Thread: inverter failure

Hey folks,

I have a new project in the works to install a small form factor EPIA 800 I've had for quite some time in the vehicle. I chose to use the K301 monitor, which is very nice. At least when it worked.

Here's the issue I had after installation. Everything was working fine, but I noticed the backlight behaved strangely during the first minutes of operation. The arc would randomly collapse, and would sometimes appear to be half-illuminated (as in the right portion of the screen) at a low level. Sometimes it would collapse entirely (black). I could hear a faint noise, which is difficult to describe. It wasn't a "zap zap zap," but more like a 3KHz zitzeezitzit. Sorry, that's the best I can do. The backlight would come back to full brightness for a bit before starting that cycle again.

After this happened a few times, I decided to power down and investigate. Unfortunately, that took too long, and the part responsible for this destroyed itself (white smoke !). I'm guessing it's a capacitor, possibly bad out of the factory. I'm acquiring an RMA, so I don't want to try to fix this myself. I have to say it's annoying when something I expect to do its job does not. Hopefully the replacement unit will be trouble free.


Has this ever been seen in monitor backlights before? Does anyone know what would have caused this? Voltage levels provided to input were within specifications.



I also would like some user input on this display. I was initially impressed with the quality, and it was fairly easy to see during the day (anti-glare). I couldn't get a night time experience, so how's the brightness at night? Is it dimmable? Is it dim enough to not be bothersome?