Finding the Right Caps for a Westinghouse Monitor

[Supercap2F]

Hello Everyone!

Well a while ago I was taking a walk in my neighborhood and found a Westinghouse L2046NV monitor by the side of the road in a box labeled "free". After getting home, I plugged it up to my computer and turned it on. The screen didn't power up, but a LED turned on on it and the computer recognized it.

Today I decided to pop it open and see if I could do anything to fix it. After looking around for a service manual (because I couldn't get it open) I stumbled upon this video:

The guy showed how to get it open and all that was wrong with his monitor was some bad caps. Mine also has some caps that appear to be bad, because of some bulging:

Now my question is what type of capacitors should I replace them with - I have heard that there are X1, X2, or Y (or something like that) rated capacitors... Which type should I chose?

Thanks very much everyone! I can supply more photos if needed.
Dan

 

[KrisBlueNZ]

X1, X2, Y1 and Y2 capacitors are used in the mains input circuitry for filtering. Those capacitors are electrolytics on the output rails of the power supply. And CapXon is a well-known trouble brand.

You should replace them with low impedance electrolytics by reputable Japanese manufacturers such as Nichicon, Rubycon, United Chemi-Con (UCC), and Panasonic.

Start by removing them one at a time, making a note of where each one comes from, and make a list of all of the different values, including ALL markings on them and their dimensions (diameter, height, and lead spacing), and post it here. Then we can find the original component specifications and suggest suitable replacements from Digi-Key.

It's cheapest to replace all of the suspect ones - even ones that aren't showing signs of bulging or leaking may be way out of specification and will fail eventually. Replace all of the CapXon ones, and look for any suspicious electrolytics of any other brands and replace all electrolytic marked with those brands as well. The exceptions are the large main smoothing capacitor(s) on the mains side of the power supply (these don't often fail), and small capacitors of around 47 µF or less that are just part of the control circuitry.

 

[Supercap2F]

Okay, thanks Kris!

Here's the ratings on them:
220μf 25V KF 105˚C <-- there's two of those
2200μf 10V KF 105˚C
1000μf 25V KF 105˚C <-- there's two of these also
1000μf 10V KF 105˚C
470μf 25V GL 105˚C

There where some other random letters on them but I don't know if you would want those. I have Three Nichicon 1000μf 25V 105˚C capacitors that I could use for the 1000μf 25V and 1000μf 10Vs. I also have one Nichicon 2200μf 16V 105˚C that I could use for the 2200μf 10V. Would that be okay?

I would like to get the rest from Radioshack up the street. Would it be okay as long as a made sure they were 105˚C and the same capacitance?
Thanks!
Dan

 

[Supercap2F]

It works Kris!!!

I stopped by Radioshack and picked up the caps I didn't have. Then I soldered the ones I had and bought into the place of the old ones, powered it up, and it works like a charm!

Thanks for your help!!
Dan

 

[KrisBlueNZ]

Fantastic Dan!

But I wouldn't leave those electrolytics in it. They will overheat, leak, and fail. Here are replacements I recommend from the United Chemi-Con KY series. They are all specified somewhat better than the CapXon originals.

2x 220μF 25V KF: d=8; h=11.5; ps=3.5; rc=0.55A; Zmax=156mR
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/EKY-250ELL221MHB5D/565-1546-ND/756062

1x 470μF 25V GL: d=10; h=16; ps=5; rc=1.04A; Zmax=65mR
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/EKY-250ELL471MH20D/565-1550-ND/756066

1x 1000μF 10V KF: d=10; h=16; ps=5; rc=1.04A; Zmax=76mR
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/EKY-100ELL102MH20D/565-1505-ND/756021

2x 1000μF 25V KF: d=13; h=20; ps=5; rc=1.65A; Zmax=41mR
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/EKY-250ELL102MJ30S/565-1554-ND/756070

1x 2200μF 10V KF: d=13; h=20; ps=5; rc=1.65A; Zmax=41mR
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/EKY-100ELL222MK20S/565-1510-ND/756026

 

[Supercap2F]

Okay, I was thinking it might be a bad idea to leave the Radioshack capacitors in there. They're some fishy no name brand.

But what about the Nichicons I had on hand? Those where all rated at 105˚C, and there voltage ratings where all equal or higher than what was in there before... They where also all brand new.

Thanks again Kris!
Dan

 

[KrisBlueNZ]

Can you list out the Nichicons you fitted, including the alphabetic "series" code (the Nichicon equivalent of the "KF" or "GL" on the original caps)?

 

[Supercap2F]

Sure thing! Here they are:
2200μf 16V 105°C B1006 VZ(M)
1000uf 25V 105°C H1042 VZ(M)

They didn't have the GL/KF thing like the CapXon ones had... Hope that's okay!
Dan

 

[KrisBlueNZ]

The VZ is the Nichicon series. Googling Nichicon VZ gave the data sheet as the first result. They are described as "wide temperature range". Their ripple current limits are specified, and they're only about a third of the specifications I listed in post #5. Their impedances are not even listed. They are not low-impedance caps; they are not designed for smoothing the outputs of switching power supplies. So they're not suitable.

 

[Supercap2F]

Okay, it might be awhile before I can order them though, cause I'm kind of short on moolah. I'll probably won't use it in tell then because I'm kind of sick of taking it apart and putting it back.
Dan

 

[Supercap2F]

Well the capacitors from Digikey got here today. Here's a photo of them installed:

Unfortunately the two 1000μF 25V capacitors are really tall so the case wouldn't go on:

So I did a bodge job, and it came out looking like this:


Then I put the case back and everything seamed to be working right. But then I hooked it up to my computer and it looked really bad (fuzzy). I messed around with the settings on my computer and on the monitor with no better results. I'm pretty sure it looked better then that the first time.

Another thing is that the computer just sees the monitor as a Generic non-PnP monitor - not a Westing house. That was one of the symptoms the guy stated in the video in post one.

I tried it on two computers with exactly the same results. Here's a photo of my laptop screen and the monitor screen (the monitor screen is at it's highest resolution):

The first one is the laptop. You can see how in the second photo it looks more fuzzy, and it looks like there might be streaks coming off of the window.

Any ideas? Thanks very much!
Dan

 

[TenderTendon]

It looks like the monitor is running outside of it's native resolution, which will cause the fuzzy look. Comparing the monitor vs the laptop pictures, I would say the aspect ratio is wrong also. Compare the box just to the left of the red exit box. On the laptop it's rectangle shaped. On the monitor, it's square. As Plug & Play is no longer detecting the model, try installing it manually. If you can't, force the generic VGA driver to run at the monitor's native resolution, which is 1400x1050.

 

[Supercap2F]

It works!!!

It now recognizes it as a L2046NV and it is no longer fuzzy or anything!

First off I switched computers to my desktop and tried it then, but nothing was different. I then did what you said Jeff, but it wouldn't let me change the resolution to 1400x1050. The closest it would let me get was 1024x984 (or something like that). So I tried updating the drivers but windows said that they where up to date. I then tried messing around with some of the advanced settings but I still couldn't get it working.

So I sat around scratching my head until I decided to swap out the VGA cable with a different one, it now works perfect! I think the VGA cable I was using before is really old, so I'm assuming that's why it was messing it up...
Thanks Jeff!
Dan

 

[TenderTendon]

Glad you figured it out. I love a happy ending.