My friend Lynda has this stereo whose display quit working.
So I volunteered to take a look, partly because I had a strong suspicion that it would be an easy fix. But don’t tell Lynda!
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stereo with broken backlight
The display in question is the one on the upper left, the FM/AM tuner display. It’s a “seven segment” display. Usually, these sort of displays are LCD based (liquid crystal display), which don’t have much luminosity of their own. Thus, they have to be backlit to be visible.
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LCD panel and burned out backlight
I was pretty sure this lamp behind the display was all that was bad. So the disassembly began.
Here’s the inside of the stereo. Pretty hollow inside. Kind of shocking really! It’s kind of funny how the design philosophy is so different now. Seems that the ergonomics of modern consumer electronics are much more compact and sleek.
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stereo guts
But I digress.
Here is the board with the display. Notice the large white plastic shroud.
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display board removed
Here is the plastic shroud taken off the board and the display removed. At the back of the shroud is the DC lamp.
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display shroud and backlight
Sure enough, the lamp was burned out. Here is the lamp board, ready for a replacement.
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backlight board
Below is the replacement bulb.
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new backlight bulb
And here it is lit up with +8V DC to test its operation.
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new backlight bulb tested
Reassembled, here is the display lit up again!
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3 Comments
Very ingenious Mr. Fix-It! I like your robotic-armed clamp…very cool!
Hi Rob,
You did a really great job, as usual, on fixing my stereo. You don’t realize how cool it is to now be able to select a radio station without having to search until I pass out. Or turn on another radio and then run back and forth from room to room to try to figure out where the song is coming from!
You are my hero….once again.
Thanks a bunch.
P.S. I feel famous with “my” stereo in your blog. HaHa.
Ah shucks! twern’t nuthin’. Glad you can tune in peace now.