Frequently Asked Questions...   LCD Backlight  FAQ's...     Q. My LCD display is not working and will not display an image, can this be repaired? A. Yes, in most cases it is simply caused from a premature failure of the CCFL lamp.   Q. How can I determine if there is indeed a backlight issue and not simply another problem with a faulty LCD screen?  A. One method to determine if you simply have a faulty CCFL is to… make sure that you have powered up the LCD and then shine a flashlight or other light source directly at the screen. If you can see your desktop or other displayed image than you indeed simply have a backlight issue. If you are having trouble with the display on your laptop you can also try hooking it up to another external display, if you are displaying an image than again it is most likely that the backlight is the problem.   Q. My LCD screen is very dim and seems to have a pinkish hue, can this be repaired?  A. Yes, again this is a very common symptom of a faulty backlight.Simply, replacing the lamp with one of our high quality lamps will give your screen the appearance and brightness of being brand new, in most cases better than new.     Q. Are there other symptoms of expired CCFL’s.   A. Yes, excessive flickering, dark spots and intermittent illumination are all common signs of faulty CCFL lamps.   Q. Are the CCFL lamps difficult to change?   A. For those that are mechanically inclined CCFL lamps are actually not that difficult to change.If you are fairly comfortable with disassembly and reassembly of small screws and parts and have some experiencewith a soldering iron the process is pretty painless. As long as you keep track the order in which you took things apart putting it all back together is quite easy. To get a better idea if this is a job you feel comfortable attempting, please review the process on our tutorial page.   Q. Is it an expensive venture to change out the CCFL lamp?  A. Actually it is a relatively inexpensive procedure especially when compared to the high price of replacing the LCD screen. A new lamp can be purchased for around and will last well beyond the useable life span of your LCD.    Q. Can any CCFL lamp be used for backlight? A. Besides the obvious differences in size and diameter of CCFL lamps there are huge differences in the quality of lamps from one manufacturer and another. Often times low quality CCFL’s may result in premature inverter failure as well as huge variances in color and brightness. The greatest advantage of the Flectra CCFL lamps is they are highly advanced in both performance and construction. These lamps were originally designed for mission critical applications for high demand military and aerospace applications. We are held contractually to the highest quality standards of any CCFL lamp manufactured on the planet.        If you are going to make the effort to change your own backlight, do yourself a favor and ensure that you will never have to do it again by using only Flectra CCFL lamps.                         Q. I recently purchased another CCFL lamp from a large electronics catalog company online and was very disappointed to find that the brightness level of my LCD screen was very minimal. Further it seemed to dim very quickly after only 3 months of use. Unfortunately I will have to change the lamp out again, Can you explain the differences between the Flectra lamp and other common CCFL’s?  A. Regrettably, thecompany that sold you the CCFL lamp is very likely a resellerof verylow quality Cold Cathodes manufactured in the Far East. It is very unfortunate that companies like these make representation that there products are suitable for any applications other than novelty lighting.  These types of lamps should never be used for LCD backlight applications as they have huge variances between lamps due to there non existent quality control standards. These lamps have a very steep degradation curve and rarely achieve even half of their published life expectancies.   As an example, phosphors used in these low end lamps are purchased for only - per Kilo. Our proprietary tri-band phosphors sell for well over 0 per Kilo. This is simply one of the factors that sets Flectra lamps a part from the rest.     Q. Are there environmental concerns for disposal of old CCFL lamps?   A. Yes. Especially with low end CCFL’s manufactured in the Far East. They tend to have very high mercury content, well above government standards for disposal and are made from glass with high lead content which is also very threatening to the environment. We recommend checking with local authorities regarding lamp disposal procedures.                                                                      Flectra lamps on the other hand, are manufactured using only the highest quality Borosilicate (completely lead-free) glass and because we use only the highest quality phosphors only trace amounts of mercury vapor are used in their construction, well below any existing or proposed governmental standards. As a testament to our ongoing conservation efforts, we intend to have the first available mercury-free CCFL and EEFL lamps available that can achieve 40,000+ cd/m2 and will be rated at over 70,000 hours of continued usage in the industry.