Comments on Planar Embedded: The Engineer View: CRT's & LCD's: The tale of the tape.

OVL (http://www.eefl.cn) LCD cold cathode lamp (CC...

2006-11-30T06:28:00.000-08:00

OVL (http://www.eefl.cn) LCD cold cathode lamp (CCFL) with long life, it is more than 50’000 hours, with Japanese new cathode, phosphor, glass, and other materials, special made by OVL, they are perfect for all LCD backlight application and other purpose, such as instrumentation, medical devices, and all type devices.

Nic,Good questions. In our best engineering speak…...

2006-04-04T18:07:00.000-07:00

Nic,

Good questions.

In our best engineering speak…

(1) Yes - turning the backlight ON / OFF many times will shorten the life of the CCFL. Each time that you turn it ON, there are ions accumulating near the electrodes and are causing sputtering. This is the black sputter that you see near the edges of fluorescent lamps that are old. This will be even more harmful if the starts are at cold temperatures, where there is not enough mercury vapor in the gas mix.

(2) It is significant - the lower the CCFL current, the less ion bombardment on the electrodes, and less aging of the phosphor. Both mechanisms that make the lamps age (electrodes coating, and phosphor aging) are reduced with less current. I don't have the exact relation - it is not linear...

Again, many thanks to Adi,

I have two questions. Is the life of an CCFL sign...

2006-03-22T06:19:00.000-08:00

I have two questions.

Is the life of an CCFL significantly affected by turning it on and off?

Also, how significantly does the brightness setting on the monitor affect the expected life of the CCFL?