So I was working on my 15" panel (Dell 1504) this morning getting the mount ready. I plugged it up to my laptop to check to make sure it was still working and it was. I had plugged in the two backlights so I could shoot light through the plexi the LCD was sitting on (that was inside the original panel) so I could see the image on the LCD better. It worked great! It was much easier to see the image. Then I unplugged one of the backlights from the power module and zap... black.

In hindsight I know it is never a good idea to plug or unplug any connection with the unit powered and running but it slipped my mind. Now I cannot get any image at all on the panel at all. In fact, not only that but when I hold the LCD up to a bright light I can barely see anything through it at all, which was not the case prior to this morning's incident. The whole panel has gone BLACK. Chock me up on the list of people who have ruined an LCD panel I guess. And to think I was so careful with the AG removal (that went off without a hitch)!

Back to the drawing board.

Dang it Bobby...

If the screen went black and it's blocking out light,that means the lcd is on and working and it's displaying a black screen, maybe it's not detecting the display device. If it was broken, I think it would be same as a lcd powered off because then it would be a white screen just blank. as light is just going through the lcd.

Well that's what I thought too. Upon further investigation I put one of the backlights behind it and I can actually see some kind of action going on. It is like small bands of colors running the length of the panel, but still no real image yet. I will have to play with it some more.

The good news is that it inspired me to tear into my little Toshiba SDP2500 player to harvest the panel out of that. It is a nice little panel that I will try to put to use soon. As far as the 15", I'm just not sure what's going on there.

bummer

On a higher note, the 8.9" panel is looking great. I got the player stripped down and will be getting a good OHP to use for phase 1 while I'm building my enclosure. Then I can take a little more time to hunt down a good 720p panel for my phase 2 (or 3) build. I think this 1024x600 panel is going to look pretty good with some metal halide behind it.

When taking the panel out of the player I noticed several thin sheets behind it that look like fresnels but they are really thin (like transparency thin). Maybe they are polarizers because changing their orientation does change the image.