fluorescent displays for microwave ovens

  • Thread starter William Sommerwerck
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William Sommerwerck

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I've been cleaning my GE Spacemaker XL1400 JVM1430WA01, and giving thought to
replacing the vacuum-fluorescent display, which has dimmed quite a bit. * (I
was amazed how easy it is to get into the thing.)

Anyhow... although the entire control panel is readily available (for $140),
the display itself isn't. I've done a of browsing, but can't find it.

Thoughts, anyone?

Thanks.


* The trick to keep it bright is to shut off the clock display. It took me 10
years to figure that out.
 
William Sommerwerck <grizzledgeezer@comcast.net> wrote:
I've been cleaning my GE Spacemaker XL1400 JVM1430WA01, and giving
thought to replacing the vacuum-fluorescent display, which has dimmed
quite a bit.

Anyhow... although the entire control panel is readily available (for
$140), the display itself isn't. I've done a of browsing, but can't
find it.
Click to expand...

In the early 1990s, I had a summer job selling GE appliance parts to
parts distributors and repair shops. At that time, most "smartboards"
were sold complete. On a few of them, the low-voltage transformer was
available as a separate part, because it plugged into the circuit board
rather than being soldered in. There might have been something like a
relay available for some of them, but that is a fuzzy memory. I do
remember that some boards were sold outright, and some had a core charge,
refundable on receipt of the broken one. These days I think most
suppliers sell the boards outright.

I think there are (were?) some companies that rebuild smartboards, but
I don't know of one to point you at.

If you can find out if your smartboard was also used on other models,
you might prowl thrift stores, Craigslist, the curb on trash day, etc,
for those models. Use the online parts looker-uppers and Google to
experiment.

Tip: JVM1430 is the main model number. W means it's white. A01 is sort
of a sub-model and revision level. In other words, a JVM1430BA01
(black, "revision" A01) probably uses the same smartboard as yours, but
a JVM1430BD02 (black, "revision" D02) may not.

Some used appliance stores will "make one out of two", and therefore
have a selection of hulks they use for salvage. They may or may not be
willing to sell you parts, but asking is free. Again, it will help if
you can provide them with a list of models.

The hard parts are probably the main microprocessor and the display;
everything else looks pretty off-the-shelf on most of the boards I have
seen.

Standard disclaimers apply; I don't currently get money or other
consideration from any companies mentioned. I used to work for GE but
I haven't been there for about 19 years.

Matt Roberds
 
On 08/22/2014 12:29 PM, William Sommerwerck wrote:
I've been cleaning my GE Spacemaker XL1400 JVM1430WA01, and giving
thought to replacing the vacuum-fluorescent display, which has dimmed
quite a bit. * (I was amazed how easy it is to get into the thing.)

Anyhow... although the entire control panel is readily available (for
$140), the display itself isn't. I've done a of browsing, but can't find
it.

Thoughts, anyone?

Thanks.


* The trick to keep it bright is to shut off the clock display. It took
me 10 years to figure that out.
Click to expand...

A trick we use in the pinball field for the cold cathode displays is to
recharge them by putting a bit of an overvoltage on the filaments for
the tube.

http://flippers.com/gott_system_1.html#recharge

For our games the filaments run at 8V, so we hit them with 12V until
they glow a dull red, leave that glowing for a few seconds and then try
the display again.

In some cases this completely revives the display and you get years of
normal operation - in other cases it brightens it for a while (under a
year) and you are lef twith it about the same dimness as before.

Do NOT put too much voltage across the filaments (normally the lead at
each end of the tube string of leads) or you run the risk of breaking a
filament which destroys the tube and may damage the segment drivers or
transformer, etc. This is very, very rare though.

John :-#)#
--
(Please post followups or tech inquiries to the newsgroup)
John's Jukes Ltd. 2343 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 3C9
(604)872-5757 or Fax 872-2010 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games)
www.flippers.com
"Old pinballers never die, they just flip out."
 
William Sommerwerck wrote:
I've been cleaning my GE Spacemaker XL1400 JVM1430WA01, and giving thought to
replacing the vacuum-fluorescent display, which has dimmed quite a bit. * (I
was amazed how easy it is to get into the thing.)

Anyhow... although the entire control panel is readily available (for $140),
the display itself isn't. I've done a of browsing, but can't find it.

Thoughts, anyone?
Click to expand...

