cowdog360

Wow, I like the way you installed the socket better by making the notches instead of the glue. I'll adjust my method for the next one! I think if you reinforce your solder joints with hot glue or epoxy and heat shrink it should be a lot stronger. Nice work, we should combine the two threads!

I've done two Lynx II's now with the Mcwill LCD. In short, if you don't have it, stop drinking starbucks for a while and send him your spare cash and get it done, it's that good! On my personal Lynx, I ended up installing the VGA port where the brightness knob goes. It turned out okay, but I'm not a wonderful case cutter, and I'm a little picky. plus, there's not a lot of room to get things in there and the case seems a little tougher to shut. So for the next one, I had an idea after I saw a little 6-pin PCB header socket in my electronics junk box. I thought, "boy, that looks like it might just be a close fit where the factory contrast knob went. It turns out, it is almost a perfect fit. The height is perfect, but it's about 1mm too wide. You you just have to make a teeeny cut on the lynx case, or on the pin socket. After that, you'll have to build an adapter cable to have a 6-pin PCB header on one end to VGA on the other. Here's what I did: Get pin header, solder up 6 wires. Hot glue to insulate and make it rigid: Heatshrink it: Solder up the VGA connector: Put a shield on the VGA connector: Short little adapter cable ready. And finally, install that socket into the lynx. this is a test fit. I'll post the final results shortly, but it is super clean and is great if you rarely plan on using the VGA out, but still want the option.

This is the digikey part number for the N-channel mosfet Q12: 2SK2231TE16RQCT-ND Works good in both my Lynxes.

Consider the 5V regulator mod as well to make sure your screen doesn't get damaged when the original circuits fail!

I did McWill's LCD on both Lynx's and went back afterwards to do both the 5V regulator and a Q12 replacement. Probably not a bad idea to replace Q12 while you're in there.. it's $1.

Another option as covered in another thread instead of the RECOM is the OKI-78SR-5. It's not quite as efficient vs. the RECOM, but it is a few bucks cheaper. You can find them at DigiKey (http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/OKI-78SR-5%2F1.5-W36-C/811-2196-5-ND/2259781). The pinout is the same as the RECOM.

No problem, just thought I'd give back a little. Now I'll also mention that some other people and the German site mention using a LD1117S50TR regulator which is SMD, smaller and a lot cheaper (about $.50 instead of $7). The issue that I've read is that it outputs a max of .8A, whereas the other regulators are good for 1A. That might cause some issues with the McWill LCD if the regulator is undersized, which is why I went with the Recom.

