Woohoo! I just got my CMV CT-520D LCD monitor today (from Newegg.com with no dead pixels) and just got it stripped!

First off, believe me. If I can do it, you can do it. The little FFC clip connector thingys (that is their technical name) look a lot smaller in person, but I thought they were really super easy to use. Of course, like any good project, there was a bit of drama. When I first hit the power button after I had it stripped, the little LED light on the monitor came on but, OH NO!, no picture...

Well, I kind of expected that since I thought it looked like one of the little FFC clip connector thingys wasn't holding the cable in securely. But before even touching it again, I decided not to panic and just took a super duper power nap. After waking up, I felt refreshed and ready to dominate that LCD monitor and impose my will on it to MAKE IT WORK!

All I did was re-set the FFC that I thought was loose and fired her back up and ... SUCCESS!!!

A few tips for any of you who are scared. They may sound like common sense, but they were things I hadn't thought of. First off, it would really be nice if I would have had an extra pair of hands helping me, since I did have to get a little rougher with the thing than I would have liked. Also, make sure you have some way of propping up the LCD so you can test it (you can see this picture that I had it between my computer and desk):


I just read earlier today that someone is saying you don't have to disconnect the FFCs from their connectors, but I didn't see how that would be possible. I didn't examine the situation really closely, so it could very well be possible, but you would at least need something to cut through about 1/4 inch of the metal part that covers the circuit boards (it's kind of hard to explain, but you'll understand when you see it if you strip this monitor).

I went to Walgreens today to get some powder-free gloves (which make your hands very sweaty):


I had planned on getting one of those static-free mats from Radio Shack, but all they had was a tiny little 6"x6" foam pad, which obviously wasn't big enough, and a $10 wrist strap, which I wasn't about to pay that much for.

So all I used when handling the circuit boards were the gloves and my plastic chair mat that I stood on the whole time (which can be seen in my 'glove' picture above). I think people seem to be a little too uptight about handling the circuit boards with these monitors. I've built quite a few PCs in my day and have handled at least 50 PCBs (printed circuit boards) bare-handed with no problems at all. Unless the boards in these montors are special, I wouldn't worry too much about zapping them.

This is all I have done so far with this project, except of course for buying the guide. I had to strip the monitor first because there was no way I could risk ordering all the parts and then stripping the monitor and screwing up something. Now that the scary part is over, I'm ready to start building the box and all that crap. Hopefully, my Dad will be able to help me, since he's really pretty smart when it comes to things like this. I wouldn't expect any more pictures until it's done, mainly because I really don't like taking pictures and am not very good at it.

Here are some more random pictures. This is an alternate angle of the stripped monitor:


Here are some of the spare parts that were left from the stripped monitor:


And here is the little baby ready to be put in the closet until it's time for her to really shine:


Sorry for the length of this post, but I'm really proud of myself that I was able to successfully do this, especially after reading some horror stories from other people on this forum. Thanks a lot to forkev for the excellent stripping guide, which was completely perfect, and to everyone else here for being so helpful.

Again, to anyone else who is thinking about stripping one of these and is scared, you should be, since this thing is not exactly cheap. Even so, it was still really easy and pretty interesting as well. From my experience tonight, you shouldn't have any problems as long as you take it slow and play it smart.

Poops McGee, signing off.

Way to go. Keep it safe.

i stripped my cmv monitor today and installed it in my projector and F*&%, i had a nail that was holding the lcd in place and somehow the end of the nail touch the board attach to the monitor and i got a straight horizontal line. DAMN it. i recommend you tape the board, putting tape all across the board that's attach to the lcd. and since you're barely started, start by making the housing for the lcd, fresnel and then build the box base on that. thank god for me that the vertical line kill one inch of the screen. So i have to tape up that 1 inch. so mad and discourage now. GOOD luck on your projector.

Well, I'm pretty bored right now and won't be able to buy the rest of my projector stuff for a few weeks, but I haven't been completely worthless.

When I first came to this forum, I had never done any kind of wiring, and was really confused about how exactly to do it. I really just wanted to see a simple example of how to do it. Also, I was confused about how to wire the 12-volt DC fans with an adapter.

Well, after a lot of research, I figured it out mostly on my own, but I would like to post a couple of pictures which will hopefully provide a little bit of guidance to those complete wiring novices out there.

Note that I followed the diagram in the 10th post down in this thread:
http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5341&hl=

Basically, what you need are some wirenuts (the blue things covering the wires in the pictures below), which I got from The Home Depot for around $2 (I just got a pack of assorted sizes). A 120 volt AC -> 12 volt DC adapter, which I got from RadioShack for around $15. A wire stripper, which I got from The Home Depot for about $7. And lastly one (or more) 12 volt DC fans (I had two laying around that I used to have in my computer).

Well, here are the pictures:




The pictures are pretty much self-explanatory. One thing to note is that I basically had to guess about which wire from the adapter should get the red wires from the fans and which wire should get the black wires. It really isn't too big of a deal, if you get them backwards, then the fans will just spin in the reverse direction than they are intended. If this is the case, then just switch the black and red wires around. For the adapter I got, one wire has some writing on one wire and nothing on the other. The wire with the writing was attached to the red wires from the fans, but I'm not sure if this is always the case with all adapters.

To use the wirenuts, simply strip about 1/4 inch of the insulation off the end of the wires, leaving the bare wire strands exposed. Now, whichever wires you want connected, just put them together and twist them together a little bit with your fingers, then stick them in the wirenut and twist it until the wires feel secure. That's about it.

Here is a picture of wire strippers if you are unsure of what they are:

To strip a wire, just put the wire in the appropriate hole (whichever one is closed to the size of the wire you are using, measured in AWG (American Wire Gauage)) near the handle, squeeze the handles, cutting just the insulation of the wire, and push the strippers away from you, hopefully taking a little bit of the wire's insulation with them.

Now just plug the adapter into the wall and watch the fans go! I didn't realize that these fans were so powerful, and not too horribly loud. Hopefully, this will be of some help to a few of you out there.

Its just so nice to see so many helpful tips on stripping down the cmv monitors. Just a shame that mines is already fried It was a easy monitor to stake down its just the taking care of i afterwards thats important. And it sounds like funds are your only hold up right now. Just be happy you aren't in the Bahamas the prices down here are almost double or tripple for comp parts and supplies.