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Displays Hardware

Obtaining Used LCD Parts? 46

Posted by Cliff from the resources-for-do-it-yourself-ers dept.
davebarz asks: "With LCDs having already passed several generations and become affordable for the average user, one would think the biggest question would be which LCD to buy. But what about for geeks with no budget and no desk space... for instance, college kids? As friends' LCD monitors stop working due to particular components such as inverters or backlights, it's hard to resist trying to take their panel off their hands and try to fix it for oneself. There's nothing difficult about changing backlights or inverters, but after getting just such a monitor from a girlfriend, I've found that it's nearly impossible to find parts. The actual LCD panel works fine, so why throw out a $400 monitor when all it needs is a $30 power inverter? So, my question is, to where should one go to find out exactly what part one needs and then buy a suitable replacement? Specifically, I'm in the market for an inverter for a Gateway FPD1730. The inverter appears to be an Ambit model, but they're no help since they're exclusively OEM. Can Slashdot provide me with any help?"
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Obtaining Used LCD Parts? More

Obtaining Used LCD Parts?

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  • become an OEM (Score:3, Funny)

    by brontus3927 ( 865730 ) <{edwardra3} {at} {gmail.com}> on Wednesday April 13, 2005 @07:58PM (#12229058) Homepage Journal
    File the neccessary paperwork with your state/province/country to become a LCD OEM. Then contact the company and order the part.

    • Re:become an OEM (Score:5, Insightful)

      by balamw ( 552275 ) * on Wednesday April 13, 2005 @08:05PM (#12229102)

      Of course once you have become an OEM you'll need to figure out what to do with the 1000 part minimum order you just got ;-)

      I hope you were trying to be funny, since most OEM suppliers would not sell a part developed for a specific OEM to anyone else, at least that's how it works in my business.

      B

      • Re:become an OEM (Score:2, Informative)

        by brontus3927 ( 865730 )
        Who's to say that the inverter in question was only ever used in one model of LCD? I would assume any LCD with the same power requirements could use the same parts.

        As far as the minimum order, tell them you are expanding into the sector and want the part of a prototype

      • 1000 min or 5 "sample" parts... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by PaulBu ( 473180 ) on Wednesday April 13, 2005 @08:30PM (#12229314) Homepage
        Most of electronic component companies would be quite happy to send you a "sample" (or two) if you project an impression of someone who is designing "the next greatest gadget I can not tell you about right now" and you are evaluation their components for the "gadget". Sometimes if their real product are chips they would sell you an evaluation board. Well, for those you'd have to pay, but I suspect that what they charge for these boards is still below what it would cost you to assemble one (even assuming that college kids work for their girlfriends for free BUT tend to burn a part or two in the process of hand-soldering the board ;-) ).

        Paul B.
        • Actually in my experience the "sample" components are ususally drastically more than regular retail.
          • Yeah, maybe if you mean "retail" to be what they charge for 10,000 parts -- then yes, it might be more that 15 cents a part. But I would happily pay 50 cents a part (in quatities of 5 -- for the total of the whopping $2.50) to fix my $400 LCD monitor...

            YMMV,

            Paul B.

            • You are giving bulk purchasing a lot more credit than it is worth. On an item (lets say motherboard) you may be able to purchase it for $60-70/each in quantities of 10,000 units. In my experience if the part is OEM only the manufacturer will sell sample boards but charge more like $500/ea for them. The entire point is to charge a ridiculous price (but peanuts to anyone working on the next wheel) explicitly to bar people using social engineering to get samples. If the part costs $0.15 to manufacture it will
        • Tyco Electronics does this. If you call their CS/Sales center, they'll send you 1 part of anything you need for free...
        • I've done that trick too many times to get free components for my projects.

          -Eric

        • My own personal experience has been that you can easily get samples of small quantities of generic components, often for free. This is particulalry true if you already do business with the company and/or are familiar with their offerings. This has not been the case for subassemblies such as this power inverter that can be fairly custom in form/fit/function for a given product.

