New Youtube clip about how to replace the backlight display

I searched the internet for a tutorial regarding how to replace the backlight display of the MPC60.
The only thing I found was a japanese site and of course the posts here at mpc-forums.

Anyway, I filmed while opening up my MPC and replaced the el-foil

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LO7zQ396_A

Thank You!!!!

Definitely something that was needed...

Thanks man!

Just got my Ei-Foil from MIDI-RAKET.DE today

going to try it on my recentely purchased AKAI S950

that has no backlight light at all most of the time ....

BUT

for some strange reason the green backlight comes on
randomly after some time that the unit warms up after couple of hours... or sometimes its never comes on...

is this normal .. if i change EL-Foil will the back light turning on instantely ?

jazzroom wrote:Just got my Ei-Foil from MIDI-RAKET.DE today

going to try it on my recentely purchased AKAI S950

that has no backlight light at all most of the time ....

BUT

for some strange reason the green backlight comes on
randomly after some time that the unit warms up after couple of hours... or sometimes its never comes on...

is this normal .. if i change EL-Foil will the back light turning on instantely ?

had installed the El-Foil tonight .... followed all the instructions in tutorial posted on this forum...
but still got no backlight...
Maybe there is something wrong with the power not going into the foil?
donno what the name of the component that is responsible for powering up Backlight?


have to use a flashlight lamp attached to my table to be able to use S950
------very dissapointing and sad

Its very possible the backlight inverter is bad and this is why the backlight wont work new or not!

Look around on the power supply for something that looks like this:

http://www.vstservice.com/p-585-akai-ba ... thers.aspx

if you find that i would suggest trying to switch it out with a new one. Before switching out anything tho it would be a good idea to check the solder joints on the wires that connect the backlight to the inverter etc. I have found broken solder joints plenty of times before and did not have to replace any parts. After so many years and the units being shipped around across the world its possible for solder joints to break and be the culprit. If all the solder joints look good and the wires are firmly connected I would make an educated guess your inverter is bad.

I dont know if that backlight inver is the same for the S950 but it is worth taking a look!

Let us know if that helps!

eastwood wrote:Its very possible the backlight inverter is bad and this is why the backlight wont work new or not!

Look around on the power supply for something that looks like this:

http://www.vstservice.com/p-585-akai-ba ... thers.aspx

if you find that i would suggest trying to switch it out with a new one. Before switching out anything tho it would be a good idea to check the solder joints on the wires that connect the backlight to the inverter etc. I have found broken solder joints plenty of times before and did not have to replace any parts. After so many years and the units being shipped around across the world its possible for solder joints to break and be the culprit. If all the solder joints look good and the wires are firmly connected I would make an educated guess your inverter is bad.

I dont know if that backlight inver is the same for the S950 but it is worth taking a look!

Let us know if that helps!

wow, great idea - going to open S950 again and have a look
will keep you posted
thank you

jazzroom wrote:

eastwood wrote:Its very possible the backlight inverter is bad and this is why the backlight wont work new or not!

Look around on the power supply for something that looks like this:

http://www.vstservice.com/p-585-akai-ba ... thers.aspx

if you find that i would suggest trying to switch it out with a new one. Before switching out anything tho it would be a good idea to check the solder joints on the wires that connect the backlight to the inverter etc. I have found broken solder joints plenty of times before and did not have to replace any parts. After so many years and the units being shipped around across the world its possible for solder joints to break and be the culprit. If all the solder joints look good and the wires are firmly connected I would make an educated guess your inverter is bad.

I dont know if that backlight inver is the same for the S950 but it is worth taking a look!

Let us know if that helps!

wow, great idea - going to open S950 again and have a look
will keep you posted
thank you

hi again....
you've mentioned to look for the inverter around the power supply .... do you mean the main power supply of the sampler that is located on the back of the device?

If u look at this picture in the upper right hand side (this is a MPC3000 mind you not a S950) you will see where the inverter is located on the main power supply PC Board. I would venture a guess that is where the inverter is located in the S950 as well. If you can post a picture of the insides of the S950 we can take a look and see if we can spot where it might be.

As in this picture you can see a dark grey wire that is attached just to the right of the Inverter on the PC board that wire goes directly to the backlight foil supplying the 120v needed to light the panel!

eastwood wrote:If u look at this picture in the upper right hand side (this is a MPC3000 mind you not a S950) you will see where the inverter is located on the main power supply PC Board. I would venture a guess that is where the inverter is located in the S950 as well. If you can post a picture of the insides of the S950 we can take a look and see if we can spot where it might be.

