Replacing CCFL backlight on HP monitor... do i dare?

[wirednuts]

i have 3x19" HP LP1965 lcd monitors above my livingroom tv. i bought them used, and the backlight on one of them is very reddish.

i find in the menus that these monitors actually log the time used. so i get

brightest, awesome looking screen- 9k hours *
slightly dimmer but still white and good- 32k hours *
red, dim, crummy backlight- 27k hours

these two screens share the same revision numbers as well. its probably another reason they match up in image quality.

so basically i need to replace the backlight on one screen, but i dont know if its worth it or not.

i seems i can get a bulb for $15... but i have to take apart my screen first to measure the bulb inside. i dont need a plug n play kit, i can solder no problem. i am a union electrician for 10 years and a computer hobbiest my whole life, so i have skills.

is it worth it? anyone do it? is it easy to ruin the screen?

thanks for the replies

 

[wirednuts]

so nobody dares me. i dare myself then. i dont like a red backlight. i might even rip the screen apart today

 

[sm625]

Why not buy this one
http://www.pcliquidations.com/p8495-hp-lp1965-grade-b?r160164167166161

for $35 and experiment on it? Maybe it has a good bulb.

 

[wirednuts]

wow, $47 is the same price i paid for my other ones. thanks... i think i might just do that

 

[paul878]

It is not that hard, I have done a lot of back-light replacement on laptop lcd.
But it might not worth it for such an old lcd, especially if you break a light or two doing the process.

 

[wirednuts]

i just emailed the store to ask if they could sell me one with less then 15k hours on it. lets see if they reply. it seems these bulbs can go 30k hours and still look great, i think it was just a slightly poorer quality bulb that is in the one screen i have with 27k hours on it.

 

[wirednuts]

It is not that hard, I have done a lot of back-light replacement on laptop lcd.
But it might not worth it for such an old lcd, especially if you break a light or two doing the process.

these screens are almost perfect for my needs. they are mva panels, so the viewing angles and color reproduction actually rivals my philips 42" flatscreen; they match the picture surprisingly well. they also block out all backlight superbly, and you can turn off the bezel led's so for most of the time you cant even tell the screens are on unless you have something displaying on them. and the bezels are very thin, as i have 3 lined up side by side and they still look like modern screens.

these were professional grade screens that many businesses seemed to mount on their walls. probably a lot of people ran matrix displays with them (as i kinda am). but thats also why you see a lot of b stock now with lots of hours on the bulbs. i think i was lucky to get one with only 9k hours on it.

if i buy a 4th screen and find out i CAN replace the backlights without much trouble, ill fix the ones i have to so i can get 3 screens that match well. then, with the 4th one i will likely get a touchscreen digitizer and make it into a wall mounted jukebox player (always wanted to do that. where is raspberrypi?)

 

[Modelworks]

The one tip I can give is to get some soft cloth work gloves. 3M makes some that are ideal . Fingerprints are a major problem when working with lcd panels, the glass just begs to be touched. The bulbs are also sensitive to oils on the skin and can degrade if the oil is present. latex gloves will still leave prints and can tend to stick to the glass surfaces.

 

[Gillbot]

It is not that hard, I have done a lot of back-light replacement on laptop lcd.
But it might not worth it for such an old lcd, especially if you break a light or two doing the process.

The one tip I can give is to get some soft cloth work gloves. 3M makes some that are ideal . Fingerprints are a major problem when working with lcd panels, the glass just begs to be touched. The bulbs are also sensitive to oils on the skin and can degrade if the oil is present. latex gloves will still leave prints and can tend to stick to the glass surfaces.

these ^

 

[wirednuts]

thanks guys. i think i might just blow apart this one i have and see if i can get a bulb out of it. if not, ill just toss it and buy another refurb one as it seems i can get these for $50 fairly easily.

if it does go smooth though, ill probably replace all 3. i need these screens to match!

 

[Howard]

The one tip I can give is to get some soft cloth work gloves. 3M makes some that are ideal . Fingerprints are a major problem when working with lcd panels, the glass just begs to be touched. The bulbs are also sensitive to oils on the skin and can degrade if the oil is present. latex gloves will still leave prints and can tend to stick to the glass surfaces.