          Basically, unless the part is already offered to the public you are unlikely to get anywhere asking the supplier for a model # PI64

  • 2 places... (Score:5, Informative)

    by ryrw ( 810868 ) on Wednesday April 13, 2005 @08:00PM (#12229068) Homepage
    I do this all the time and my primary suppliers are eBay and lcdpart.com One thing to watch out for which has ruined a couple screens for me is the thin ribbon connectors whill break off if bent too many times. If those break off, you're completely screwed. So don't bend them more then you absolutely have to.

  • EarthLCD or Froogle (Score:5, Informative)

    by BrianRaker ( 633638 ) on Wednesday April 13, 2005 @08:01PM (#12229077) Homepage Journal
    EarthLCD. http://www.earthlcd.com.

    One-stop LCD buying shop.

    If that doesn't work, enter in the LCD panel part number into Froogle. Usually it can be found, just depends on how much you want to spend.

  • Check EIO (Score:5, Informative)

    by dewc ( 700281 ) on Wednesday April 13, 2005 @08:07PM (#12229121)
    Might want to check out www.eio.com too. They deal with some spare parts and offer diagrams and the likes. Might get lucky.

  • Non-Backlight Use (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I know this isn't entirely related to what you are trying to do, but how about using it in a situation where the backlight isn't needed, such as the diy projectors, which use the LCD screen on top of a overhead projector.
    Not really practical if you are trying to use the LCD as a normal display, but if you got an overhead cheap, it might be a cheap way for a big projector screen. (But would end up with less inputs, so it might still be impractical)

  • Bliss (Score:5, Informative)

    by stoolpigeon ( 454276 ) * <bittercode@gmail> on Wednesday April 13, 2005 @08:47PM (#12229446) Homepage Journal
    Last week my dad called me and said his laptop screen went out. I don't usually mess with hardware so I told him to take it to Best Buy and have them look at it.

    He took it in - they said the LCD was bad and it would be about $600 to replace. He called me and I told him not to do it and I'd look into it.

    I figured I could get a new LCD for less than that. I googled and came across http://www.screentekinc.com/ [screentekinc.com]

    I called them and the salesman told me it was probably not the LCD and that I should check the inverter first. He told me one place to get parts was Bliss Computers [blisscomputers.net]

    I didn't have the laptop on hand, didn't have part numbers, so I checked e-bay and found an inverter there for $40 (including shipping). Another LCD site had instructions on removing the bezel.

    I took my time since I'd never done this before and so it took twice as long as it should have. In 10 minutes I had fixed it.

  • Google (Score:5, Informative)

    by stoolpigeon ( 454276 ) * <bittercode@gmail> on Wednesday April 13, 2005 @09:06PM (#12229575) Homepage Journal
    After my post above- I tried another route. I googled 'Gateway FPD1730'. That got me a hit with a list that had two part numbers - LG708G and LG708K (the second for the TFT model I think). I googled on LG708G and got the ambit part number 6633TZA013A. I googled on that- along with AMBIT and that got me two links that sell the part:
    lcdpart.com [lcdpart.com] (which has already been mentioned)
    moniserv.com [moniserv.com] looks like it is the same price from them.

    I checked ebay real quick but didn't see anything-- but I really didn't look too hard.

    • Re:Google (Score:5, Funny)

      by Stevyn ( 691306 ) on Wednesday April 13, 2005 @10:04PM (#12229966)
      I think we've just hit on a new data type: Linked Google List
      • I think I would've called it a "Googly Linked List." In my opinion, "Linked List" is the core data type and therefore should be treated atomically. Any modifiers should go before that.

        Otherwise we'd call it a "linked doubly list" or "linked circular list" or "linked chunk list."
        Or.. a "linked monkey list"... All this talk of linked lists is making me hungry for Ben and Jerry's.

  • Off but On Topic (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Peridriga ( 308995 ) on Wednesday April 13, 2005 @09:21PM (#12229704)
    Where can one buy smaller LCD's (like 2-6 inches).

    My only caveat would be analog inputs (RCA) or possibly coaxial with a built in tuner.