As in this picture you can see a dark grey wire that is attached just to the right of the Inverter on the PC board that wire goes directly to the backlight foil supplying the 120v needed to light the panel!

Great , thanks, gonna open S950 tomorrow, locate the inverter , make a picture and post here.
But how do i check if inverter is working or not!
do i need to remove it.... how difficult is it?

I think its probably a fairly good chance the inverter is not functioning correctly and bad. You can measure the voltage coming from those grey wire the black and white are inside the grey, it should be about 110v AC or somewhere around there i forget exactly if its 110v or 120v but if its very low like 10v or you get mV output its pretty certain its not working and has failed. The only other thing i can think of is: Does the S950 have a backlight on/off switch like the MPC3000? That switch could go bad but i would doubt this is the problem although still is a possibility. I just replaced the same Inverter for my friend in his MPC3000, it took a few minutes to undo the boards and de-solder the 3 solder joints to remove the old inverter. Really isn't hard to do and the inverter (if its the same as the 3000's) only can go in 1 direction.

eastwood wrote:I think its probably a fairly good chance the inverter is not functioning correctly and bad. You can measure the voltage coming from those grey wire the black and white are inside the grey, it should be about 110v AC or somewhere around there i forget exactly if its 110v or 120v but if its very low like 10v or you get mV output its pretty certain its not working and has failed. The only other thing i can think of is: Does the S950 have a backlight on/off switch like the MPC3000? That switch could go bad but i would doubt this is the problem although still is a possibility. I just replaced the same Inverter for my friend in his MPC3000, it took a few minutes to undo the boards and de-solder the 3 solder joints to remove the old inverter. Really isn't hard to do and the inverter (if its the same as the 3000's) only can go in 1 direction.

how do i measure the output coming from the inverter....?

what tools to use ( sorry i am a newbe)?

WHERE to find a cheap inverter replacement in Europe(preferably) that would not make sound probs with S950,
like THIS story i have seen on an Ebay add about the MPC60 inverter replacement:

"The backlight is nice and bright as I replaced the EL backlight inverter a couple of months back.
Unfortunately, as EL inverters go, this one emits a high-pitched whine that can be heard slightly through the sound output of the machine (when volume is maxed).
It didn't bother me a whole lot but when I wanted complete quiet when tracking beats I would just open the unit up and unplug the inverter.
I was unable to find a way to isolate the inverter to avoid the whine.
Besides, I enjoyed having a nice bright backlight (see the picture) so I didn't mind the tradeoff."

so as u see some wrong inverters could cause sound probs like the one above....

any ideas?

You will need a multimeter to measure the voltage.

All inverters and/or backlights will resonate in some fashion, the trick is to mount them in a way to shift the resonance past an audible level.

MPCHunter wrote:You will need a multimeter to measure the voltage.

All inverters and/or backlights will resonate in some fashion, the trick is to mount them in a way to shift the resonance past an audible level.

I don't have a multimeter ... are they pricey?

i suddenly saw that my S950 screen has à very low dark green glow
around the edges of the screen ... I can only see it in total darkness and
after the unit been on for couple of hours...
is that an indication of dead inverter?

Do u mean by "resonate" that inverters and or backlights make sounds?
please forgive my ignorance

I am working with my S950 by pointing a flashlight on the screen... very annoying

wish to find a solution to my dark screen

jazzroom wrote:
I don't have a multimeter ... are they pricey?

They can be if you need precision. But if it is something that you will use maybe once or twice, there are some very cheap ones you can buy from Chinese sellers on eBay that will work well for you. Search for "DT830B" on eBay and several will come up.

jazzroom wrote:
i suddenly saw that my S950 screen has à very low dark green glow
around the edges of the screen ... I can only see it in total darkness and
after the unit been on for couple of hours...
is that an indication of dead inverter?

It's most likely the backlight foil that is going out. These EL panels go dim after several years so if your has not been changed I would replace this before replacing the inverter. If the inverter is bad you will get no luminescence, so the fact that you have a little bit leads me to believe the backlight is old.

There is a thread here: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=89778

However do not disassemble the LCD display as shown in the tutorial, a this may damage your LCD.

The backlight panel is separate from the LCD, you may have you use a piece of plastic or wood to help remove the backlight from the LCD display as there may be an adhesive holding it in place.

jazzroom wrote:
Do u mean by "resonate" that inverters and or backlights make sounds?
please forgive my ignorance

Yes, due to the nature of the design, there can be audible high pitch noise from the components vibrating. This can sometimes be remedied by adding mass to the inverter shield (tape, shims, spacers etc) or by resecuring the EL panel to the display.