PowerBook 180 Replace CCFL with LED

[AEChadwick]

I have been restoring my PowerBook 180 to its full potential, using parts from several other machines (including a dead 180 i bought from a russian kid in a parking lot in south Beverly Hills for $50... i might have agreed to become a fence for other things he finds, not sure, this is a wild hobby).

After baking several LCDs to remove the tunnel, i set about replacing the dim, dying CCFL with an off-the-shelf LED strip. I keep using the same strips so i always have a baseline.

i got inspiration and help from @PB170; he shared his pinout of the PowerBook 1XX inverter board, which was an invaluable start.

Getting the strip to work in the 180 required a little mod (to reverse the signal). It also required a boost converter to get the PowerBooks’s 7.5v VCC up to 9v. I used a little strip of ABS plastic (old model supplies) to hold the strip in place. The 180’s backlight is an easy take apart, you barely have to get into the screen; the baking-and-realigning process was much harder).

After that, everything works great. The light is bright; the adjustment works in the right direction, albeit not very sensitively... the ramp from none-grey-BRIGHT is very quick.

this might work in other 100-series, please share your results.

 

[desertrout]

Nice! Thanks for sharing - I'm definitely interested in making this mod to my 170 and 180. Do you have any pictures of how you mounted the boost converter and panel?

 

[croissantking]

Yeah I need to do this mod on one of my PB180 LCDs. The stock CCFL is so very dim.

 

[AEChadwick]

Nice! Thanks for sharing - I'm definitely interested in making this mod to my 170 and 180. Do you have any pictures of how you mounted the boost converter and panel?

i did not take pictures, but there is no trick to it—there’s acres of space at the bottom of the LCD, and the bezel sits so far forward nothing is cramped. I just trimmed the wires to look clean and mounted the boards in with double-sided-foam tape,

 

[Brooklyn]

Looks great! Maybe a bit too modern

Do you have a link to the LED you used?

 

[AEChadwick]

Looks great! Maybe a bit too modern

Do you have a link to the LED you used?

put something in an apple store, it instantly looks cool & modern!

usually i link to the board, you caught me the one time i was all “why bother”

 

[GRudolf94]

Oooh I did this to my cardboard 150 and never did document it (except instead of a commercial inverter and strip I used parts of a broken laptop screen). Good job, yours is a lot tidier!

 

[croissantking]

Oooh I did this to my cardboard 150 and never did document it (except instead of a commercial inverter and strip I used parts of a broken laptop screen). Good job, yours is a lot tidier!

Cardboard 150 LMAO

usually i link to the board, you caught me the one time i was all “why bother”

Did you have to cut it down? I’m reading the description and it says how you can shorten it, every three LEDs or something like that.

 

[desertrout]

i did not take pictures, but there is no trick to it—there’s acres of space at the bottom of the LCD, and the bezel sits so far forward nothing is cramped. I just trimmed the wires to look clean and mounted the boards in with double-sided-foam tape,

Nice thanks!

Oooh I did this to my cardboard 150 and never did document it (except instead of a commercial inverter and strip I used parts of a broken laptop screen). Good job, yours is a lot tidier!

Good God!

 

[GRudolf94]

Good God!

Hey, I just got the inside bits attached to shards of shattered case
Next version is gonna be LEGO. Maybe will redo the LCD with the inverter from this thread as that's a fair bit better. Might be convinced to design a turnkey replacement, too.

 

[AEChadwick]

Might be convinced to design a turnkey replacement, too.

(i read “design a turkey replacement” and wondered where this was going...)

 

[AEChadwick]

Did you have to cut it down? I’m reading the description and it says how you can shorten it, every three LEDs or something like that.

pardon me, i thought you meant the LED controller board.

the LED strip itself (included with the controller board) is cut-to-fit, every three LEDs closest to the size of the CCFL tube. The strip is simply laid in place, perpendicular to the screen, and wedged in with a strip of ABS plastic.

 

[Shaddam IV]

Does anyone know what voltage and frequency (and power consumption) the original CCFL of a 180 display requires? I'm trying to find a replacement CCFL, but for that I'd need to know the volts (and possibly a/c frequency) als well as the amperes that would be required. Thanks!

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

For voltage you should be able to measure off the connector/cable on the inverter board

 

[Shaddam IV]

I‘m told that the inverter board outputs a high frequency alternating current, which I can‘t measure with a regular volt meter. I‘d need an oscilloscope that I don‘t have. Is that really so?

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

no clue, someone else will have to weigh in.