So I decided to document the Lynx II 5V regulator mod because a lot of people have done it, but a lot of the documentation is in german. Background: This is how to install a 5V Regulator or DC-DC converter into your Lynx II to improve the 5V regulation. The original parts are prone to failure and aren't a great design in this day in age. When the original parts fail, the regulation circuitry fails and pumps 9V into the rest of the circuitry - not good. The original 5V mod called for a LM7805 regular which runs hot and there are a lot better options. What you need to do this mod: 5V Regulator: A 1.0amp or better 5V DC-DC converter module. You can use various diferent regulators, but I chose a Recom R-785.0-1.0. You can get these at digikey (http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/R-785.0-1.0/945-1038-ND/2256218%20or%20Mouser%C2%A0http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/RECOM-Power/R-7850-10/?qs=YWgezujkI1LK5NzKL%2Fc9sg%3D%3D) or Mouser (http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/RECOM-Power/R-7850-10/?qs=YWgezujkI1LK5NzKL%2Fc9sg%3D%3D) Diode: You'll need a diode as reverse voltage protection, but you can re-use one you remove, or replace it with something modern like a 1N4001. Tools: You will need a soldering iron, a desoldering iron (or pump, or solder wick, etc), a hobbyist knife/scapel, hot glue gun. Of course you'll need solder and hot glue. Wires: Some small gauge wires, I used pieces from a CAT5 ethernet cable. First off, you'll want to make sure you have a 5V converter, like the RECOM. It's a 3 terminal device. On the left, terminal 1 is Voltage Input, the middle is ground, and the right is 5V output. Open up your Lynx, and take out the logic board. You will want to examine it right near the Brightness Knob and AC power jack. There are 3 sections of parts you are going to remove from the board, they are highlighted in red. You're going to be removing D9, D11, D13, Q8 (near TP18), and the inductor coil below L14. To remove these parts, I just used my soldering iron, some fine tweezers and the hobby knife to pry them up as I heated up each component. The inductor will have to be desoldered from the bottom of the board (it has 4 pads). You're going to want to save one of those big diodes for reuse. Flip the board over so the the battery terminals are facing up. You want to find the large solder pad right below the top leftmost pad on the board. Now comes the fun part. You need to sever the trace from the board heading to the pad with your knife. If you look very closely you can see the trace in the board (it's green and tough to spot). Dig in good with your knife. It will look like this when done: Flip the board back over. Now you'll need to install a jumper wire in the top two pads where the inductor was, and a diode in the lower two pads. For the jumper, just use some copper wire or a lead of of some other component (like a resistor or old LED). For the diode, you'll have to put some solder down on those pads to plug up the holes. Very carefully hold the diode in place and solder it in. Make sure that the black stripe is facing to the right. If you reverse this, things will not work. Now, take some of those wires, and you're going to need to solder them to 3 of the 4 diode pads you removed. I've marked this diagram in colors VIN, GND, and VOUT. I used a yellow wire for VIN, a black for GND, and red for VOUT. Now flip the board over and grab your regulator module. You will need to also have a short section of wire to run from the upper left pad near the cut you made to the VIN (left) terminal on the regulator. The regulator will actually have two wires soldered to VIN. You of course then solder up GND to the middle and VOUT to the right. Secure everything with some hot glue and it should look like this: Here's a look at what it all looks like done. This Lynx also has the McWill LCD mod which is why you see the other wires: Power it up and test. If it doesn't work, check all your connections and double check that trace cut to make sure it was good. I'll probably add more to this as I experiment a bit more.

Got my LCD kits in today. Decided to try out one on my original childhoold Lynx II. I got my Lynx on my birthday most likely when I was 15/16 years old. My LCD kit arrived yesterday on my 39th birthday.. fitting I recently re-capped my unit, but had no video coming out. I had sound, and backlight, but no video, so I figured this was a last ditch effort to revive it. In short, it brought it back.. and then some! New screen waiting for install: Took some wires out of a CAT3 networking cable, soldered them up. I prepped the board the other day by taking out the LCD socket, inverter and other parts. Used my truster Hakko FR-300 desoldering gun to make it quick and easy (about 5 mins worth of work). Close up of the wires installed: More wires for power and removed components: Screen installed: And finally, it works!! I'll have to install the VGA portion next, as I mainly wanted to see if my old beast would work. So next up is VGA out, upgraded speaker, and a 5V DC regulator and a new N-channel mosfet for the long haul. Oh, and time to do my buddy's and then figure out what screen 3 needs to go in Lastly, thank you McWill for this amazing LCD! The fit and finish and design is top notch, you must be quite the engineer

This is good to know, since I have a Lynx II that has no video as well, and I've recapped it. I've got several screens on order, so I'll have to try it on my broken one first. I wonder if it's something wrong with the original lcd connector?

Can't wait, my mods are in the mail. Bought 3 and will end up using 2.. so may have a spare one that I can install for someone in the US.

Hmm, I also tried swapping in a new screen with same effect. I'm curious about the reflow. I may have to try taking off all the shielding, grab some flux and give it a go myself.

Hello, I have a Lynx II that I've had since I was a kid in storage. I went to power it up about 2 weeks ago, and the backlight comes up, and I can hear sound, but I get no video. I tried the unit on batteries, and then on the AC adapter. I did manage to get some video for a short period of time on AC. So after that, I decide to re-cap the unit. I did that, plugged it in, and had video , then reassembled the unit, and again no video. I've tried playing with the ribbon cables and such, but can't get the video to come back. At this point, would this be considered a dead screen? I went ahead an ordered McWill's LCD/VGA mod hoping that solves it. I'm just hoping the problem doesn't lie any deeper than just the LCD. Thanks!