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Squeaky Clean Night Owls

Page history last edited by SW 7 years, 4 months ago

Having been stuck at home with a green monochrome monitor for decades, and thanks to a lead from the Apple // community, I purchased a couple of discount Night Owl Monitors on an online auction site. They are small, portable, inexpensive, and will finally allow me to have ALL SIXTEEN LUMINOUS COLORS on my Apple //e, Huzzah!

 

The downside of buying them at a discount from someone who had a large lot of them was the musty basement smell that came with them. The boxes were listed as "damaged in storage" but I have a bad feeling it might have been water damage... They work beautifully otherwise.

 

So - I set off to work to disassemble and clean them. Others have painted their Night Owl monitors, but I found no photos of the process, so I took a few to document. Others who purchased monitors from the same seller noticed some differences, and I noticed a few as well.

 

Step 1:

  • Remove the pins from the stand. I was warned that these are easy to break, and they are! They are the "pinchy" kind. Here is a picture, and a drawing to give you a better idea of what they look like. I used a set of  laptop/cellphone flat prying tools to try and pinch them open. I managed to break one half of each pin on one side for both monitors, but did not break them off completely. 

 

                         

 

 

  

 

Step 2:

  • Remove the tiny screws from the back of the monitor using a tiny Phillips head screwdriver.
  • [Difference 1 between Monitor A and Monitor B: Monitor B had slightly tinier screws.]

 

Step 3:

  •  Carefully pry open the monitor. I started pulling it gently open by hand, and then using my laptop prying tool to help pop open the tabs. The monitor cable is connected at the speaker on the front.

Monitor B with front frame open

 
  • [Difference 2: Monitor A was much more difficult to open. I was unable to get the bottom open completely but managed to slide the LCD screen out. I probably could have fought with it some more but did not want to break it and felt I could get in to clean it reasonably well. I ended up scraping a couple tiny shreds of plastic from the frame trying to get it open all the way. Monitor B was much easier to pry open and I had no problems.
  • The monitor flips over to reveal a cable and another card. I was not feeling adventurous enough to try and remove it. These look the same except the ribbon cable is a different color on the other monitor.

Back inside of monitor B

 

  • [Difference 3: Monitor A had two barcodes and numbers on the back of the LCD and Monitor B had only one and was labeled Rev 2.75.They both had wires in the same place and slightly different colored tape holding them in place.]

back of monitor A - LCD 

 

 Back of monitor B LCD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 4:

  • I carefully cleaned the monitors with a paintbrush and a light coating of rubbing alcohol on the parts I could reach. Thankfully there was no visible mold, which is promising.

 

Step 5:

  • Reassembly: I assume this will be the opposite of disassembly and will try it after I have let the monitors dry out overnight. Hoping the musty smell goes away or is at least less strong...

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