best cheap/free scores 1.1

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

55" LED Visio "Smart TV" -- sound but no picture (yet backlight!).

One of the cables to TCON had partially worked it's way loose. Sure would be nice if ALL repairs were that easy!

(Now to find a place for it...)

I picked up a brand new 24" acer monitor that way about 10 years ago. It was returned to the store, bad out of the box and given to me....t-con cable loose. I sold it to a local business for the POS system, they're still using it.

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

[Can't edit previous post...]

I have an old PE840 with a 4 slot SAS/SATA drive cage that I can swap out with a 4 slot SCA drive cage. That would be a great place for a 2.5" drive cage option (presently, I deal with 2.5" drives using a three-slot external USB3 dock... not ideal but "serviceable"!)

Note the SCSI cage (on the floor beside the PE840) just "looks like" a wide SCSI bus (with the addition of a few actives on the backplane).

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I picked up a brand new 24" acer monitor that way about 10 years ago. It was returned to the store, bad out of the box and given to me....t-con cable loose. I sold it to a local business for the POS system, they're still using it.

I don't understand how this can happen (unless someone had previously been "tinkering" inside the TV). But, not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth...

One of my DSOs had a similar problem -- there's an interconnect "cable" that is actually a PCB that rides along the side of the boards (the backplane being elsewhere). Apparently, some number of jolts to the case had caused the board (which has a bit of mass!) to come loose.

But, I don't see how any practical amount of "jarring" would have dislodged the TCon cable. <shrug> I'll keep an eye on it just in case I was "faked out" by this easy fix (and a REAL problem still exists).

Moral: Take the easy ones to compensate for the ball-busters!

[Thankfully, both items were "scrapped" so I don't feel obligated to find their original owners and return them, "fixed"!]

[[BTW, expect another box when I get time to visit PO]]

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

1x Envision 19" 16:10, won't come out of standby, caps *appear* ok, albeit junk brands. Not sure what's wrong with it.

Got this one going. The caps were a mix of "elite" and "capxon", all appeared ok. Upon removal none were in their uF tolerance (all reading low), I didn't check them any further (ESR and leakage). I also removed some of that 'glue' that's known to become conductive from the PSU. That brought it out of standby.....but revealed a garbled image on the screen.....yet the OSD was fine....that screams t-con issue. First thing is to clean & reseat the cable. It was gunked up on the panel side... All cured now and half a day wasted on a monitor that's worth maybe $30....

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

All cured now and half a day wasted on a monitor that's worth maybe $30....

Some repairs have "therapeutic" value and needn't "pay for themselves".

I rescued and fixed a "scooter" (no idea what they are called... like an old-fashioned wooden skateboard but with an electric motor?) last week. No real challenge but a fair bit of time.

So, now one of the neighborhood brats can ride around -- and further avoid getting any real exercise! :<

[The real trick, of course, is avoiding becoming the "maintenance man" for said scooter!]

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Some repairs have "therapeutic" value and needn't "pay for themselves".

There's actually a very valid point there. I find repairing just about anything whether its easy, difficult, time consuming, etc to be quite therapeutic....even if I just give it away, which I do rather frequently.

Part of me hates seeing usable tech end up in shredders or landfills, the other part of me enjoys the challenge & rewards (even when the 'rewards' aren't for financial gain) of repairing it....

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

There's actually a very valid point there. I find repairing just about anything whether its easy, difficult, time consuming, etc to be quite therapeutic....even if I just give it away, which I do rather frequently.

Part of me hates seeing usable tech end up in shredders or landfills, the other part of me enjoys the challenge & rewards (even when the 'rewards' aren't for financial gain) of repairing it....

The goal should always be to refurbish, reuse, or repurpose before resorting to "recycle" (and NEVER "discard")

I like "puzzles" (of all sorts). Trying to figure out what's wrong with a particular thing and how to best repair it is just another puzzle. Especially if I don't truly understand what the "thing" is or how it is supposed to work!

[I was working on an engraving robot a week or so ago]

Taking things apart also gives me ideas as to how folks (with large engineering departments) have economized on manufacturing and/or service.

In some cases, it also validates "rules of thumb" that I've assumed as truisms, over the years (e.g., when you see a 6V cap on a 5V supply and note that it DOES work... for a WHILE! :> )

Finding "deserving" homes for things can often be challenging, though. E.g., most of my neighbors are pretty affluent so gifting something to any of them feels hollow (i.e., they can afford better!).

For that reason, I'm happier finding homes for rescued DME as those folks often don't have the funds to afford the sorts of things that I can give them!

[TechGeek]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Got this one going. The caps were a mix of "elite" and "capxon", all appeared ok. Upon removal none were in their uF tolerance (all reading low), I didn't check them any further (ESR and leakage). I also removed some of that 'glue' that's known to become conductive from the PSU. That brought it out of standby.....but revealed a garbled image on the screen.....yet the OSD was fine....that screams t-con issue. First thing is to clean & reseat the cable. It was gunked up on the panel side... All cured now and half a day wasted on a monitor that's worth maybe $30....