The inverter that supplied the -22 volts used to slowly die in VCRs
as the filter cap dried out. I replaced a bunch of the electrolytics,
but a lot of people just replaced the module.


--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.
 
"John Robertson" wrote in message
news:Ge2dnVeNw6FYVGrOnZ2dnUVZ5r6dnZ2d@giganews.com...

A trick we use in the pinball field for the cold cathode displays
is to recharge them by putting a bit of an overvoltage on the
filaments for the tube.
Click to expand...

Like a CRT rejuvenator, huh? Thanks.
 
On 22/08/2014 20:29, William Sommerwerck wrote:
I've been cleaning my GE Spacemaker XL1400 JVM1430WA01, and giving
thought to replacing the vacuum-fluorescent display, which has dimmed
quite a bit. * (I was amazed how easy it is to get into the thing.)

Anyhow... although the entire control panel is readily available (for
$140), the display itself isn't. I've done a of browsing, but can't find
it.

Thoughts, anyone?

Thanks.


* The trick to keep it bright is to shut off the clock display. It took
me 10 years to figure that out.
Click to expand...

Rob the display from an older VCR, from when you could actually read the
displays from across a room. Often you can see the tracks from pins to
segments and can reconfigure the traces on the pcb before trying.
But I suppose trying ,as is, initially to check the display will work ,
then reconfigure the traces, makes more sense
 
In article <lt85n6$o6b$1@dont-email.me>, grizzledgeezer@comcast.net
says...
* The trick to keep it bright is to shut off the clock display. It
took me 10
years to figure that out.
Click to expand...

I wonder: Does turning off the display actually help in longevity? I
have the clock turned off on my GE microwave, but I do see the filaments
still faintly glowing. What is the main reason for the display dimming
over time? Do the filaments weaken over time, or does the actual VF
display segments get weak?

--
If there is a no_junk in my address, please REMOVE it before replying!
All junk mail senders will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the
law!!
http://home.comcast.net/~andyross
 
"Andrew Rossmann" wrote in message
news:MPG.2e624474cb264d4d98985b@news.eternal-september.org...

In article <lt85n6$o6b$1@dont-email.me>, grizzledgeezer@comcast.net
says...

* The trick to keep it bright is to shut off the clock display.
It took me 10 years to figure that out.

I wonder: Does turning off the display actually help in longevity?
Click to expand...

It absolutely does. The only dim parts of the display are those that show the
clock time. "Everything else" has gotten much less use, and is considerably
brighter.


> What is the main reason for the display dimming over time?

I assume it's a reduction in emissivity of the fluorescent elements.
 
On 08/23/2014 7:55 AM, William Sommerwerck wrote:
"Andrew Rossmann" wrote in message
news:MPG.2e624474cb264d4d98985b@news.eternal-september.org...

In article <lt85n6$o6b$1@dont-email.me>, grizzledgeezer@comcast.net
says...

* The trick to keep it bright is to shut off the clock display.
It took me 10 years to figure that out.

I wonder: Does turning off the display actually help in longevity?

It absolutely does. The only dim parts of the display are those that
show the clock time. "Everything else" has gotten much less use, and is
considerably brighter.


What is the main reason for the display dimming over time?

I assume it's a reduction in emissivity of the fluorescent elements.
Click to expand...

I think it is the emission from the filaments that declines with time,
like very radio tubes - think 201As, and others where the heater was
also the cathode. The filaments are normally biased from common by some
odd voltage (4 & 8 volts (4 & 6/7 digits) on our large pinball displays)
- perhaps the bias is off?

John :-#)#
--
(Please post followups or tech inquiries to the newsgroup)
John's Jukes Ltd. 2343 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 3C9
(604)872-5757 or Fax 872-2010 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games)
www.flippers.com
"Old pinballers never die, they just flip out."
 
On 22/08/2014 20:29, William Sommerwerck wrote:
I've been cleaning my GE Spacemaker XL1400 JVM1430WA01, and giving
thought to replacing the vacuum-fluorescent display, which has dimmed
quite a bit. * (I was amazed how easy it is to get into the thing.)

Anyhow... although the entire control panel is readily available (for
$140), the display itself isn't. I've done a of browsing, but can't find
it.

Thoughts, anyone?

Thanks.


* The trick to keep it bright is to shut off the clock display. It took
me 10 years to figure that out.
Click to expand...

If the display is over-covered with purple or blue filter then replacing
that with a slab of clear increases the visibility of the digits,
assuming visibility of the other gubbins is acceptible
 
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