Monitor Life Span

[DBissett]

I've got two Dell 2007FP's about 10 yrs old that still work perfectly but I'd like to know if anyone has any idea how long they might last. What makes a monitor "wear out" and stop working? I'm planning to upgrade a monitor array soon and it makes a difference what I buy if I can expect these to last a long time to come or not. Thanks.

Dave

 

[mnewsham]

If nothing else fails, the capacitors should eventually fail.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'd say 10 years is a good lifespan, maybe 15 if you're lucky.

 

[Wall Street]

The capacitors should only fail on monitors made during the "capacitor plague" period of late 90s through early 2000s. If you don't have the bad series of capacitors, the most common issue on earlier series of LCD monitors is backlight failure. A backlight should be good for 10,000-30,000 hours at full brightness (~1-3 years of 24/7 usage). Lower brightness should lead to longer life.

2018 vintage monitors have LED backlights and don't use caps with bad dielectrics, so in theory should last even longer.

 

[mnewsham]

The capacitors should only fail on monitors made during the "capacitor plague" period of late 90s through early 2000s.

You realize all capacitors have a rated life as well...right? Generally 10-20,000 hours unless they spent a good deal of money. Just because it was made in 2006 after the "capacitor plague" doesn't mean the caps wont eventually fail anyway.
My motherboard for example uses a combination of 820uF and 100uF 12K Nichicon capacitors rated for at least 12,000 hours.

 

[Jaskalas]

Got two 20.1" 2004FPW Dell displays that both started to fail within a year of each other this past year. So... 13 good years out of them.

When they turn on, or activate from a power saving state, the screen "flickers" with the horizontal position jumping around. Fast at first, then it slowly stabilizes. Do not know what sort of failure that's a symptom of.

 

[Wall Street]

You realize all capacitors have a rated life as well...right? Generally 10-20,000 hours unless they spent a good deal of money. Just because it was made in 2006 after the "capacitor plague" doesn't mean the caps wont eventually fail anyway.

Usually the capacitor lifespan is rated at 85C and the lifespan increases rapidly for every 10C below that which the caps operate.

 

[MrCoyote]

They will outlast you. There are CRT displays that are still running fine. And old LCD panels from the early monochrome generation still working fine.

 

[mnewsham]

There are CRT displays that are still running fine. And old LCD panels from the early monochrome generation still working fine

Singular working examples don't magically make it so every single unit that currently works will continue to do so. As much as I'd love for that to be true, eventually units will fail for various reasons, even if they've been running just fine for 20+ years.

 

[annamary]

Singular working examples don't magically make it so every single unit that currently works will continue to do so. As much as I'd love for that to be true, eventually units will fail for various reasons, even if they've been running just fine for 20+ years.

Thanks for the clarification!

 

[Flayed]

I've had one monitor fail after 8 years or so of heavy use. It was a cheap 19" one I can't remember the brand. I had a 28" Sony CRT TV go out with a loud bang and lots of black smoke that was exciting lol

 

[alcoholbob]

I had a korean tv/monitor start failing after 2 years (started just cycling through solid colors nonstop). I think it there's normal wear and tear, which is probably many many years, but there's going to be a percentage of devices that fail much sooner than that due to manufacturing defects.

 

[Indus]

I retired a Qnix 27" because it was stuck at 100% brightness and blinding.

Otherwise other than CRT's.. the rest didn't die on me. Some LCD's became not so bright over time but they still work.. I keep them as backups incase my current 24" fails.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'd say 10 years is a good lifespan, maybe 15 if you're lucky.

Hmm, this Avera 40" 4K UHD TV, my first one I believe, around 2 years old by now, maybe a few months beyond, just had a strange grey vertical line in the Windows 10 desktop.

Moving around windows, and the line was still there. So I turned the screen on and off, and on the logo screen when it powers on, yep, you guessed it, grey line right where it was.

So I moved my stuff away from the front of the screen a little bit, and moved the screen a bit more forward onto the desk. Grey line went away. WHEW!

I hope that this isn't portending banding and bad "lines" to come.

The line was roughly above where the back of the desk is, in the back where the cubby is, where the PC is below, and heat from the PC (DC and mining) probably raises up in a column around there too.

My other one, I rebooted, and the HDMI was flashing alternative frames with blotches of static on it, at 4K60. I turned the TV off and back on again, and it went away. Weirdness. I had previously thought that was due to a GPU that had overheated, but this was a new GPU, and it behaved the same way. So now, I don't believe that that RX 470 that I recently gave away for the price of shipping, was bad at all. Or maybe all RX 470 cards have this defect from time to time with this TV model?

 

[Le Québécois]

If nothing else fails, the capacitors should eventually fail.

And when they do, you can usually replace them easily as long as you have some basic knowledge on how to use a soldering iron. My good old 22" LG died after 7 years or so. 5$ in capacitors and a few hours later, it was back on and running. It's on its 13th years now.

 

[gorobei]

on older lcd monitors typically if the onboard psu caps dont fail early, the most common part to wear out will be the CCFL inverter. that and the bulb replacement are easy enough for the home hobbyist unless the oem got fancy with the construction.

one thing i have noticed with my 2408wfp's is that the casing doesnt have enough airflow for cooling, which allows heat to build up at the top of the panel which degrades some of the pixel response/control resulting in artifacts near the upper edge.

 

[ElFenix]

my 2001fpw started failing after about 6 years. problem was likely capacitors, though i didn't bother trying to fix it. replaced it with a u2713hm which lasted a bit over 3 years, iirc. dunno what the issue was because dell replaced it.

 

[hayhayhayday]

I have had the ccfl go bad on monitors of similar age , can replace for ~15-20 with a new one if you dont mind soldering it in.

 

[Oyeve]

My mother still uses an old 35" Magnavox TV I bought her in 1991. Uses it at least 10 hours a day.