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It's long, thin and I've only got one?

Hi All,

So, I've just ventured into the TFT assembly on my (flickering display) Dell Inspiron 8100, thinking I was going to find two 'backlights' , one down each side?

The reason I though this is:

1) I thought I read somewhere on the net 'Tubes x 2' for this model?

2) When the screen does illuminated propery (and I've seen it on for an hour once) it's lit all the way across but when it starts to fail (by flickering usually) it looked like it was darker on the left half of the screen (so in fact half of the tube was lighting fully)?

So far I have only found one and that runs along the bottom of the (15.1") display and *is* very long (31cm) and thin (2mm dia)!

So as the output from the invertor only seems to go to this one lamp can I assume there *is* only one in this model please?

I'm gonna order a couple from the states (2 tubes delivered to the UK for half the price I would pay for just the tube over here ) and I'm getting two just-in-case something should go wrong while I'm fitting it or it turns out the invertor is damaging the tube etc?

Any thoughts comments welcomed .. ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

Reply to
T i m
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The laptops I've worked on all only had one tube, but it can't hurt to have a spare, just store it somewhere safe. Cardboard mailing tube works well.

Reply to
James Sweet

Hi James and thanks for the feedback. ;-)

It would seem that the cables are soldered to the end wires of the tube? Is this common (I was expecting some sort of 'push-on' fitting)?

Also I remembered I couldn't remember where the wire that connected to the 'remote' end of the tube ran? I mean, did it run in the cavity with the tube or outside of the inside (if you know what I mean, it wasn't visable til I pretty well got the tube out completely)? I think I remember the two thin wires (from the inverter) going through a small slot into the TFT assembly, the short wire pretty well going straight to one end of the tube and the long one running alongside the tube up to the other end .. ?

Mind you if it's a ColdCFL then nothing should melt should it? ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

Reply to
T i m

That's the norm, I'm not sure if there's any special considerations with soldering them, I would certainly practice on the dead tube first, and try to do it quickly with the heat on it for as short a time as you need. Tin the wire first and the wire on the tube, and then just stick them together.

That varies, often it just runs along the back of the panel and tapes down. I wouldn't try to cram it in the cavity with the tube.

Reply to
James Sweet

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