 Hey everybody, I'm Steve and welcome back today. I've got a new repair video for you specifically on One of the best PVMs in the world. That is the Sony PVM 20 L5 This particular PVM belongs to a friend of mine named Corey from my life in gaming and if you're watching this video right now Most likely you're aware of their channel and all the great work they do for the retro gaming community Well, I was definitely eager to take an opportunity to work on a couple of monitors for him Both were L5s a 14 L5 and a 20 L5. Here's a look at the Pre-condition on these they weren't in awful shape or anything today This 20 L5 does need a bit of calibration adjustments It's in pretty good condition as it sits but it definitely needs to be cleaned and we're going to go ahead and check out some things internally service it a bit and Refurbish it to the point where it's in just little tip-top shape and ready to be used and enjoyed for quite a long time So this is again just some calibration screens We're going to start with looking at so you can see the overall condition as we begin. I would do like to look at that grid pattern and then the linearity pattern as well as that other grid on top of linearity pattern to see if What we're going to take care of and what we're going to try to improve on the screen quality now to get into this monitor It's pretty much similar to any other PVM You're going to have six chrome screws along the sides of the shell the monitor and you're going to have four screws on the back And then I recommend if you have any kind of card or anything in your Expansion slot that you remove that prior to removing the shell just makes a little easier So once you get the screws out you just pull the shell completely back It's going to pull off the back and the sides and top it all come off in one complete piece And then you'll be able to access the back area of this monitor Now the one thing I will complain about on the 20.05 is there's a lot of plastic and it holds the monitor together and over time That plastic can become quite brittle Especially those arms you'll notice that are holding these boards in place So if you're going to service your 20.05 or 14.05 Just be aware that a lot of the plastic internally is very fragile at this point And it will easily crack and you'll see that even happen in this video just a tiny bit not on anything major But the first thing we're going to do is we're going to get in and service this D board Which is very easy to get to thankfully it's right in the back on the when you're looking at the back of the PVM it's on the right hand side and the first thing you'll do is disconnect all the connection cables on that board and Then it does have three screws holding it into place and again that plastic right there that's holding it is very fragile So just take your time when you're removing the screws and then also take your time when you're removing the board So you don't damage it any now we'll know you can see this obviously on your screen that Corey's PVM was very dirty inside and That's one of the major contributors to failure on older electronics is over time this dust can build up and It acts as an insulator on a lot of these older components and then that heat builds up under that Dust and then the insulation Creates that layer and the heat builds up higher than the normal heat load would be on those components And that you know causes them to fail quicker than they normally would so even if you're not going to do any cap work It's a great idea to clean your PVM or any CRT at this point. That's never been cleaned It's a good idea to get in there and complete clean off the dust you notice I used a brush that was an old paint brush There's nothing conductive about the bristles on that brush. So it's fine to use on this The other thing I did is that I'm going through right now are the actual capacitors that will be changing because again This is just going to get kind of a preventative maintenance and refurbishment cap kit It's not a complete cap kit. I don't recommend that for a 20-05 or 14-05 unless you have a serious issue with your monitor So we're just going in and we're doing preventative maintenance pretty much to Get out those components and capacitors specifically that are in the high heat areas of that d-board and Those tend to wear out quicker than the other capacitors that are about an inch away That are not in a higher heat area on the board so I use the HACCO FR 301 which is one of my favorite tools and I've used it for a few years now and it still runs strong So if you're thinking about getting one of those for any kind of capacitor or electrolytical, you know any kind of PCB work, I'd highly recommend one and then I went in and as I go through and replace the capacitors here I'll just give you some tips on my solder work here and I'm not the best at soldering but I do have a lot of experience and I have my own way of doing things which is to Pull the capacitor legs through on a couple of capacitors like I did and then I like to take a bit of flux and Rub that all over the points that I'm about to place solder on and I heat up the little pad and I'll add a bit of solder and Then I come in after that and I trim the legs down you know I'll trim those legs down and then I'll reflow those points with fresh solder again and That gives you both a great bond and it you know Through with my experience on recapping boards like this. It just seems to look better if you do it that way for me, so Just something to note there. That's how I do it You don't necessarily have to do it that way you could go in and clip the legs ahead of time One thing you'll notice that I do a lot in my videos too is I go back and check my work And what I'm doing right here is I'm using just a standard Multimeter that I've gotten I've got it set to continuity check and what that'll do is it'll help me make sure that all My solder points are connected so I can run from one spot on the board that's in line With the pad that I just put solder on and I can check check those points out to make sure that I have continuity where I should have continuity and It pretty much eliminates any chances of errors as far as from maybe poor soldering and So I like to even if I'm servicing multiple boards on a PVM Or BVM or any CRT I like to service them one at a time if possible and then test them after that And I'll go through that on why that's preferable Here in a second, but just so you know this job did work on this little D board So everything went fine with that cap replacement Now I'm going to take the rest of the CRT apart because we also need to check on the main