944 S2 Clock

[WillJ]

Hi,

What should the clock look like when its working properly? Mine is black with grey letters - quite difficult to read. Should it be back lit at all?

Thanks

WIll

 

[swright]

Mine is back lit but sadly the readout has bled so its useless.

 

[Diver944]

It should be black with orange letters. It does have a backlight to make it easier to read and this dims when you switch on the headlights

 

[DavidL]

I have one where the readout has bled too. Since they sell for such huge amounts why is it so difficult ( or is it?) to have one fixed. Surely for the right person a small PCB and an LCD screen can't be that hard to replace can it?

 

[Copperman05]

I guess it should look like this...

Edd

 

[Fen]

Apart from the steering wheel []

 

[944 man]

It looks distinctly Chinese.....

 

[Copperman05]

yes I am replacing the steering wheel....[:'(]

 

[zcacogp]

The LCD's fairly often bleed, making the clock progressively more useless.

DavidL - yes, replacing the screen will be very easy, given the way it comes apart (doesn't even need soldering in as the contacts are via a rubber zebra strip.) The difficulty is in identifying the screen - it has no identification on it at all, not even a manufacturer, let alone a serial number. VDO (manufacturers of the unit) don't want to know, just referring you to the original manufacturer of the vehicle (Porsche), who want huge sums of money for a replacement unit.

The dimensions and layout of the screen (what contacts are where, and which segments they control), but they don't match anything I can find on the market at the moment. If you take the LCD screen to a specialist supplier of LCD panels they may be able to help, but there are none of those near me.

The screen size seems to be very similar (can't be sure whether it is the same or not) as the screen on a Mk1 Golf, whose instrument binnacles were also made by VDO. It may therefore be possible to nick a screen from one of these, but Mk1 Golf binnacles are getting hard to come by these days as well ...

I can't help but think that if someone could identify the screen then it would make them very popular in the 944 community. Screens of similar sizes seem to cost around £3 from suitable suppliers - they are very cheap.


Oli.

 

[WillJ]

How do you remove the clock - do you have to have the dash apart?

Will

 

[zcacogp]

Take the flat strip off, that runs from the passenger end of the dash to the heater control unit. Take the front off the heater control unit, and unscrew it.

Clock will then unscrew.


Oli.

 

[944s2]

Or in detail

http://www.titanic.co.uk/FAQs/FAQ28_944DashTrimRemoval.html

 

[WillJ]

Is there a bulb that provides the back light - could it be that just that is broken?

Will

 

[944s2]

Yes there is a bulb in there

 

[WillJ]

And is it that that makes the letters orange?

If so I bet its just that that is broken..

Will

 

[Wigeon Incognito]

Sorry OP, this isn't bulb related but...

There really must be a way of replacing the screen without replacing the entire unit.

I've just been chatting to the sparks here on site and whilst they weren't able to give me any concrete suggestions they have given me a copy of Farnell's electrical components catalogue and directed me to the correct section.

If anybody here has access to the Farnell catalogue, take a look at pages 746/747 - there are some very similar looking screens there manufactured by Avago.

Any opinions would be very welcome.

Edit: Here is the selection online:

http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp;jsessionid=G5YOCPRSZCUAGCQLCISJKBQ?N=500005+1000127+150867&Ntk=gensearch_001&Ntt=led+clock&Ntx=&_requestid=355839

Again, any views welcome. They cost pittance, but I haven't had my unit in bits so I'm not sure what I would need.

 

[zcacogp]

Matt,

Been there, done that.

As I recall, the screen dimensions were different - take your existing screen out of the clock and measure it carefully.

If you make any more progress than I did then I will be VERY keen to hear about it tho'! Also, if you have any tame electrical types around you, give them the old screen and see what they say ... I am sure it's not that difficult at all, if you know what screen you are looking for (and have access to a good number of different types.)

Best of luck. Keep us posted.


Oli.

ETA: Those are LED screens, not LCD screens, that you linked to. I hadn't considered those ...

 

[Wigeon Incognito]

Hmmm, I think I'm going to capture a spark that can look into this for me.

If I try to do it myself I know I'll just end up buying screen after screen and they'll all prove useless. I did find a few companies that will custom make screens but I imagine that for such a small item they'd want very large order numbers as they don't tend to be based in the UK.

I'll update this thread if I make any progress.

 

[zcacogp]

Matt,

If it does come to custom-making screens, I'd be happy to go half on a batch of - say - 100 (depending upon price, of course.)

I suspect that you could sell them pretty easily to 944 owners up and down the country (and across the world.)


Oli.

 

[xenon]

ORIGINAL: zcacogp

ETA: Those are LED screens, not LCD screens, that you linked to. I hadn't considered those ...

Indeed, so they are very unlikely to work. The clock will not source sufficient current to drive an LED display which is an order of magnitude higher than an LCD display. If your display is broken you don't have much to lose but I don't think it will be a goer.