Wouldn't it be closer to a video processing issue? AFAIK, the T-Con takes the raw signal fed to it from the mainboard and drives it onto the display panel, regardless of where it came from. My Toshiba 32AV500U had a T-Con failure and it displayed nothing. A bad video processor section would have problems with external inputs fed into it, but mainboard-generated inputs (OSD, etc) would display fine as those kinds of things don't get piped through the video processing section.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Wouldn't it be closer to a video processing issue? AFAIK, the T-Con takes the raw signal fed to it from the mainboard and drives it onto the display panel, regardless of where it came from. My Toshiba 32AV500U had a T-Con failure and it displayed nothing. A bad video processor section would have problems with external inputs fed into it, but mainboard-generated inputs (OSD, etc) would display fine as those kinds of things don't get piped through the video processing section.

Yes, I realized that goof after posting, I did mean signal processing issue. t-con issue would infact garble anything, including the OSD. I cleaned the contacts of all the interface ribbons & cables....the problem went away....my brain said signal process issue, my fingers said t-con.....makes me think I'm getting old.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I tried 2, and just never liked it. I hated looking straight ahead at the 'bezel break'. Naturally, I always favor the middle one...but with the side ones angled like that, theres really not that much head turning. There's not much showing on them in that pic, but typically there's a lot going...and I hate windows overlapping. This 3 monitor setup (all Dell u3011's) for a productivity system IMO is perfect!

I made an extension for the back of my desk, so they're not right in my face but not too far away. I have good vision....but last year my eye doc got me in reading glasses....I have to use them for working on electronics nowadays, but I do not need them to view these monitors.

I like how you got the pothos plant vines and leaves on the back of the monitors.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

... and the 28" monster needs TLC. Intermittently cutting out... cracked it open, the inverter board looks good, and most of the PSU does too (UCC caps everywhere, and not KZJ's or the like). But part of the PSU is taicons, and the entire control board is some other garbage brand. Hopefully a recap will fix it up.

Ironically, I would trust Taicon more than Chemicon KZGs and the like, at least for the earlier KZG-series caps.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I like how you got the pothos plant vines and leaves on the back of the monitors.

My wife thought I needed that on my desk. It was about 4" tall when she brought it in. Its around 5ft now....been there a couple years now. There was another one in our old house that was ~10yrs old. we gave it a haircut when we moved. It wrapped around several rooms and was over 100ft long.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Ironically, I would trust Taicon more than Chemicon KZGs and the like, at least for the earlier KZG-series caps.

You do know that years ago (10 years or more), we at BCN found out that Taicon was behind the Nichion HM/HN fiasco of the early 2000's. They are garbage.

[tmcw]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

dont strip that, a collector will probably buy it - put it on ebay

I know, I was joking about stripping it.

Problem with putting it on eBay is that it's hard to know how much it's worth, and unlikely to get a couple of guys fighting for it.

The boxes look good, and are small and compact, so I'll hold onto them for a while. Would be nice to be able to test it out though, the monitor port is a 5-pin DIN mono (or 8-pin, colour) , so it might be possible to get something relatively easily to check that out (unless not following specification), but the keyboard port is an 8-pin (DIN), which looks more difficult to get, and may have unusual /specific pin assignments.

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

see if it's emulated in MAME, if not they would want it.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

You do know that years ago (10 years or more), we at BCN found out that Taicon was behind the Nichion HM/HN fiasco of the early 2000's. They are garbage.

Yup, I most certainly recall that one!

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

You do know that years ago (10 years or more), we at BCN found out that Taicon was behind the Nichion HM/HN fiasco of the early 2000's. They are garbage.

What did Taicon do? Did Taicon contaminate the electrolyte of Nichicon HN and HM caps?

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Got an Asus 22" VE228 LED monitor from a local shop. I powered it up, tested, seems ok....but they wouldn't have given it to me for no reason.....so I opened it.... All the "usual suspects" seemed ok. Lousy brands (elite & lelon), but appeared ok. I recapped it anyway. Checking the old ones, they were in tolerance....albeit some close to the low side threshold.

Thinking maybe its got a wonky LED strip when hot, I let the CM2250 run its burn-in pattern cycle for 6 hours, no issues. I guess chalk it up in the 'win' column...





Still pluggin' away at the other projects.... Lots of subtle things in this pic if you know what you're looking for!

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Lots of subtle things in this pic if you know what you're looking for!

WAYYYYY too clean/uncluttered!

And, look at all that EMPTY floor space!! What do you do, have DANCING LESSONS on Thursday nights?!

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

WAYYYYY too clean/uncluttered!

And, look at all that EMPTY floor space!! What do you do, have DANCING LESSONS on Thursday nights?!

I can't stand clutter and absolute disarray.... I'm not the tidiest person around....but when I feel the walls are closing in on me from mess/junk, I go on a dumpster filling binge.

The room is 17'x17' or so....and the fact I've got 2 left feet, no dancing around here. The open floorspace where the toolbox was won't be open for long....