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Overview
I have been using LCD monitors for years now, and
unfortunately I have had the backlights in a couple
of them fail. One failed due to the bulb, the second
failed due to the power supply failing and hosing
the bulb. I attempted to contact the manufacturers
several times to try to get replacement parts, but
the drones that work at Viewsonic or KDS gave me
a canned response. "The model you have has been
replaced with a newer model and is not supported
any more". almost every other month Viewsonic comes
out with a new model that is faster refresh, or
higher contrast ratio or something of the like....
so it has been totally imposable to get replacement
parts. Couple that with the usual one year backlight
warranty and you can see it can be good business
for them to have a part that costs less them less
than a dollar fail just after the warranty runs
out. Well realizing that I am not the only one that
has felt this frustration I decided to take matters
into my own hands. I was surprised how easy and
cheep it was to rescue my LCD monitors from the
geek hacking bench. |
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The
Monitor
So first off you will need your monitor. Most LCD
monitors are constructed the same way, with a cold
cathode bulb as the back light source. A plastic
sheet acts as a lens that refracts the light from
the edge to the front of the screen and through
the LCD panel. A small 12V inverter provides power
to the bulb. As the bulbs get old they can have
a hard time starting, lighting at all, flickering,
or even putting out a strong pink colored light |
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The
Replacemt Backlight
Cold cathode bulbs can be hard to come by new and
unused, and they can cost allot ordered from resale
vendors. So we looked to case lighting for the source
of our bulbs. Xoxide
has an excellent selection of them with the inverter
for about $9.00 and a couple bucks for shipping,
and so does lcdparts.com.
A good 15" kit will provide a bulb for a 15" monitor
just fine! I have been able to find 17" kits as
well as 19" kits. But most likely you wont have
to replace your inverter, and that will save you
a couple bucks. |
Tools
that we used
( I.E. you may want to use as well )
One note on power tools: use them at your own risk. Be sure to read and
understand any and all documentation on the tools you use. No amount of
documentation can make up for experience, but there are many people with
serious eye injuries at the school of hard knocks. If you don't know what you
are doing, don't do it and find some one that can help.
Screwdrivers
Pliers
Soldering iron
Wire cutters
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