This may fall into the category of "only interesting to me" but...
I did a tear down of an IVP SLR beacon I picked up awhile back for "not cheap but less than I would've thought" and figured I'd share the pics. After buying it, I lucked into two SLR bars, so the beacon is no longer as interesting to me as it was when it was the only SLR piece in my collection. I've been curious if there was some way to hack it to use a multi-color pod, and so have multi-color functionality, so I took it apart to see what I'd find.
Long story short, I didn't expect there would be a way to hack it and I still don't think there is (at least not to my amateur eyes), but here are the pics for anyone who's curious about SLR pod insides. Nothing too crazy- reflector, optic, board with LEDs and control circuitry, and a magnetic stepper motor to spin the reflector.
Of note, this is an IVP beacon so all the control circuitry is in the pod circuit board. An SLR bar has a board outside the pods (like the Vision), which controls all the pods and holds the firmware. Bar pods have clear epoxy covering the pod circuit board, so they can't be taken apart like the IVP pods.
I did a tear down of an IVP SLR beacon I picked up awhile back for "not cheap but less than I would've thought" and figured I'd share the pics. After buying it, I lucked into two SLR bars, so the beacon is no longer as interesting to me as it was when it was the only SLR piece in my collection. I've been curious if there was some way to hack it to use a multi-color pod, and so have multi-color functionality, so I took it apart to see what I'd find.
Long story short, I didn't expect there would be a way to hack it and I still don't think there is (at least not to my amateur eyes), but here are the pics for anyone who's curious about SLR pod insides. Nothing too crazy- reflector, optic, board with LEDs and control circuitry, and a magnetic stepper motor to spin the reflector.
Of note, this is an IVP beacon so all the control circuitry is in the pod circuit board. An SLR bar has a board outside the pods (like the Vision), which controls all the pods and holds the firmware. Bar pods have clear epoxy covering the pod circuit board, so they can't be taken apart like the IVP pods.