I am sharing my experience repairing my HMT. The performance of my unit diminished over time. It slowly transitioned from four-dot readings to one-dot readings to mostly no reads. Google searches of the issue redirect to this forum and anecdotal reports of issues with the LED rings around the HMT cameras. Close inspection of my LED rings indicated that some of the individual LEDs around the upper camera had failed. Initially, every third LED went out. Then, every other LED stopped working, and finally just four of the LEDs worked. The drop in performance of the HMT was noticeable even when only 1/3 of the LEDs had failed.
After chatting with Foresight support, I ended up shipping them my HMT for a repair. Several weeks and hundreds of dollars later, they returned my unit and it worked well with all of the LEDs functioning. Fast forward a few months, and the LEDs around the lower camera began to fail. Not wanting to wait several more weeks for another repair, I removed the front plate of the HMT and inspected the LED component. It is about the size of a stick of gum and it is only attached by a few screws and a ribbon cable. Confident that I could swap out the component if I had a replacement, I emailed Foresight support and asked them for a replacement component. The name "HMT Illuminator Board" is printed on the front of the component, so I asked for that. The Foresight rep knew exactly what I was asking for and quoted me a price on the spot: $75. He had it shipped out the door in two days.
Installing the new component took less than 5 minutes and my HMT is back to working order with two sets of full LED rings. The advantage to replacing the HMT Illuminator Board myself is I didn't have to ship my HMT to Foresight. I didn't have to risk it being damaged. I didn't have to wait in their repair queue for weeks. I didn't have to pay for someone to remove a few screws and a ribbon cable.
If someone can find a way to get Wintress Engineering Corporation to sell the HMT Illuminator Boards directly instead of going through Foresight, the part might end up being much cheaper than what Foresight charged me. I reached out to them, but they directed me to Foresight.
After chatting with Foresight support, I ended up shipping them my HMT for a repair. Several weeks and hundreds of dollars later, they returned my unit and it worked well with all of the LEDs functioning. Fast forward a few months, and the LEDs around the lower camera began to fail. Not wanting to wait several more weeks for another repair, I removed the front plate of the HMT and inspected the LED component. It is about the size of a stick of gum and it is only attached by a few screws and a ribbon cable. Confident that I could swap out the component if I had a replacement, I emailed Foresight support and asked them for a replacement component. The name "HMT Illuminator Board" is printed on the front of the component, so I asked for that. The Foresight rep knew exactly what I was asking for and quoted me a price on the spot: $75. He had it shipped out the door in two days.
Installing the new component took less than 5 minutes and my HMT is back to working order with two sets of full LED rings. The advantage to replacing the HMT Illuminator Board myself is I didn't have to ship my HMT to Foresight. I didn't have to risk it being damaged. I didn't have to wait in their repair queue for weeks. I didn't have to pay for someone to remove a few screws and a ribbon cable.
If someone can find a way to get Wintress Engineering Corporation to sell the HMT Illuminator Boards directly instead of going through Foresight, the part might end up being much cheaper than what Foresight charged me. I reached out to them, but they directed me to Foresight.
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