Three West

I’m back to share with you all that has happened since Part 3 of this project. *Smile* Several things… First, I received the 26″ HDTV and realized it was enormous. Then I opened it up and realized it was scary. Then I fixed it for $21.99. *Insert Diabolical Laugh Here* The 26″ HDTV did indeed have an issue with the 8 CCFL inverter. One of the 8 transformers on the PCB board was bad so for $21.99 I bought a new replacement transformer, desoldered the bad one and soldered on the new. Now I’m using the fantastic TV to write this post. *Smile* I have also written an Instructable on how to test and replace the transformers on the inverter in this TV (It is a very common inverter board that is present in lots of name brand LCD TVs and the transformer problem is a known issue for this board). You can check out the instructable HERE.

Alright, so this quest has rewarded me with a 26″ HDTV for roughly $60. Not bad. But what about my production monitor project? Well, it’s still on and poppin’. I received the Proscan controller board and inverter and hooked it up to my LCD panel. The only problem is, I have no cable to hook the inverter to the mainboard where it will draw it’s power from. So I was basically back to square one and had to order the connector cables today ($2). I don’t anticipate there will be an issue with this setup once I get the cable and I think I can move on to building a case for my monitor once I’ve verified it works with the new controller and inverter. … Well, I take that back. I did do something silly. I blew a capacitor on the Proscan board by plugging this high powered 12V adapter into it. It sounded like a cheap handgun going off and spewed its powdery guts all over the place. Neat. *Insert Diabolical Laugh Here* But I soldered on a new higher voltage capacitor in it’s place and will use a more appropriate power adapter if I haven’t killed the board. It didn’t look like the rest of the board was damaged but we shall see. The Proscan controller also has a DC connector and uses a laptop style power adapter. This is just what I wanted. If I’m feeling really lofty, I may build a solar powered UPS battery backup with two-stage battery charging for the monitor for extended use applications.

Lastly, I’ve abandoned the idea of using a laptop LCD for a production monitor. Simply put, it is the difference between choosing a car that just needs a new fuse to fix the head lights or a car that needs an engine and a battery and on top of that, the car in the worst shape will cost you more. *Smile*

Once I have the LCD guts working I can focus on building a rugged case to survive vigorous production use.

*NOTE* You may want to consider the size of your finished production monitor if you plan on traveling via the airlines. Mine will be 15-17 inches and I wouldn’t take that with me if I was flying anywhere. You could ship it and hope no one gets the hot fingers with it. *Smile*

I also want to add that my economic goal for this monitor is for it to cost less than $100. I admit that had I known as much as I’ve learned since I first started this, I would have spent far less than I have so far. Right now the cost of the monitor project is at about $75, if I stick to using the Proscan controller and inverter. However, if I just repair the original PSU, then the cost would be about $30-40 (but I would have to plug the thing into the wall all the time. Booooooo!). Also, if I’d known then what I knew now, I could have gotten a similar Polaroid TV with a good PSU for dirt cheap and swapped it out. But know YOU know and you should be able to avoid my costly mistakes.

*If some elements to the right block your view of the photos below, scroll down until they are off the screen. The image will stay in place.