Just finished putting together the Larson Scanner. Finally have it working, but what a pain. I discovered that the solder pads pop off the circuit board quite easily. (At least on my board.) Ended up having to solder wires instead of using the circuit traces. Anyway, all good. I was a bit disappointed that the LEDS fade into one another instead of a distinct on/off sequence. Of course I realized that both the KITT car and the Cylon's lights flashed this way, so it is a faithful reproduction. Any plans or mods to make this sequence longer than 9 LEDS long? Thanks!

I'm sorry to hear about the trouble. We've had a few reports of similar issues, particularly when too much heat or pressure are applied during assembly. If you contact our store directly ( http://evilmadscience.com/contact ) we can offer you a significant discount on a replacement kit. We're making some changes to make the circuit boards tougher in the future as well.

The circuit *is* open source and reprogrammable, so if you'd like to change out the firmware for a version with only one LED lit at a time, that's much simpler to write than what we've got preloaded. To reprogram the kit you'll need an AVR ISP programmer (like the USBtinyISP) and a 6-pin DIL header to add to the circuit board. For longer scanners, there is a multi-unit larson scanner program available, too: http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarsonscanner

Without programming, you may be interested to try the "narrow eye" mode (with fewer LEDs lit at a time). You can get there by holding down the button at turn-on, or permanently, by soldering a jumper across jumper "opt 1" on the PCB. There's also the "robot tie" mode, at "opt 2."

Full documentation about the Larson Scanner kit is available on the Evil Mad Science wiki:
http://wiki.evilmadscience.com/Larson_Scanner

What I did with mine after I soldered everything together and made sure it all worked, was to slather the exposed contacts with E6000 glue and let it dry. Worked perfect for me and really makes sure everything stays in one spot