Ben Heck's LCD Hack Challenge

Ben takes on the challenge to hack a cheap LCD and see if he can make it work after removing it from the original driver board. He shares tips on how to identify the best screens to salvage and helps you decide if a hack is worth your time.
____________________
New episodes every Sunday!
Watch this episode on Revision3.com: revision3.com/tbhs/ben-hecks-l...
Be sure to share, like and comment this video: • Ben Heck's LCD Hack Ch...
Subscribe for more projects and mods: kzbin.info_c...
Check out more of Ben's work: / thebenheckshow
--
Connect with The Ben Heck Show for more projects and tips
Twitter: / benheck
Facebook: / benheckshow

[@Shroommduke]

We don't see many videos where people struggle or fail but they are always informative. It's good to know that I'm not the only one who struggles, it's good to know when to ask for help or to give up.

[@allluckyseven]

"That's very specific and I hope that your wish comes true." That was very cute.

[@xanokothe]

"I pretty sure we made more than 4 episodes..." "Ohh... It's not in binary..." "Ohh ok, 100 episodes..." LOL

[@iam_jentle.]

any ideas how can i recycle smartphone's LCD screens?

[@irandom419]

Was just trying to hack an old Casio portable analog LCD TV (TV-600BX) and noticed it used a LIFO to make the tuner line appear across the screen. I wonder if that might be an alternative approach to using an old LCD.

[@ChubbsRN]

PICKLES!!! Congrats at reaching 100 episodes! Hope to see another 100

[@reveninja1642]

isnt it possible to order a proper controller or connector, or design a custom pcb from manufacturers like jlcpcb?

[@MySpeed12]

CONGRATS ON 100th! Greetz Netherlands

[@CreamAle]

gratz on the 100th vid mate!

[@gabaktech]

can it be possible to glue the flex to the display if it is unglue?

[@NaN0s7]

Heck it's already been 100 episodes!! Congrats!

[@lanceseidman]

congrats Benjamin! Love the show.

[@loubilly]

Congrats on 100 episodes

[@xrosspi]

Would it be possible to turn an iPod touch into a flash drive that only uses the display to show the total, used and available space?

[@PunPlaya21]

Hey ben heck do you think it would be possible to take a first gen iphone and the guts of like iphone 4/4s and do like a (engine swap)

[@ZenithMusicNet]

I'd like to know the name of the great music starting at 4:35

[@xSpartansvsElites]

ben what is the model of that lcd screen you bought for 25 bucks i cant find it onthe element14 website =/ ive been really trying to find a vga or hdmi cheap screen for gaming and custom use

[@RudeNetworks]

Great show even when the project didn't go well, i still learn from it!

[@timcki]

Are you doing something different with you videos? The newest ones do not show up on apple TV

[@thesamuelbutler]

Is it possible to buy a processor and use it with a motherboard you created? For example: buying an Intel Atom processor, creating a small motherboard to fit it, and using it as a portable computer.

[@AirsoftCityValencia]

Thank You, I got a final response to a question that troubles me for more than one year. I still think that a board with the click connector should be build in order to reuse these LCD's. Would that be possible? The connector should have programmable pins so that it could work with any LCD..... I know the board would be expensive though...

[@investornewbie]

Can you use an arduino chip to create a diy fitbit esq tracker? What sensors do you think you might need?

[@CarlRecktenwaldJr]

Thanks for the info on this.

[@Dreamcass]

While you'll never get a picture out of it, there are two uses for an old laptop lcd screen that I've tried with success. If the backlight is still good, you can take it out and transplant it into the screen of another laptop whose backlight burned out. The other thing you can do is take out the light diffuser and make it into a lampshade.

[@IvIaShiIvIoI2o]

Can you share the reader file you mentioned.

[@ryanduncan2381]

was that lcd for a car backup camera?

[@killa1triangle13]

Ok. Here's a question. Is it possible to connect a gopro and external hard drive, in such a way that it would automatically have the gopro footage cleared from the gopro and put on the hard drive? I am well aware I could buy a crappy laptop, but one specifically for that purpose is uneconomical. It needs to be able to run off 12 v power btw

[@sopothetocho]

Yeah yeah, but what if you need a high pixel density screen (for example 6" 2560x1440 2k screen for a VR headset), you cant really just buy those, because those are not for sale and the ones that are for sale are really reall expensive (>300$) and have high persistence, mainwhile there are tons of super cheap cellphone OLED screens on the market but no driver board. ARG!

[@muma323padurii]

Thanks Ben, this episode confirmed what I concluded after many frustrating attempts.

[@lexproductions2]

Loved the sped up footage!

[@princetheelegendmusic]

Hi Ben am prince and I want to study technology in college but I don't know the actual courses that I wanna do. So I wanted to ask u what courses did u take ?

[@sanjaydubey9973]

hey ben how did you start to learn electronic after your year of being a graphic artist? and btw nicely done stuff in the video

[@PeterLakeTV]

Awesome! Thanks Ben

[@virtlink]

The 'Welcome to the Ben Heck Show' video is not one of his shows, which makes this the 100th Ben Heck Show.

