Inside an LCD monitor.

[wellies]

My monitor went wrong some time ago. It gave the effect shown below:

 

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/boots44/monitor/monitor320.jpg

 

Turning it off and back on again a number of times would eventually coax it into giving a proper display. I got fed up with it in the end and bought a new monitor. The new one runs fine with no problems. I kept the old one and took it to bits out of interest to see what was inside. Below are the display components:

 

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/boots44/monitor/lcdmon.jpg

 

The way the lighting is done is different to what was expected. The backlights (7 and 8) are positioned at the top and bottom of the construction, not the back. They shine across the surface of 2, a piece of perspex about a quarter of an inch thick. The perspex has a pattern of light diffusers all over the surface (shown in the outlined enlargement). These presumably catch the light and deflect it forward. In front of the perspex are three layers of plastic sheeting (3 - 4 and 5). These must further diffuse the light and therefore give an even light across the entire surface. In front of all that sits the actual LCD panel (6).

 

Here is a close-up showing part of a light (7 - 8):

 

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/boots44/monitor/b-light.jpg

 

Well, I thought it was all very interesting anyway. :)

[Tootech]

Quite interesting wellies.

 

I'd have thought it would be similar to a laptop screen, but its not.

 

Lappy panels have everything built in except the inverter, which sits underneath.

[maynardvdm]

Nice one Wellies, that is very interesting

[Plastic Nev]

In fact I will suggest that some good can still be obtained from the duff monitor.

Both backlight tubes must still be working, so with some care the tube or tubes could be mounted in some form of holder.

Next, and looking at the cards in the back, the inverter is a separate one, so it could be boxed to keep it from harm.

Connect the now boxed card and the lamps, and you could have two useful desk lamps.

 

I am full of good idea's.

 

Nev.

[wellies]

I never thought of that before I took all the bits to the council recycling (I hope) centre Nev :).

 

I was secretly a little glad it went wrong in such a definite way. It gave me a good reason to replace it. Ever since I bought the Digimate monitor, it suffered from a flicker. Turning the brightness up or down a notch would stop it but then it would start flickering again when the picture content changed. Searching for 'digimate flickering display' on the Internet proved I wasn't the only one with this minor but annoying fault. I got a widescreen ViewSonic as a replacement. Very happy with it.

[Plastic Nev]

A shame that it has gone, I always think of what I can do with something other than its intended purpose, before throwing it when it goes wrong.

You having been in the trade, you will remember those vibrator mechanical things that were used to turn DC to AC for those old valved car radios? Inside an aluminium can and hummed quietly when running, I used one that came out of a duff car radio with a pretty heavy transformer to run a four foot fluorescent tube from a car battery many years ago, (to light a garage a long way from the mains) and have been searching for alternative uses for stuff ever since.