9 button sticking.
I've been wanting to crack this baby open for some time, mostly due to the fact that I hate it's obnoxious blue LEDs and glossy covering over the display. It might look nice in the store, but it's absolutely impossible to read in the daytime and obnoxious and unsafe at night.
So without further ado, here's how to open up a Sirius Sportster 4 radio.
What You Need:
-Small Philips screwdrivers
-iPod/remote control opening tools
-tweezers and plastic razor (if fixing a stuck button)
Begin by removing the 4 screws:
Once those are out you'll need to use the remote control/ipod openers to unsnap the case. I worked it open from the bottom; here I show you where the snaps are located:
When both sides are unsnapped, the two halves hinge off from the top:
There will be a screw in the hole surrounded by the white circle just below the bottom left corner of the metal plate (it's already off in the pic). Remove it, then carefully separate the circuit board from the button panel/plastic case. The white part at the top of the board is actually a plug that connects the mainboard to the button panel:
To remove the button panel from the plastic shell, you'll have to remove seven small black screws. They will be where you see the gold rings:
That piece also kind of snaps in on the bottom and takes a bit of fiddling to get it out.
Once you do, you have this:
The #9 button is the second one from the right, on the bottom. You can see, the metal piece under the white sticker looks off center for that one.
I used a plastic razor blade to carefully lift the sticker...
Then I used a tweezers to remove and reposition the little metal piece so that it was in the middle of the clear part, convex side up.
The circuit board has a "bullseye" underneath where the metal piece is, and because it was off-center it was touching it every now and then.
Now that that's done, I wonder if there's any way to make this thing less obnoxious?
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem so. As I originally suspected, the only LEDs visible in here are mini-LEDs, so there's no hope of soldering in anything in their place. They could, however, be changed to purple by putting something red over them, or disabled altogether by covering them with a piece of electrical tape. All of the blue mini-LEDs are located on the button board.
Further disappointment comes after looking at the LCD screen, and seeing there's no ready or easy way to get to the backlighting.
Obnoxious blue could be toned down to purple, but not if you can't get to the LEDs.
And the kicker; I would like to have removed that glossy part over the screen, but it appears the whole thing is one piece.
Because the blue is so obnoxious at night, I turned the brightness all the way down. Changing that isn't so easy, so I leave it that way in the daylight too. But, because the screen is reflective
(really, how the hell is that a good idea?) you can't see it. I may cut that part out with a dremel or so but didn't feel like doing it right now.
Here's what all the pieces look like:
This is it all back together:
Assembly is just the reverse of the disassembly of course, but if you touched the LCD screen or the inside of the shell where the screen goes, make sure you clean them first.
Now, if only I could figure out who came up with this bonehead design... :fire:
While this was going on, I noticed that my #9 preset kept changing to something else. To set a preset, you hold down the number button you want and it makes that sound. The issue must be the #9 button sticking.
I've been wanting to crack this baby open for some time, mostly due to the fact that I hate it's obnoxious blue LEDs and glossy covering over the display. It might look nice in the store, but it's absolutely impossible to read in the daytime and obnoxious and unsafe at night.
So without further ado, here's how to open up a Sirius Sportster 4 radio.
What You Need:
-Small Philips screwdrivers
-iPod/remote control opening tools
-tweezers and plastic razor (if fixing a stuck button)
Begin by removing the 4 screws:
Once those are out you'll need to use the remote control/ipod openers to unsnap the case. I worked it open from the bottom; here I show you where the snaps are located:
When both sides are unsnapped, the two halves hinge off from the top:
There will be a screw in the hole surrounded by the white circle just below the bottom left corner of the metal plate (it's already off in the pic). Remove it, then carefully separate the circuit board from the button panel/plastic case. The white part at the top of the board is actually a plug that connects the mainboard to the button panel:
To remove the button panel from the plastic shell, you'll have to remove seven small black screws. They will be where you see the gold rings:
That piece also kind of snaps in on the bottom and takes a bit of fiddling to get it out.
Once you do, you have this:
The #9 button is the second one from the right, on the bottom. You can see, the metal piece under the white sticker looks off center for that one.
I used a plastic razor blade to carefully lift the sticker...
Then I used a tweezers to remove and reposition the little metal piece so that it was in the middle of the clear part, convex side up.
The circuit board has a "bullseye" underneath where the metal piece is, and because it was off-center it was touching it every now and then.
Now that that's done, I wonder if there's any way to make this thing less obnoxious?
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem so. As I originally suspected, the only LEDs visible in here are mini-LEDs, so there's no hope of soldering in anything in their place. They could, however, be changed to purple by putting something red over them, or disabled altogether by covering them with a piece of electrical tape. All of the blue mini-LEDs are located on the button board.
Further disappointment comes after looking at the LCD screen, and seeing there's no ready or easy way to get to the backlighting.
Obnoxious blue could be toned down to purple, but not if you can't get to the LEDs.And the kicker; I would like to have removed that glossy part over the screen, but it appears the whole thing is one piece.
Because the blue is so obnoxious at night, I turned the brightness all the way down. Changing that isn't so easy, so I leave it that way in the daylight too. But, because the screen is reflective
(really, how the hell is that a good idea?) you can't see it. I may cut that part out with a dremel or so but didn't feel like doing it right now.Here's what all the pieces look like:
This is it all back together:
Assembly is just the reverse of the disassembly of course, but if you touched the LCD screen or the inside of the shell where the screen goes, make sure you clean them first.
Now, if only I could figure out who came up with this bonehead design... :fire:
