A friend has proposed the idea of using a fiber-optic cable to bring the

Core's LED out to the panel. I don't know whether or not that will work,

but it is an interesting idea. He's looking into it.

Paul, I've done this. You need to get good quality fiber optic multi-strand and it works pretty well. There is some loss but under a shadowed part of the panel, you can see it just fine. The trick is to make a coupling for the fiber at the LED end.
Darren