Unless a miracle lets you find the right spare part, the life of a monitor usually ends when its panel breaks. But that doesn't have to be the case: a while ago, Leandro Linares on YouTube decided to transform an old Samsung monitor into an LED lamp, reusing the housing, the diffusers and the Fresnel lens. It's a simple mod, not too expensive, and much more flexible than you might imagine...
Few things are as frustrating as not being able to locate the right component for a repair. Flat TVs and monitors suffer this in a very special way, since their manufacturers don't distribute replacement panels, and when a few isolated units appear, they cost almost as much as a new one. That makes them great candidates for being gutted, separating different components (LED strips, speakers, controller, power supply, button board, etc.) for easier sale. Now there's another possibility: transform what's left of the monitor into an LED lamp.
A monitor turned into an LED lamp
That's exactly what Leandro Linares on YouTube did at the end of 2023. It all started with an old Samsung SyncMaster monitor in 4:3 format. The original plan was to rescue the LCD panel to use it later, but it was damaged during extraction, something quite common in these cases. A quick search on Amazon led him to buy 12V LED strips with a CRI of 90, though nothing stops us from using other strips and colors. Why didn't he use the monitor's LEDs? First, because it doesn't have any: these monitors belong to the CCFL generation, with mercury-filled tubes. And second, LED strips from monitors and TVs often require strange voltages. Working with 12V, everything is simpler.
Reinstalling the diffusion layers isn't complicated: first the acrylic block, followed by a diffuser, the Fresnel lens (some prefer to stop here and keep the false distance effect), and finally another diffuser. There's always room to experiment at this step, but the original configuration should give the best results. The plastic frame needed a slight modification for the cables, nothing that a cutter and a hammer can't do.
The power supply for the LED strips is divided into two parts: an external source with a barrel jack connector, and a dimmer compatible with 12V high frequency so the lights don't flicker during filming. The female connector from the source goes to the dimmer input, and the LED strips to the output. Leandro chose to solder the wires, but the dimmer has terminals.
The last step was connecting the lamp to an old microphone stand. After removing rust and old paint, Leandro used a VESA adapter, but the total weight of the lamp exceeds the arm's capacity. A direct connection to the pole solved the problem, and a grid made of black cardboard helped focus the light even more, avoiding 'bleeding' on the walls.
Personally, I love it. I think I'll go look for a damaged monitor somewhere...