Chassis which is on the bottom of The monitor itself you'll see in a second here as I pull it out It's got you know the fly back attached to it And you need to remove the deflection board We just worked on again, then you need to remove that plastic Bracket that's holding it you'll need to come in and remove the input board to on the back of the PVM and That's where this job can get a little overwhelming because there are going to be Just dozens of little Connections on cables that you're going to be removing and then you'll have to go in later Once you're finished and reinstall this stuff so you need to kind of make sure that you document where a lot of these connections go and Familiarize yourself with it, but just note that they should only fit in one specific spot So it's a good way to double check though to make sure you've documented a way that that looks ahead of time in case you Forget and you're trying to reassemble the monitor at a later point. You want to put it back together correctly? So you have to do some other things too when you're back here and just assembling this to get to this main chassis we had to get rid of the neck board which you just saw and Before I go through let me pause this video real quick before we jump into right at the point. We're about to Discharge the CRT. I wanted to show one thing over here, which would have been in the way of my Camera, so we're going to move myself just out of the picture for this part of the show and we'll Go through and I want to show you on the back of this neck board This neck board does have a plastic bit that is Holding it to the back of the CRT neck and that cracks all the time So do not be you know upset if that happens to you when you're restoring it Because that's quite common for that to break right there and it doesn't really affect anything It's just an extra piece holding that neck board into place And that's been removed on a lot of other monitors, but it's on there So now let's get in here and we're going to do our big alert here first before I do this This is your safety warning here. We go We're going to do something called discharging the CRT tube Because we have to get the flyback, which is attached to the main board on this monitor out So you don't always have to do this on every monitor, but do be aware that this Procedure can be quite dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. So what I've done here though is I've got my Alligator clip on my cable, which is attached to this screwdriver here and then so that is Grounded to the main frame of the CRT do not Have your CRT plugged into the wall when you do this You just need to get that electricity from the back of the tube to short out through your cable onto the main chassis frame And then it'll just kind of dissipate throughout all the ground on that frame really quickly and then the energy is gone So that's what we're doing. We're not going to leave it plugged in We're going to have it unplugged and then we're going to again Attach the alligator clip like I did here to the metal frame and then I'm lifting the cap with one hand You don't have to do this The reason I am doing this is I don't want to damage Corey's tube or his flyback at all So I'm going to take the little bit extra risk of myself and lift that Rubber anode cap up so I can expose the metal and then we'll go in here and tap it with our discharge tool Now I often get asked if I have like a resistor in this tool and I don't it's literally just a piece of copper cable that is from a section of an old extension cable heavy-duty marine extension cable that I cut a section out of and it's you know triple insulated and I Attach that with just some electrical tape to the metal end and then run the other end and I soldered on Alligator clip and so after you've discharged it You're safe to pull that chassis out now that was what you see right here is done very quickly but again, you're going to have a ton of cables holding this chassis in there and I made it look easy there But you need to make sure you get it out of the way correctly and that you take all the screws out So you don't damage the board. Here's a quick look at Corey's board tons and tons of just dust and dirt built up This could easily cause a spark on these ICs or you know heat to build up in here. So this is way more vital Then even the capacitor replacement most likely is getting in here and cleaning off this dust It's going to really save a lot of these components from the risk of overheating and shorting out and being damaged So it's a great thing that we were able to get in here and first clean these boards And then I'll show you again. We're work on some capacitors in here This board is just not that fun to work on though. I mean, it's a it's a very difficult board To work in it's it's tight There were a couple components that I had to remove just to get the capacitors out because they were situated in such a way that it's just right up against a heat shield or under another component and Just a very difficult Chassis to work on so I don't recommend this if you don't have a lot of experience working on a CRT You should not probably go in and try to start by recapping your 20-05 Or 14-05 that one has nearly the same build out as this It's almost identical even though the monitor is a little bit larger on the 20 inch version And here we have our CRT chassis main board that we're going to be working on And here's a look at it after it's been cleaned up. It already looks a bunch I mean lots better So I'll go through here again and mark off the specific capacitors. It's difficult to see but I did put Some markings on some of them. They're really down in here again. There's actually one right under this plate right here but a lot of them will not be replacing and So anyway, that's the rest of the job is working on that board I'm not going to show you that because it's again. It's just difficult to get in there and do that I already showed you how to recap that other board. It's pretty much the same exact process. So do get your board and PVM ready to be fully rebuilt. Let's go in here now and clean off the rest of the back of Corey CRT and that's gonna use the brush we use our brush and some more compressed air and I also like to go in and rub the back of the tube with a Clean washcloth. It's not wet. It is dry And I'm just getting a lot and lock it off a lot of that thick dirt and dust You don't want to get anything too abrasive on the back of the tube And you don't want to really scrub the back of the tube because some of the stuff on the back of the tube Is meant to be there so it should good good to knock the dust