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Resolved Question

Modifying laptop monitor

Jan 21, 2013 11:31PM PST

Hey guys,
I'm new here and what better way to start off then to ask a question. I have an old dell laptop monitor that i took off of a..well...dell. i think it was an inspiron that ran vista. I have a what i believe to be three major steps to do with my project that i need some input on. my main thing is the power. I need to make the screen be powered by a portable power supply that can handle playing video for at least 2 hours. ( amount of power can be dealt with later for the amount of time and im not against rechargeable or a plug in and play like an ipad or similar tablet.)

when i hold the screen in front of my i have two flat fires with a grey housing coming from the left. one large data cable and one small ( looks similar to data cable connector.)

on the right i have six wires with these colors:
black, white, black w/Grey line, white w/Grey line, blue, and grey. I would like to know which are power and ground (s) and what the others are for.

Discussion is locked

Meanderpaul has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

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I've seen one success on this in a decade.
Jan 22, 2013 12:31AM PST

The odds are against you turning most laptop LCDs into monitors. Be sure to google this and see what others have reported as it's an old idea that seems to upset folk.
Bob

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Clarification
Jan 22, 2013 2:32AM PST

I have googled it and I'm not entirely trying to make a conventional monitor I'm trying to change it receive video only and maybe sound if I get gungho. The only thing I'm truly stuck on is the identifying of the power supply.

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The power supply comes from the laptop.
Jan 22, 2013 2:39AM PST

You would use a Volt meter to see how many Volts is required. This is unlikely to be found out any other way.
Bob

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ok but
Jan 22, 2013 8:56AM PST

so i would use the volt meter on which wires thats my main issue with the power is im not sure which wire it is. would the volt meter reveal the wire that i would hook a power source up to?

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For that detail
Jan 22, 2013 10:14AM PST

You'll use either a schematic of the machine or your engineering background with knowledge that ground is all over. If you can't find ground I think you may be in over your head.

Sorry I don't want to upset you. Once in a while you find folk that think there is a step by step to turn a LCD into a display. Well there is. Repair the laptop and it works again.

And again, see the web for examples of how many got this to work. It's very few and most had electronic/electrical degrees.
Bob

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Ok
Jan 22, 2013 10:16PM PST

Thanks for that bit ill track down the schematic of it if I can remember the model.