Heres why our vintage computer LCDs are dying, and how to avoid this Vinegar Syndrome issue to preserve them! Information for the retrocomputing community!
Thanks for making this video, I've got a couple of laptops affected by this but it's still tough to find information on it. Your method looks like it should work really well, I'm in a cooler country but it's actively happened to me where the laptop was stored too close to a radiator and kept closed - storing them with the screen open and in a drybox seems like it should be a big help. I do think that we should use a different name than just Vinegar Syndrome, since a company brand appears to be sitting on the phrase which makes it tough to find information on the topic. I was thinking just call it what it is which is Polariser Breakdown, it's going to happen to far more devices over time. Also, if you have successfully swapped a polariser then well done, I've tried and it's quite difficult to avoid damaging the screen with the pressure/pulling that has to be applied to the LCD's glass.
Thanks for the comment. I’ve been calling it Vinegar Syndrome because thats the term I most commonly stumble upon, even though as you too noticed theres little info about it and how to slow down the process to prolong the life of our devices. I made this video exactly because I wanted to share my experience, and I may in the future make a more in depth video about it, since there are some catches that help slow down even more the process. I’ll save this idea on my future videos list. As for replacing the polarizer I have done it several times with success, but I did make a few mistakes on my first tries, and sometime, even after replacing more than 30 polarizers, sometimes things do go wrong as the ribbon connectors on the 200LX for example are very delicate. If I do need to replace another polarizer I’ll male a video about explaining the tools and chemicals I use. Thanks again for the kind words.
@@electrohoard Actually, when I got that tip from someone, it was meant to keep an old car dry in those cold, wet winters we have here: Put a bag or two of (boil-in-bag) rice into an old sock and deposit in your car. That's probably where that tip really shines, as small silicate gel bags might not scale very well for that task. For your purpose, they're probably sufficient.
@@theol1044 thats true! You can get huge bags of silica gel for your car in Aliexpress, but they are way more expensive in this case than your suggestion.
i had a gameboy DMG and a TI-82 calculator and some sony portable DVD player that were all stored in a box in the basement all get vinegar syndrome at the same time, the portable DVD player got it the worst
Yes, many vintage devices are been lost due to this problem. Some are fixable, but others arent. My gameboy color is on the waiting list to be fixed, also has vinegar syndrome.
i haven't suffered anything with vinegar syndrome, is it somthing to do with storage conditions?, also if you are SUUUUUPER careful i think you CAN peel off the polariser film
Yes, has everything to do with storage conditions. The colder and drier, the better. I livre in a hot country with high humidity so its perfect for damaging polarizers. Even though they can be replaced, its a pain. Best idea is to avoid it at all costs if possible.
@@electrohoard i suppose it's worth it if the LCD is very rare. Also as i live in the UK all my laptops reside in my bedroom cupboard, the temperature rarely gets above 20 degrees on a normal day... The humidity is absolutely NUTS but for some reason nothing has started doing weird things yet. Though i really gotta NOT stack them, that damages the LCDs from pressure,
@@lukedavis436 yeah, try to avoid stacking. Basically all these LCDs are rare because most of the are custom made for each device. I have replaced a few polarizes, but the end result is never perfect, so I do my best to avoid damaging them in the first place! Controlling humidity is easy, hardest to control is temperature, so you are in a great position to keep these perdect for a long time!
A lot of vintage camcorders with LCD screens also have this problem, especially imported cameras from Japan.
Thats true. I dont know why but stuff from Japan is usually more prone to this problem. Maybe its because of the climate or humidity there.
The USA, Japan and Australia seems to suffer vinegar syndrome quite a bit
However in Japan it's REALLY common
Thanks for making this video, I've got a couple of laptops affected by this but it's still tough to find information on it. Your method looks like it should work really well, I'm in a cooler country but it's actively happened to me where the laptop was stored too close to a radiator and kept closed - storing them with the screen open and in a drybox seems like it should be a big help.
I do think that we should use a different name than just Vinegar Syndrome, since a company brand appears to be sitting on the phrase which makes it tough to find information on the topic. I was thinking just call it what it is which is Polariser Breakdown, it's going to happen to far more devices over time.
Also, if you have successfully swapped a polariser then well done, I've tried and it's quite difficult to avoid damaging the screen with the pressure/pulling that has to be applied to the LCD's glass.
Thanks for the comment. I’ve been calling it Vinegar Syndrome because thats the term I most commonly stumble upon, even though as you too noticed theres little info about it and how to slow down the process to prolong the life of our devices. I made this video exactly because I wanted to share my experience, and I may in the future make a more in depth video about it, since there are some catches that help slow down even more the process. I’ll save this idea on my future videos list.
As for replacing the polarizer I have done it several times with success, but I did make a few mistakes on my first tries, and sometime, even after replacing more than 30 polarizers, sometimes things do go wrong as the ribbon connectors on the 200LX for example are very delicate. If I do need to replace another polarizer I’ll male a video about explaining the tools and chemicals I use.
Thanks again for the kind words.
Instead of silicate gel, you could also try (uncooked) rice.
Yes, it should work. But silica gel is so cheap (and works so well) that I suppose its a better option.
@@electrohoard Actually, when I got that tip from someone, it was meant to keep an old car dry in those cold, wet winters we have here: Put a bag or two of (boil-in-bag) rice into an old sock and deposit in your car. That's probably where that tip really shines, as small silicate gel bags might not scale very well for that task. For your purpose, they're probably sufficient.
@@theol1044 thats true! You can get huge bags of silica gel for your car in Aliexpress, but they are way more expensive in this case than your suggestion.
i had a gameboy DMG and a TI-82 calculator and some sony portable DVD player that were all stored in a box in the basement all get vinegar syndrome at the same time, the portable DVD player got it the worst
Yes, many vintage devices are been lost due to this problem. Some are fixable, but others arent. My gameboy color is on the waiting list to be fixed, also has vinegar syndrome.
My 15 year old Cannon Powershot has vineger syndrome on the small led panel. Other than that the camera works fine. 😢
Thx for advice
@@pepotrone9918 Thanks for watching :)
So that's what those weird stains are! Thanks for the explanation.
Thanks for watching :)
i haven't suffered anything with vinegar syndrome, is it somthing to do with storage conditions?, also if you are SUUUUUPER careful i think you CAN peel off the polariser film
Yes, has everything to do with storage conditions. The colder and drier, the better. I livre in a hot country with high humidity so its perfect for damaging polarizers. Even though they can be replaced, its a pain. Best idea is to avoid it at all costs if possible.
@@electrohoard i suppose it's worth it if the LCD is very rare.
Also as i live in the UK all my laptops reside in my bedroom cupboard, the temperature rarely gets above 20 degrees on a normal day... The humidity is absolutely NUTS but for some reason nothing has started doing weird things yet.
Though i really gotta NOT stack them, that damages the LCDs from pressure,
@@lukedavis436 yeah, try to avoid stacking. Basically all these LCDs are rare because most of the are custom made for each device. I have replaced a few polarizes, but the end result is never perfect, so I do my best to avoid damaging them in the first place! Controlling humidity is easy, hardest to control is temperature, so you are in a great position to keep these perdect for a long time!
Update....my Sony VAIO F808K became infected in northern Ireland.
And so it begins....