924Board.org

Smoothie · Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2004 6:48 am Post subject: LCD = ?

LCD is supposed to stand for Liquid Crystal Display, right?
As far as my car stereo is concerned, nowadays it stands for Liquified Crap Disaster.

Look at this thing. Here I'm listening to the radio. Can anyone guess what station it's on? The winner gets all
the spare parts from my most recent clutch master cylinder rebuild. Just kidding - I'll probably find a use for
them. The stereo has some years on it, but everything works perfectly other than the LCD. I'd like to just
buy the correct replacement LCD for it if possible and solder it in myself, so if anyone knows where to get
such a thing, please don't hold back.

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"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."

'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox

Lizard · Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2004 6:54 am Post subject:

you wont be able to buy the screen unless you take it apart and get a part # for the manufacture of the screen itself, but then it would be cheaper to send to maker of device, or to just buy a new unit
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3 928s,

Khal · Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2004 7:46 am Post subject:

Ha! Sony, yeah, they'd have a proprietary rig if anyone would! Not that Sony make bad gear IMO. But I reckon you'll have to send it to them to get it fixed...
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'80 924 Turbo

Finbarr · Joined: 14 Jan 2004 Posts: 85 Location: Worcestershire, UK

All may not necessarily be lost. Sometimes LCDs just come a bit loose - they usually have contacts on the glass which are pressed against a connector of some sort by the surrounding plastic enclosure. Take the thing apart and it might, just possibly, with a bit of luck and a good following wind, be possible to clean them carefully and get it going again.

Yes, the part's certain to be Sony proprietary - probably made by Sony themselves. You might be able to get it from a Sony service centre, but make sure you're sitting down (and not driving, either) when they tell you the price.
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1980 931 (with the odd electrical quirk...)

Smoothie · Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2004 9:56 am Post subject:

Well it's windy here today so I opened a window and took the thing apart.

The LCD panel
is pretty well glued together so I'm not able to disassemble it any further, but I got a bit creative and
decided to try a hair dryer on it - and I'm finding that with about 140 F degree heat on the lcd for a
few minutes, it starts to darken and eventually turns completely dark. Yay!, but then on cooling, it
lightens up again.

-But not as much as before

and then on heating and cooling it again, it
seems to be staying darker - so I'm going to try a few more heat-cool cycles on it and see if I can
get it to finally stay dark on cooling.

_________________
"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."

'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox

Lizard · Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2004 10:14 am Post subject:

hey smoothie, nail polish works great on it too
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3 928s,

Smoothie · Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2004 10:42 am Post subject:

No we'll let you to handle the nail polish "experiments".

_________________
"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."

'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox

Lizard · Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2004 10:49 am Post subject:

Roger · Joined: 06 Jan 2003 Posts: 1235 Location: Cordova, TN

I thought LCD is Liqiud Crystal Dioed, but really its the same thing. I have had the same thing happen to different stuff over the years. Replacement probably is not worth it. This is only a lamans oppion and I am probably wrong, but hear goes. The liqiud is devided into cells. When voltage is applied the temp changes and the cell darkens. I belive in your case the the cells have leaked and thats why the whole display darkens when ou heat it up. You could always stick with your presets and keep the stereo or just replace it. Anything else is probably a waste of time.
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1981 924 NA

Some people are like Slinkies. Not really good for anything, but you
still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs.

Smoothie · Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2004 12:57 pm Post subject:

You're right, except that this one works the other way around with a normally dark display that has the
segments turn clear to show stuff. It was pretty much a waste of time. Given enough cool-off time, it kept
lightening up just as much as before. Even tried heating to over 160F then tossing it right into the freezer with
the meatballs, but same result. Maybe I need to carry a 12v hair dryer in the car... plug it in, heat up the
display, change stations, put the hair dryer away, act like nothing unusual just happened..

Looked good right after heating -

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"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."

'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox

kaffine · Joined: 13 Jun 2003 Posts: 644 Location: Las Vegas

Your best be is to find a place that does radio repair. If your unit is a common model then they will likely do it on an exchange basis. They send you a repaired unit then you send yours in.
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80 924
80 931

The best desciption of an atom boils down to something unknown is doing we don't know what.
Sir Arthur Eddington

Finbarr · Joined: 14 Jan 2004 Posts: 85 Location: Worcestershire, UK

Hey Roger - that's about the worst explanation of LCD operation I've ever heard!

They don't heat up at all - that could never happen quick enough for practical use. What happens is that the electric fields from the electrodes printed on the glass cause the molecules of liquid crystal to align themselves in a certain way so as to block, or pass, light.

Not that it makes any difference - and without getting too technical, the things f****d...

It's worth a visit to a repair shop though - replacing it is easy of you can get the right part.
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1980 931 (with the odd electrical quirk...)

5150 · Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2004 1:26 am Post subject:

What was on the tape (music wise)... i can't quite make it out in the pic and it's driving me mad wondering now!
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Mars Red '78 Euro 924 n/a
http://www.cardomain.com/id/5150_uk

Graphite? Grey Metallic '85 (late model) 944 2.5

There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.

Smoothie · Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2004 1:47 am Post subject:

One free lcd panel (in used condition) to whoever gets it right. (Just kidding - the lcd board w/switches is reassembled back into the stereo (and suprisingly not working any worse than before)).
hint - Part of the first name can be seen, followed by the full last name.

5150 - Post one more time just before you jump and I'll give the name.

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"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."

'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox

Alex Roy · Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2004 2:08 am Post subject:

Looks like James Taylor to me.