Had to decide between replacing a $3 capacitor or buying a whole new $200 monitor

Last week my 27-inch Dell monitor started flickering like crazy. Opened it up and saw a swollen capacitor near the power board. I could either order the part for $3 and wait 5 days, or just get a new monitor same day from Best Buy. I went with the capacitor. Desoldered the old one, put the new one in, fired it up and it worked perfect. Felt like a wizard for about 10 minutes. Anyone else ever fix something for pocket change that most people would just throw out?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_nathan8d ago

Pulled up the wrong person there. Janarivera is talking about a different situation. They bought a whole new monitor. The post is about fixing the old one with a $3 part. I did the same thing with a Samsung TV power supply last year. 50 cents for a fuse, 20 minutes of my time, saved a $400 TV from the dump.

grantw329d ago

Is a flickering monitor really worth all that effort though?

janarivera9d ago

Ngl, I went through the exact same thing with my old monitor and it drove me absolutely insane for months before I finally caved and replaced it. Tbh I kept telling myself it was fine and I could just deal with it, but the constant flickering was making my eyes hurt and giving me headaches by the end of the day. Once I actually swapped it out I couldn't believe I waited that long, the difference was night and day. So yeah, totally worth the hassle honestly, your eyes will thank you.