LCD Monitor Parts

Like most electronic gadgets there are a number of parts that are intricately arranged to make up the final design of an LCD monitor. If a layman opens up the casing of an LCD monitor, he will be able to see a maze of small items connected to each other on circuit boards. Some parts are so small that you cannot handle them with your fingers, you will need special instruments to work with them. A few major components of any electronic device are ICs, transformers and circuit boards. The most common problem encountered by LCD monitor users is a problem with the display.

What is a LCD monitor, well LCD stands for liquid color display and they were originally used for laptop computers, but now have found their way onto desktop computers. There are two types of LCD monitors flat panel and wide-screen, and both are available in different sizes. The price of a LCD computer monitor can be as low as USD 150 and go up to a few thousand dollars. The size of a monitor also varies, you get monitors that are 15'' and go all the way up to 65''. The LCD monitors are light weight, better picture quality, compact, are easier on the eyes and LCD monitor cleaning is also very easy, these are the main reasons behind their growing popularity. The increased demand has led to healthy competition and this in turn has caused the prices to come down. The only drawback seems to be the backlight and hence most flat panel parts come with only 1 years warranty for the backlight. Some of the parts of LCD monitor are:

Capacitors: One of the most important and one of the most vulnerable part of any electric device is the electrolytic capacitor. These capacitors contain a chemical known as electrolyte, and these can be seen in many circuit boards. The primary function of an electrolytic capacitor is to store charge which is used to manipulate output voltage and current fluctuations. In an LCD monitor, they are mounted on an internal power supply board. If you have a defective capacitor which happens more often than not, you will see horizontal lines on your screen. It is one of those parts which is most likely to go bust, because the voltage fluctuations cause the electrolyte to dry up or over heat, causing problems. LCD monitor repairs are most of the time related to faulty capacitors.

Backlight Bulb: The LCD screen uses CCFL backlight bulb for illuminating the screen, CCFL stands for cold cathode fluorescent lamp. The other sources of backlight in an LCD screen are LED and EL, wherein LED stands for Light Emitting Diode and EL stand for Electro Luminescent. The LED technology was in use since 1962 but most modern LCD screens use CCFL backlight bulbs. These CCFL bulbs have low power consumption and low heat generation, and can last up to 5,000 hours. If you have a problem with your backlight bulb, your screen will look dim and might eventually become totally dark. Replacing a backlight bulb is not an expensive affair, as they cost around USD 10 to USD 20 and most LCD monitor reviews will mention the backlight.

VGA and DVI Connectors: The Video Graphics Array (VGA) connector is a 3 row 15 pin DE-15 connector, these are found on all new LCD monitors and they help carry the RBGHV video signals with the help of cables. Digital Video Interface (DVI) maximizes the quality of flat panel LCD monitors and modern video graphics cards. There are three types of DVI connections, digital, analog and integrated, DVI cables are used to send information using a transition minimized differential signaling. A way to differentiate between the three different types of DVI connectors is, DVI-D single link (digital) has two sets of nine pins. DVI-A (analog) one set of eight pins, a set of four pins with four contacts. DVI-I single link has two sets of nine pins and four contacts, DVI-I dual link has three rows of eight pins and four contacts.

These are some of the parts which make these screens display high quality images for our viewing pleasure. The LCD monitor is replacing the old CRT monitor in almost every household and business today.