Help me find CCFL replacement bulbs for my monitor please

[The_Gunn]

I have a dell E196FPf / E197FPf 19'' LCD monitor which recently died. I have extensive pc build/repair experience, but I have never worked on an LCD before. After spending some time on this, and other, forums I've come to believe it is the CCFL lamps that are the problem.

When the monitor first went on the fritz, it would light up for a second and then go dark, if I gave it a couple of whacks (I know, that's terrible) it would come on and then stay lit up perfectly fine until I turned the monitor off again.

After a couple of weeks of smacking it every day, that finally stopped working.

I've disassembled the monitor and visually inspected the components (I do not have a multimeter to do a proper check). None of the capacitors are bulged, and there is no visual evidence of any problems with the power/logic, or inverter boards.

The only thing I can visually see that looks bad is on the ends of all of the lamps, they appear to be blackened, and possibly burned out. Combined with what I've researched so far, and the symptoms the monitor showed, I've come to believe the CCFLs are the problem.

Now however, I'm having a very difficult time locating the proper replacement bulbs. I also am uncertain whether I should be purchasing just the new bulbs, or new wiring harnesses as well.

Any help is appreciated, either locating the proper replacements, or if anyone has any other ideas please feel free to share.

[budm]

Re: Help me find CCFL replacement bulbs for my monitor please

You can get bare lamps from www.lcdparts.net, or www.ccflwarehouse.com
The hard part will be the soldering works.
Not usre about whacking it and the lamps stay on, unless there are burnt connections at the end of the lamp, if yiu give it a tug, the wire will usually come off if it is bad.
http://s807.photobucket.com/albums/y...klight%20lamp/

[The_Gunn]

Re: Help me find CCFL replacement bulbs for my monitor please

You can get bare lamps from www.lcdparts.net, or www.ccflwarehouse.com
The hard part will be the soldering works.
Not usre about whacking it and the lamps stay on, unless there are burnt connections at the end of the lamp, if yiu give it a tug, the wire will usually come off if it is bad.
http://s807.photobucket.com/albums/y...klight%20lamp/

That is how they look pretty much exactly. All 4 bulbs are blackened on the end where they connect to the wires.

I wasn't aware that they were soldered in place. Just from looking at it I thought they would just slide in/out. I have no experience soldering at all. I suppose I'm going to have to try and find bulbs with a wiring harness. Should I be searching for replacement bulbs for that monitor's model number, or do I just need to find one of the appropriate size?

Edit- Browsing around those sites, I don't see any full assemblies for dell monitors. However, with the bulbs seeming to run around $12 each, and the assemblies they do sell running for around $32 each, It's looking like I might just be better off getting a new one. Considering it looks like I would need $48 worth of bulbs + a soldering iron and kit, or $64 worth of pre-made assemblies, assuming I could even find them. This is disappointing indeed.

[budm]

Re: Help me find CCFL replacement bulbs for my monitor please

To find the complete assmblies will be just about impossible, soldering works is real delicate. You have to meausre the diameter and the length of the lamp to get the right one. What will happen is that the end insualtion caps will usualy fall apart when you try to get to lamp connections. Not really for beginner. LCDPARTS.NET give pretty good information on how to get the correct one. You can contact them to see if they can install the new lamps into your old assemblies for you, won't be cheap.

[The_Gunn]

Re: Help me find CCFL replacement bulbs for my monitor please

To find the complete assmblies will be just about impossible, soldering works is real delicate. You have to meausre the diameter and the length of the lamp to get the right one. What will happen is that the end insualtion caps will usualy fall apart when you try to get to lamp connections. Not really for beginner. LCDPARTS.NET give pretty good information on how to get the correct one. You can contact them to see if they can install the new lamps into your old assemblies for you, won't be cheap.

Ya, it's looking like a dead end for me. I do see people selling these monitors on ebay for parts, but there's no real way to know what has gone bad on those. I'd likely buy one for parts and it would have bad lamps too.

I guess I'll have to wait until I can afford a new monitor, and be thankful I still have a working one. I had gotten very used to having 2 monitors, its frustrating going back to one lol.

Thanks a lot for the help.