What about nitrile?

 

[WHAMPOM]

Yes go for it. Pull the bad lcd apart to find out what you need. I have pulled the backlights out of a cracked screen monitor and inserted them into another in about two hours. You will need a roll of aluminum tape for assembly and rubbing alcohol to clean the tubes. Handle the lights by the ends, solder the wires after assembly,use a heat sink on the tube side.

 

[Modelworks]

What about nitrile?

I have never tried them. The cloth gloves are what they use in the factories to assemble the screens so I just stuck with that. Any glove that will not stick to the glass or leave prints should work though.

 

[wirednuts]

Yes go for it. Pull the bad lcd apart to find out what you need. I have pulled the backlights out of a cracked screen monitor and inserted them into another in about two hours. You will need a roll of aluminum tape for assembly and rubbing alcohol to clean the tubes. Handle the lights by the ends, solder the wires after assembly,use a heat sink on the tube side.

thank you! thats really what i wanted to know... just the basics. ive seen this stuff done on youtube, but i do like 1st hand opinions.

you just gave me some motivation!

and the nitrile gloves probably are fine. i would bet factories use cloth because they absorb dust and sweat. nitrile gloves would be miserable to work in 8+ hours a day i would think.


edit- wow these guys seem nice. they replied today saying they would be more then happy to find a screen with 15k hours or less on it. i guess i should double down and see if they can find one that has the same revision number as my other two.................... cross fingers!!........................

 

[slag]

I'm actually in the process of doing this right now. Well, I have been for 6 months anyway, but I took the monitor apart, ordered the new bulbs, they arrived from taiwan or somewhere, and they've just been sitting in a pile. Wife and kids are out of town this weekend, I should probably put it back together so I have another 19 inch lcd monitor I don't need.....

 

[PrayForDeath]

i have 3x19" HP LP1965 lcd monitors above my livingroom tv. i bought them used, and the backlight on one of them is very reddish.

What for?

 

[wirednuts]

I should probably put it back together so I have another 19 inch lcd monitor I don't need.....

YES! brilliant i love extra monitors though. especially $50 ones.

i really cant wait till oled is prevalent. once screens get cardboard thin and draw a whopping 10w of power, then we can start hanging these things everywhere in the house. and no backlights to worry about!

 

[wirednuts]

What for?

heh... what not for. i dont know why i didnt think of it years ago. i used to have a 120" projection setup that i used all the time. it was nice, as i could fit multiple screens showing different sports games or whatever... but it also cost about $300 a year in bulbs and the pq is never as good as an lcd tv.

so now i have this.

the 2 front tower speakers are off screen... but yeah you get the idea. i did this with 3 video cards actually, because all these screens are dvi only. but it works great. all 3 flavors of gpu too, an ati 4870 as main card running the tv and middle monitor, a 8400gs for one screen and then the last screen is handled by the intel i3 graphics.

no driver conflicts at all! i love win7.

and even better, if you set the 19" monitors to 800x600 resolution, not only can you see whats on the screens from the couch, you can get the picture to line up perfectly with the tv's picture. so when i drag a window across all 4 screens it looks like a matrix display.

as you can see, my bezel margins are not perfect but if anyone has setup multiple screens before you know its a complete PITA to line them up in the video driver software. they really need to make that better. you can see, the top left screen is out of line. it just happens sometimes, the catalyst driver software just sucks for getting the bezel margins right.

here is milkdrop... mmmmmm

but the REAL reason i did it was to watch 4 football games simultaneously. believe me, my house is packed with bug eyed people every sunday!!!

anyone else notice my 42" tv doesnt seem big enough now? i sit 9ft away so its plenty for my room. i just think a 52" would fit underneath those 3 screens better.... hmm....

also. because the top left screen has the crummy backlight, i had to drastically lower the brightness and redden up the color on the other two screens. so they do all look similar right now, but you can a notice a nice brown/white across the top, whereas the tv looks pure white. but as far as the colors go, they match the tv shockingly well. a TN panel would never come close to looking like my tv does. thats why i really like these HP lp1965 screens