Howto repair a Princeton VL1918 monitor
A few days ago a coworker of mine saved a Princeton VL1918 monitor from the trash. It looked to be in pretty good shape, but when we plugged it in, it would turn on for about 2 second then power off for 2 seconds and then repeat. Apparently this is a common problem for these monitors. So common, in fact, there is a least one company out there selling repair kits for $25 on ebay. A bit of a rip off considering the actual cost of parts is about $4. So for anyone else experiencing this same problem, here's how I fixed my monitor.
Disclaimer: Although these instructions worked for me, they might not work for you. Furthermore, the following process involves modifying the power supply of your monitor, a potentially dangerous action that could result in electrocution. These instructions are made available to you only on the condition that you will not hold me responsible for any damage or injury that occur in the process of following them.
Unplug all cables connected to the monitor. You will need to remove the back cover in order to get to the power supply. Remove the four screws connected to the stand and the three screws at the bottom of the monitor. Now you will need to pry apart the front and back pieces of the monitor. Starting from the base and working your way up the sides, use a flathead screwdriver to pry apart the two pieces of plastic. Once you have worked all the way around the monitor, you should be able to remove the back piece of plastic.
It should now look like this:
You will now need to disconnect all the cables going into the cage in the center. Some of the cables are under the metallic tape. Peel the tape away wherever necessary. It wasn't necessary to remove the main cable attached to the top of the cage.
Unscrew the cage from the frame and flip it over. There you will see two electronic boards. One handles IO, the other is the power supply. You will need to disconnect both boards from the cage to get access to the power supply. Remove the plastic shield and unscrew both boards. You will also need to remove the screws that hold the vga and dvi connectors in place (the ones that the external cables screw into). Remove both boards at the same time; they are connected.
Disconnect the power supply from the other board. Now that you have the power supply, you will need remove three capacitors located here:
All three are 470µF 25V capacitors. Use a soldering iron on their connections and pull gently from the other side. Once you have removed the capacitors, you can drop in replacement ones. I bought 3 470µF 35V capacitors from radio shack for $4. Make sure you put them in correctly, the negative side should go through the shaded hole on the board. Solder in the new capacitors and clip the extra material on the connectors.
And your monitor is fixed. Reassemble and enjoy.