[@CntrazZombie4]

Mr. Heck, I was wondering how difficult would it be to buy an LCD screen with the "Old Fashioned" Red, White & Yellow video and audio in plug-slots (please forgive me for not knowing the term), & / or how much it costs to buy a pre-made one at stores?

[@charlottegrant7728]

the term is AV :)

[@ChloePaws]

You can usually get them from car reversing cameras.

[@bluerobin20]

The 100th episode wasn't as epic as I expected, but thanks for saving me hours and hours of work!

[@VictorYeungAdmiral]

congratulations on E100!

[@Tenocticatl]

I was thinking of the same thing. I've used one of those boards off ebay with an old laptop screen, works great. You just have to check the LCD serial number against what's supported by the driver board.

[@maccartier7287]

I feel it would be easier to just hack into the actual board controlling the lcd. Am I right? Is this doable?

[@dizzydude007]

Honestly I don't understand a lot of the things you say but I just love watching you hack things together :D

[@grindle2000]

I was wondering it would have been possible to hook up the connections thru the SD card slot .

[@AceAcid666]

thx for your reply. i already checked out TinyDuino , but my challenge is to do it without any "premade solutions". i already got the SoftwareSerial and the programming via ArduinoUno to work. the only thing i need is a USB/Serial Converter, since my output from the attiny45 ( SoftwareSerial.print() ) shows only strange unicode characters in e.g. the serial monitor of the arduino software. i don't want to use a usb/serial converter, cuz it's to big for my project. i want to make my own (FTDI)...

[@lolatdatguy375]

Ben does any touchscreen work on raspberry pi

[@xXfzmusicXx]

could you build a kvm with arduino to show how its best done?

[@unicodefox]

What song is at 4:36????

[@Existensmaximum]

Great episode! The binary joke was hilarious too! :D

[@Portal12345678910]

What song is this?

[@VGMrawk]

what's the song playing in the background @ 4:55?

[@slurp6887]

Darude - Sandstorm

[@R24W86]

"...throughout the journey I have not stopped believing..." - lmfao

[@StoneFlange]

Thanks for putting a fork in this for me, Ben. I've always entertained the idea of recycling old screens, but had no idea where to start. Now I know not to! :)

[@tonyk9786]

You may also have luck using screens if you can find the controller (like on eBay). I bought a no name 7" android tablet, and was able to find a controller with Composite, VGA, and HDMI. It was $45, so not that cheap, but still an option. Only hurdle is finding the make and model of the LCD before buying said tablet, etc. Still considering options for car nav, backup cam, media control, etc

[@tonyk9786]

So an Arduino wouldn't work, how about a raspberry pi? That would be about the same price as the ready made controller board I mentioned before

[@RossPotts]

Thats awesome. I just found an LCD at the local Goodwill. It was from a car video player and already had the AV inputs. My Raspi is becoming portable!

[@peevedbeaver996]

He said pickles instead of pixels. I wonder if he noticed.

[@rplz]

Hey Ben, can you make a portable videogame and add a projector to it? What do you think?

[@markdransfield9082]

hey ben just thought i would add this to your info about reusing screens. My PC setup is currently using 2 old acer aspire widescreen monitors. i pulled the working screens from dead laptops kept all the housing to make mounts and keep it looking okay. went onto Ebay and purchased LCD Controler bords. they cost arround £50 each but you can get the Hideff ones with dvi ports for your screen just have to send them a make with your LCD part No. it is a good way to reuse laptop LCD's

[@zebrakiss2000]

can u make a steady cam.

[@ElectronicSupersonic]

Yes, look into the Digispark. It has software USB and has some serial control. I thought the Adafruit Trinket could do this as well but am unsure, they say it has no hardware serial and I'm not sure if you have control over the software USB for anything beyond bootloading, you probably should, but that is something you'd have to investigate further.

[@gaming-zombie1392]

If you have 2 Nintendo, Xbox, PS2, or OUYA... Can you hook them up together to make a powerful consoles out of it? Like 2 Nintendo be as powerful as a Super NES or would it just be OC NES...

[@Railbot]

Couldn't you display things if you used a atmega328 and use a crystal to overclock it to 20MHZ?

[@MrChamberscasey]

I second the motion, he said pickles

[@venomsss001]

lol in poland standard payment per hour is 3$ minimal is 2.5$... yeah

[@RabbitRacing09]

know how to fix laptop screen wires?

[@ghost90able]

bought those LCD's in SunnyVale. did you buy them from ricky

[@habutf]

Heck yes, why not? :) I'd be happy to see someone do this. I'd also like to see some other content built around it (like ben does from time to time), e.g. showing how to train a dog for using the toy. Or showing off the comms in a fun short movie. But that's clearly not a must have...

[@habutf]

Wow,... no need to rush. I subscribed, so I'll see when there is something to see. :)

[@grindle2000]

Wow wonderful acting :) keep up the good work guys :)

[@pearlmax]

One cannot help but think of Glen Beck.

Great advice, that about time spent.

