I have a CRT monitor which works well. The problem is the cable: pin no.
11 in the socket that plugs into the PC has become bent/damaged/broken. I tried to straighten it to no avail. Unfortunately, at the other end, the cable is directly attached to the inside of the monitor, so can't be removed. Is it curtains for this monitor just because of the cable?Thanks for any advice.
someone
If the pin only bent over, it's usually possible to bend it back with small tools such as tweezers and warchmaker's screwdrivers. Once you've got the pin lifted a little, it may be possible to insert a bit of capillary tubing over it as an extension/lever (investigate old biros for suitable parts). Move the pin slowly and gently to avoid breaking it.
If the pin is (now) actually broken, you're into finding a replacement plug or cannibalising an extension cable and wiring from inside the monitor (beware high voltages).
Chris
You could buy a new plug from Maplins or CPC, but you would have to solder it to the end of the cable. Another option would be to buy an extension cable, cut it in half and then join it to your existing cable. You might have fund working out which wire was which though!
Just take the lead off another old monitor, eg a binnable 14" CRT monitor from freecycle. A fun soldering exercise, not hard but a bit fiddly. Or you might sometimes be able to fit a bit of metal as a replacement pin.
NT
Pin 11 on a vga lead is monitor ID bit 0, it only has 2 settings if earthed it selects mono else colour.
If it is a colour monitor then it should work fine without pin 11, if it doesn't you could try shorting it out to either pin 5,6,7 or 8.
That seems to depend on whether it's on the old spec (ID0) or the new (DDC):
Worst case would be chop the plug off and use a multimeter to buzz out the connections so you can work out which colour wire goes to which pin
- the left over one being the broken one!
Then solder on a new plug. Tedious., but not too difficult: prepare all the wire ends and tin them, tin the buckets on the back of each terminal, offer up the wire to the terminal with long nose pliers and flow them together.
Thank you all for your advice, I may try to experiment with removing pin 11 and see what happens. Not sure I have the nous for fitting another plug with the soldering involved.
someone
I invariably find that one strand of wire refuses to enter the bucket because it is full from the tinning process!
When I have to wire D connectors, rather than tin the solder buckets, I clamp the connector with the buckets pointing upwards at a suitable angle, then insert short lengths of 22swg multicore solder into all of them.
If all the conductors are thin - they usually are - twist the stripped ends tightly before cutting to length with SHARP cutters.
You should then be able to get them all into the solder buckets on one side as well as the bits of solder. With a third hand, is necessary, to support the cable, apply iron and solder as normal to each bucket in turn. The little bit of solder inside the bucket tins it as you go and you end up with a neat, strong assempbly. Now turn the connector over and repeat for the other row of connectors.
It sounds a bit long winded but I've found it the easiest way to do it.
My apologies for not replying sooner, I thought I had (senior moment). I have considered the alternatives that you all kindly suggested and decided that I'm probably not capable of connecting another 15-pin lead to the end of my cable, expecially with sorting out all the wires. I had hoped to be able to do it from the CTR end, but that sounds like sudden death, so a non-starter there.
I will get in touch with Freecycle and see if they would like it.
Thank you all for your advice.
someone
Thank you all very much for your replies. I have a soldering iron but not a lot of knowledge. I tried to understand this, but have now sent this nice CRT to the local "refurbishment centre", i.e. local dump. I hope somebody finds it and can do something with it. Don'cha hate it when perfectly good things have to be thrown away through some small inability to repair it? Usually through lack of bits or parts. I make as much as I can out of Fimo to repair plastic stuff in my home.
s.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.