Question About LCD Screens
 

At what temperature does the LCD panel freeze and destroys the crystals?
Picked up a Vizio RSF (roadside find) the other day but it had sat outside the night before at 10 degree (F) weather before I rescued it. It doesn't power up so I will have to fix that first. I don't see many Vizio's around here. Either they're not that popular or they don't break down. Thanks.

I don't know too much about LCD displays, but if the one you found had been sitting in 10 degree weather for any length of time, that's not good. I would let it warm up to room temperature before applying power to it. Unless the panel was actually destroyed due to the 10-degree temperature it was in, it should work. I don't know what effect, if any, below-freezing temperatures can have on LCD displays but, as I said, such temperatures cannot be good for them.

Don't kid yourself that LCD displays "don't break down"; they can and they will, especially, as with yours, when subjected to sub-freezing temperatures for any length of time. I don't think yours was permanently damaged; only a test after the panel warms up will tell. If your display doesn't power up, the problem may be as simple as a blown fuse or a severed connection. If the latter, your display could be permanently damaged, as there is no easy way to repair such problems, if they can be repaired at all. Because yours had been sitting outside the previous night in 10-degree weather, there could be any number of things wrong with it now. That's all I can tell you for now because, as I said, I don't know much about LCD displays. This is very often why LCD televisions wind up in the trash; the other leading cause of problems which permanently destroy them is when they are dropped or something is thrown at them. Once the panel cracks, the display is ruined forever.

Good luck.

I don't think they freeze and crack as the liquid isn't water based rather it gets very sluggish and slow to respond. The display in my Sony LMD-9050 monitor has endured -40F and still works fine. I think they end up in the trash because a dead power supply.

This stuff gets shipped when new in TT trucks, box cars etc.
All are unheated & 10 F isnt that cold.
Where you run into problems is if you bring a set from 10 deg & very
low humditity into a nice warm place that isnt dry. Then you get
condensation on it, like a cold beer on a 90 deg day sweats.
That can cause problem. Best to let it sit a day & adjust to conditions.
This is why VCR's had dew sensors. They wont run if they detect to
much condensation. If they ran the tape can stick to the heads,
tape path, clutches, etc & cause failures. When we sold anything in
very cold WX we always told them to let them sit 8 hrs before using.
I bet no Big Box stores did that !

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

Success
 

Re-seated all the cables.
Thanks Arctech109. Minus 40 seems very cold to me. And yes Zeno, 10 degrees F really isn't that cold.
I remember going to a Sony BetaCam school and the question was brought up as to how cold would the equipment continue to work. The instructor said that it would be at the point that the water in the electrolyte in the caps would freeze and destroy the cap.
Thanks for all your responses.

Great!

I still use BetacamSP and DigiBeta daily.

It's always good when a problem, such as intermittent or no video, in an HDTV can be corrected simply by reseating the cables. I'm very glad you got your TV working well again. Loss of signal is about the worst thing which can happen to an HDTV if a connector comes loose; there is no way, that I am aware of anyway, loose video cables can damage an HDTV screen.

Computer I/O (input and/or output) cables, however, are not nearly as forgiving. Disconnecting or connecting one with the rest of the system powered on can and will cause serious and irreparable damage. I speak from experience, having years ago damaged the disk drive I/O port of my Commodore 64 computer by unplugging a cable (a disk drive I/O cable) while the computer was powered on.

BTW, I no longer have my C64, the hard disk drive or monitor (the monitor was a Zenith 12" TV connected to the computer by a 2-position switch box), having upgraded to newer hardware years ago; however, the experience with damaging the disk drive (which, needless to say, was not cheap to repair) taught me a lesson I will never forget. To this day, I make absolutely certain everything is powered off before I do anything with the cables connected to my computer. Better to be safe than sorry, as there are are no second chances if you make a mistake with computer wiring. One slip is all it takes to cause very serious, not to mention expensive, damage to the system.