    I want to make a super PIP display. Be able to watch 5-10 channels at the same time. Maybe one day a video switcher but, one can dream (and make more money)

    • Re:Off but On Topic (Score:1, Offtopic)

      by gl4ss ( 559668 )
      check car 'tuning' magazines.

      you know, those that have advertisements for ricer crap and hotrod accessories.
    • The first thing that comes to mind are the PSone lcd screens. [ebay.com] These are relatively cheap and use analog inputs (interlaced, even, which is perfect for plain old tv). Guides showing how to disassemble and rewire them with the connector of your choice are available, too.

      How are you planning on tuning that many channels at once? Have you found some nifty piece of equipment with a whole bunch of tuners?
    • Even more off-topic, but on in IT, are there any small LCDs with "normal" computer monitor hookups? I always thought it'd be useful to see if headless boxes (fileserver in the basement?) were alive without lugging around a full-size monitor.
      • I have a 14" LCD panel that's very light and does not have a bulky surround which I use as a portable display for headless machines. It's made by "MAG Innovision", part number LT-456S, such as shown here by Froogle [google.com]. I picked mine up at Best Buy but they no longer sell it last I looked.

  • Find another broken screen (Score:3, Insightful)

    by leonbrooks ( 8043 ) <SentByMSBlast-No ... .brooks.fdns.net> on Wednesday April 13, 2005 @09:47PM (#12229877) Homepage
    Odds are reasonable that it died from some other cause (knocked off desk, smashed display; staffer tripped and dumped coffee into the works; tech snapped one of the aformentioned delicate ribbons; etc) and that the part you need still functions.

    If you can locate a ready local supply of such, you might be able to not only fix the original but merge some of the junkers to make working displays as well. Doing this well requires either a large shed or a low-rainfall region. (-:

  • Best! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by shadowbearer ( 554144 ) * on Wednesday April 13, 2005 @09:48PM (#12229882) Homepage Journal
    This is one of the best ask slashdot's ever. Thanks for all the info everyone. I have several dead LCDs sitting around and haven't managed to find the time to research the parts and narrow down what searches work.

    You just saved me a huge amount of time. Maybe someday now I'll have a desk that's not 75% covered by monitors!

    Cheers!
    SB

    • Re:Best! (Score:2, Funny)

      by tpearson ( 621275 )
      Maybe someday now I'll have a desk that's not 75% covered by monitors!
      No, you'll have one that's 75% covered by LCDs
      • Yeah, but at least the cats can't try to sleep on top of them ;-)* and besides, I can rebuild them to hang them on the wall if I can get them working.

        I can't afford to do that with one that I paid a shitload of money for, even if it's out of warranty. I got lucky on the prices I paid for my 21" and 19" CRTs :-D otherwise I'd still be squinting at my ancient IBM 17" and wondering why I can't focus on anything anymore.

        Auctions rock...

        An LCD here and there hanging on the wall around the desk that I c
        • Hehe, evil cats.

          I strongly suspect mine contributed to the demise of my old CRT, as she spent almost the whole day on top of it, and quite a lot of fur seemed to have got inside.

          On the other hand, now I have a nice 19" LCD, and it was really hilarious to watch her as she tried to climb on the LCD and figure out what happened with it. She spent several days walking around the monitor maybe hoping it would go back to the old comfortable thing ;-)

  • How hard is it to turn a (presumably working) LCD from an old dead laptop into either a flatscreen monitor for a VGA signal or a display for analog video? How much of the circuitry necessary to drive the monitor is embedded in the laptop's mainboard and how much is part of the LCD panel?

  • LCD Part dot com (Score:3, Informative)

    by BenTheDewpendent ( 180527 ) <ben@junkns[ ]f.net ['tuf' in gap]> on Thursday April 14, 2005 @12:41AM (#12230837) Homepage
    http://lcdpart.com/

    They sell backlights, inverts, and such for many monitors. I'm getting a 19inch LCD for about 60bucks because of them. I'm just paying for the backlighting replacement.

  • The Flea at MIT in Cambridge, MA (Score:3, Informative)

    by Khopesh ( 112447 ) on Thursday April 14, 2005 @09:36AM (#12232918) Homepage Journal

    The MIT Swapfest [mit.edu], aka The Flea at MIT, is a great place for old or junk computer or radio parts. I've heard somebody tagline it as "Yesterday's technology, today!"

    Third Sunday of every non-winter month, next flea is the first of the year, this Sunday April 17th.

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