[@MrAlFuture]

I'm loving Ben's videos! Thanks, Ben and co! Hey I'm curious. I'm in Australia and I have always pronounced "solder" as "sold - err", but every person from North America I've heard saying "solder" pronounces it as "saw - derr". Anyone have any clues about where this pronunciation originates from? Admittedly, my sample size is only about a dozen people who use the "saw derr" output, but it's been consistent enough to peak my curiosity.

[@kshadehyaena]

For the Arduino KVM, well the K and M parts are doable but I have my doubts about V, especially if we're talking about a KVM over IP.

[@kght222]

i was just thinking why not pull the connector (zif socket) and bake it onto a generic prototype board with solder paste. you kinda answered that just as i was thinking it while watching, but not fully.

[@mtktm]

There are LCD controller boards programmed specifically for LCD models from certain laptops. I've converted 10 LCD panels from a bunch of old dell laptops to actually TVs with HDMI inputs. the boards are like $35 on ebay.

[@john-paulhopman318]

Grats on 100 episodes, here's to 100 more ideas! As for the episode, disappointing, but good advice and justification for spending a little more up front.

[@BuxProduxshuns]

What about a Sega Game Gear LCD?

[@thetechnologyguy3300]

is this a challenge? (for me to do)

[@JoshVC]

NJYtouch offers LVDS controllers on ebay, theyre amazing for diy projects like xbox laptops!

[@AlphaMillenium]

your damn user photo got my freaked out for a second

[@jllmmjj]

oooo published on my birthday SWEET

[@AceAcid666]

Hey Ben, first of all I want to thank you for all the great tutorials and hacks. I have a Simple question to you: Could you show us how to put a USB interface to an ATtiny45 / 85 ( Arduino UNO as ISP ) that simply sends output data ( from any sensors or so ) to the PC using arduinos Serial.print command ?? This would be really great, because we would be able to shrink out projects into minimal space. Cant wait yout answer.

[@Muscleduck]

I once looked into this with an old b&w LCD from an early '90s laptop. I still have the LCD but I gave up years ago when I learned that this is nearly impossible to do on the cheap. You could buy some kind of controller but that was stupidly expensive.

[@Silv3r89O1]

thanks man

[@chrisleech1565]

Oh and it's under 2000, by the time they ship they're own design software Othercam will be able to import both EagleCAD board files and SVG files. This means we can use Illustrator (or any other vector based editor) and EagleCAD to design both shapes and circuits to cut on the Othermill. Soooo....just go look will you. Its exciting!!

[@shpluk]

oh! we've done 4 episodes; )

[@daviruela2055]

What about building a butler robot based on the arduino that would transport food and drinks in the inside and TV and xbox controls in the outside. it also could have a cup holder. it must be able to follow you (like robot luggage), to come to you when you clap your hands and also be able to dock by it self (IR beacon)

[@ElectroManGaming24]

Use a razor blade, cut apart the connections, and on most of them you can melt away the flex material. easy way to 'strip' the connections, that way you do not have to try to solder them so close, and you do not have to worry AS MUCH about bridged connections.

[@Mountgeek]

New Glarus Spotted Cow, I love that beer. I drank a lot of that when I was at UW. If only I could get in in Massachusetts :(sad face).

[@TeslabladePlaysMC]

4:28 i think he said "so i know now that i have my pickles correct( pickles,not pixels.)!

[@Christian-jc6gf]

XD XD XD

[@davetriplett4779]

He was getting hungry 😋

[@Markonim]

You "have to" upload one Channel Introduction video for your new channel layout on KZbin :)

[@redneckhacker8044]

Can u please do that viewer quistion

[@thetechnologyguy3300]

okay it will be compleed either today or in the week

[@earlygrayce3200]

His displeasure at the idea of trying to reuse miscellaneous LCDs was made clear at the beginning of the show. LCDs all have different power needs and other inputs and they are constantly being made better. Reusing an old one will take much time while leaving you with an inferior product. After considering the low price of new LCDs it is cheaper and better to use new ones for projects rather than recycling old junk.

[@ThePhotokill]

hahahahaha!! @1:21 four?... oh wait its not in binary! LOL i just literally pissed myself laughing at that!

[@ColourGamingScheme]

Are you kidding? D: It was so well acted i hardly noticed! :P

[@robboatwright]

you are awesome !!

[@LambOfLucifer]

Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys got well smart!!

[@blackmastervqs]

Tvvvhgfs nc mv

[@ericwicken3376]

i would like to see if you could hack an old wiimote to be used as a dedicated wired usb pc controller for retro gaming on the rpi just as a proof of concept.

[@KevinTwiner]

Happy 100th Guy's ! :)

[@Diabl0pl]

4? Nice one :)

[@habutf]

I always wanted to build an electronic game for my dog (didn't find the time yet). Something like the dogtreat dispenser but the dog should need to "think" and be attentive to get the doggy-treat. I'd also be interested in stuff that could be useful and allowed in airsoft games. like a cheapo IOIO attachment for communication with an Android phone (push to talk, attach to gear,...).

[@MikeGervasi]

4:27 ALWAYS make sure your pickles are correct.