though off of it And then we'll get the dust out of the rest of this thing with the brush and more compressed air So again, this is just What happens in these CRTs? There's so much little space for dust to build up over time and Corey's you know, he's he's looking at like 15 16 years on a monitor of just Not been cleaned before so it's understandable how that can build up over time and It's definitely something that you want to take care of again Even if you're not getting in there and recapping like we did you can always come in and clean the board and even use just the brush and Cans of compressed air if you have to just go to the store and buy it I use a professional air compressor, but I can use just canned air And here we have the monitor put back together and we're gonna do one last thing before I put this anode cap back And that's apply a fresh coat of Die electric grease Now what this will do is it will extend the life of the anode cap and It limits the wear and tear on the cap and the components itself and it also will eliminate any kind of Crackling or popping most likely if you hear that When you turn your CRT on there's a chance you got some dust or something under your cap And this die electric grease pretty much prevents that from happening. So you won't have any noise and It also works to recondition that cap a little bit by putting this on that lube on there So just get a healthy amount of that on the back of the tube right around the cap It can be in the cap. It can be in the little anode metal piece It can be on the prongs on the back of the anode cap. It doesn't really matter It's not gonna hurt it. It actually does help it. So that's one of my favorite things to go in there and do is reapply that I'll die let your grease because many times it's gone CRT and you can get it for about 10 bucks a can and You go in at it and it really does make a difference a lot of times if you have a loud CRT or any kind of crackling or anything like that. It's very recommended Let's get in here now and test it out. We got it all put back together Everything looks good right off the bat at least we're gonna start this monitor up and you know Just give a regular power check and then I'll get a signal put into it and we'll see what it looks like with some start off with some Contra here and a Little bit of 240p, which again is one of the reasons that people really love this monitor is the 240p 480i 480p 720p and 1080i it supports all Those video formats in a CRT form with some with some incredible blacks. It's got You know high TV line count on there and it's an all-round great monitor now Cori's Had a chip in the display. Okay. He had a tiny chip I've done this before but I wanted to show you in today's video I went and took off the anti glare layer so that we could get rid of that chip He said it was so distracting. He didn't care his Monitor was going into his basement and there's not really a huge difference Between having that layer it layer on and off if you're in a dark room and you're using it You won't notice that you don't have it really So this can be done by using an exacto knife and you want to try to get this off in one big like Single pull you don't want to try to get you know in there and pull the layer apart It should stay all together in one big layer and if you pull it off You don't have to worry about the glue getting stuck like I'm doing here I just basically use the utility knife To to peel back the corner and then you grab the corner with Appliers pull it a little more and then as you go just try to continuously put pressure on it and pull it down and pull It off and that way you can just avoid having Any kind of residue on the screen from the screen layer itself? I've probably done that five or six times and I've never had Anything left on the screen Glass under the layer of protection that protective layer I've never seen the glue stick on there But I've talked to other people who've had trouble and I've had it you know break and had to try to get rid of Glue on there and that can be very troublesome But once you remove it you just put the bezel back in place and we'll get it set back up to run another test The good thing about it is if you get rid of that layer, then you can go in and use any kind of real Nice glass cleaner and clean the glass Thoroughly afterwards. I'm gonna show you though some calibration screens. This is after I've adjusted it I do have videos that I'll link to the playlist for the 20-05 in the comments and in the upper corner here of this video where you can check out the procedure to calibrate this particular monitor, but We do have some improvements on the specific things that we were talking about as far as Geometry on the screen you can notice our screen is expanded out to near perfection Still have a tiny warp or wobble on this sides But that's pretty much prevalent on every single CRT or the majority of them at least some type of minor geometry Issue is definitely going to be there most of the time. So Here's some action shots again of 240p. We're gonna get real close and show you some scan lines This thing really will take your breath away for 240p this monitor and then You know 480p is awesome on it too because you can still maintain the 4 by 3 aspect ratio. So it's an awesome monitor and definitely one to Keep an eye out for now the I Did an episode of market watch where I talked about how much these are going for right now and something like this Is honestly selling for like $2,500 right now. It's this particular monitor and I anticipate that price to probably only go up because again, it's getting so much more difficult to get a higher end 20 inch Monitor that does progressive and analog video. Well, that's it for today's restoration Cory's 20.05 is great. He says it's working wonderfully and The next video we're gonna talk about his 14 L5 because that actually needed a bit more work I had to do a tube swap on it and also service the boards clean it and Get it back calibrated. So look for that video to come very soon And I thank you for joining me today If you're new to the channel and you've stayed around at this point Just go ahead and hit the subscribe button and join us for the next installment of a retro tech We go and repair I make repair videos about once a week and they come out generally on Mondays and so but if you're Just join me for the first time. Thanks Make sure you subscribe and if you're come if you come back and you got any questions Please leave a question or comment below and I'll do my best to get back to you as soon as possible Thanks again. I'll see you guys next time with some more retro content