16 May
2005
16 May
'05
6:53 p.m.
I finally got around to replacing the batteries on my TRS-80 PC-1 and
noticed that the intervening years have not been kind to the LCD
screen. It appears that there is liquid crystal leaking out under the
polarizing screen, creating what looks like black smudges on the
display.
The black smudges are almost certainly areas where there's no liquid
crystal remaining. Remember that the liquid crystal is placed between
_crossed_ polarisers, in the unenergised state the liquid crystal is
designed to rotate the plane of polarisation of the light by pi/2.
I dug my less scratched up version out of storage and found the same
thing, only worse. I doubt these LCD panels are still in production.
Anyone have any ideas that might be able to alleviate the problem?
Alas I can't think of a cure other than a new LCD unit.
-tony