Thinkpads Forum

I have read a dozen or so post here and elsewhere....is there a US based LED Retrofit Company?
Drop in, not interested in soldering squat!
Needs to dimmer just like factory.

The kit I think I like is offered by iccfl.

Thanks
Ron

Yeah. I bought two, but I didn't place an inverter correctly and a capacitor started to burn the lid frame because it was contacting.
The LED placing might take a try or two, it may twist slightly while in the backlight holder, resulting in a slightly dark or yellow tinted display.

Hello,
I have just installed a LED conversion kit offered by iccfl into my T61. A lot of careful attention was needed to replace that ccfl bulb with LED stip, but everything works and overall quality of kit is nice.

However, PWM modulator used to dim the LED's is horrible! I have to run my screen at 100% brightness or else it flickers like crazy! And 100% brightness on LED is BRIGHT. To make matters worse, they even scratched off the model of a PWM chip they used, so I cannot find a better replacement which would dim LED's in much higher frequency.

All in all, this is an interesting mod, but I think I will revert it back to CCFL when I'll have a chance. Overall quality and usability is much better with original ccfl (if it's condition is good).

No idea on US suppliers, the Chinese supplier I went through I can highly recommend however. Status LEDs all work as they should, no power issues, no flickering, dimming works without a hitch. It is BRIGHT. Just a matter of installing it the right way and it's golden. It's drop-in and goes much smoother acutally if you give up the notion of removing the CCFL in a single piece. Crack off the plastic corner for easier access, snip off one of the wires, remove the CCFL, slip in the LED array, seal off the hole with electrical tape and you're good to go.

Yes, you can do a cleaner job, but this is fastest. Test the array first obviously. Costs more than a CCFL replacement, but only if you don't value the time you spend in swapping them. Plus, there's some power savings

Personally, I find better quality for China-sourced items if you go straight to the source most of the time. Once you introduce middle-men into the picture who do little more than import it, there is every incentive to reduce quality by paying bottom dollar. Shipping kinda sucks if it's only a single unit, if you can arrange a group buy, or just buy a handful and resell em you'll do much better.

Totoro-kun wrote:Hello,
However, PWM modulator used to dim the LED's is horrible! I have to run my screen at 100% brightness or else it flickers like crazy! And 100% brightness on LED is BRIGHT. To make matters worse, they even scratched off the model of a PWM chip they used, so I cannot find a better replacement which would dim LED's in much higher frequency.

If it's the controller and chip it usually is, there's a mod to change the PWM frequency to 24kHz and eliminate the flicker:
https://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/think ... t.shtml#hf

Thank you! So there is hope then. Just what I needed

I have reverted my LED mod, but I still have the kit, so there is going to be an interesting evening. Cheers!

Thank you again, xiphmont, I've proceeded with inverter mod you described. It's awesome! Only on lowest setting there are slight traces of flicker (only noticeable through stroboscopic test, not by naked eye), otherwise screen is bright and solid.

I did not notice paypal donation button, if you use PP, let me know, I'll at least a drink your way many many thanks, and your site is really awesome, covers led conversion process well and in a very clear way. Cheers!

Totoro-kun wrote:Thank you again, xiphmont, I've proceeded with inverter mod you described. It's awesome! Only on lowest setting there are slight traces of flicker (only noticeable through stroboscopic test, not by naked eye), otherwise screen is bright and solid.

Yes, there's a tradeoff between killing any last trace of of the PWM and the driver reacting annoyingly slowly to brightness control changes. You can go to a 474 (.47uF) capacitor instead of a 104 (.1uF) to reduce the PWM ripple even further if you like.

I did not notice paypal donation button, if you use PP, let me know, I'll at least a drink your way many many thanks, and your site is really awesome, covers led conversion process well and in a very clear way. Cheers!

No worries, this is a hobby! Hobbies aren't supposed to make money, they're supposed to waste it