Damaged LCD
September 14, 2008 10:29 AM Subscribe
I bought a damaged LCD monitor off ebay.
I haven't received it yet, but you can see a picture here.
It appears that it has sustained some impact that destroyed some of the transistors or something like that. That is fine with me for the usage I envision, however, I'd like to know if this damage will pose any fire or health hazards and , assuming no more physical shocks to the monitor, is bound to get worse with time.
I'm not sure what you're intended usage is, but I'd make sure the monitor was in a secure place where it won't be moved or bumped often. If the case is cracked a bump may result in components moving around and touching things they shouldn't, which could result in a short. A short, if it happens, will probably result in nothing more than a burnt electronics smell and a puff of smoke, but not much else. The risk of this causing a fire is low, but always handle it with care.
It should be okay.
posted by wfrgms at 10:46 AM on September 14, 2008
It should be okay.
posted by wfrgms at 10:46 AM on September 14, 2008
I once lived through an incident where a flat-screen television was shot with an airsoft gun, causing a "t" shaped section of the screen to go dead. This area increased slowly over time until the entire television was unwatchable.
What you've got there looks different, but I know it's possible for the damage to such things to increase even without new trauma.
posted by Rinku at 10:57 AM on September 14, 2008
What you've got there looks different, but I know it's possible for the damage to such things to increase even without new trauma.
posted by Rinku at 10:57 AM on September 14, 2008
Hazards: unlikely. Getting worse with time: very possible. I've had a number of LCD devices which got cracked and for most of them the dead area near the crack slowly increased.
posted by hattifattener at 11:34 AM on September 14, 2008
posted by hattifattener at 11:34 AM on September 14, 2008
"I bought a damaged LCD monitor"
I hope you paid next to nothing for it, as the vast majority of the value of an LCD display is the intact panel. Lacking that, its value hovers somewhere between "worthless" and "damn near nothing." In the future, if you need broken LCDs for your projects its fairly likely you can get them for nothing or almost nothing.
" if this damage will pose any fire or health hazards"
Assuming the damage is limited to what's shown in the picture, none whatsoever. There could be other damage to the internals from the same incident which might be of some concern, but the chances of that being the case are exceedingly low. You're more likely to be hit by a bus.
"assuming no more physical shocks to the monitor, is bound to get worse with time."
Yes, it will become worse. Almost nothing you do will prevent the damage from spreading, although the rate of further failure depends on how much more abuse the display gets.
posted by majick at 12:16 PM on September 14, 2008
I hope you paid next to nothing for it, as the vast majority of the value of an LCD display is the intact panel. Lacking that, its value hovers somewhere between "worthless" and "damn near nothing." In the future, if you need broken LCDs for your projects its fairly likely you can get them for nothing or almost nothing.
" if this damage will pose any fire or health hazards"
Assuming the damage is limited to what's shown in the picture, none whatsoever. There could be other damage to the internals from the same incident which might be of some concern, but the chances of that being the case are exceedingly low. You're more likely to be hit by a bus.
"assuming no more physical shocks to the monitor, is bound to get worse with time."
Yes, it will become worse. Almost nothing you do will prevent the damage from spreading, although the rate of further failure depends on how much more abuse the display gets.
posted by majick at 12:16 PM on September 14, 2008
Response by poster: I did pay next to nothing for it. It's more of an experiment, as I might end up not using it at all.
Any idea how fast the degradation occurs?
posted by spacefire at 12:40 PM on September 14, 2008
Any idea how fast the degradation occurs?
posted by spacefire at 12:40 PM on September 14, 2008
Best answer: Looking at the picture of the damage you have, it might take a good while. It doesn't seem like the display is developing spider cracks or streaking yet, which is when it'll take a turn for the worse really fast.
It could last many months as is, or it could be worse by the time you receive it, or anything in between. I wouldn't count on having a visible picture a year from now, or necessarily even when you pull it out of the box, but maybe you'll get lucky.
posted by majick at 2:46 PM on September 14, 2008
It could last many months as is, or it could be worse by the time you receive it, or anything in between. I wouldn't count on having a visible picture a year from now, or necessarily even when you pull it out of the box, but maybe you'll get lucky.
posted by majick at 2:46 PM on September 14, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
If there was any kind of short circuit, it would have happened as soon as the monitor was turned on after the impact.
And I'm almost sure that the data path between the computer and the screen is translated obfuscated enough that any further damage would only affect the circuitry in the monitor.
posted by gjc at 10:39 AM on September 14, 2008