Fluke Scopemeter LCD Lines Repair

[Gus Martin]

I just wanted to share my method for repairing a Fluke Scopemeter LCD that had both horizontal and vertical black lines. My meter was the 123 model, but I think this applies to some others as well. For the horizontal lines I removed the contact strip completely and cleaned the PCB and glass contacts using acetone. Then I got a zebra strip to put in its place. This only works on the horizontal lines because the PCB contacts and the glass contacts are directly above each other. This is not the case for the vertical lines but the good news is that the vertical contact strips are exposed so you can attempt a repair on them. I repaired the vertical contact strip using a soldering iron with a small piece of silicone tubing over the tip. This gives a soft tip to apply pressure and the silicone will transfer heat fairly well. I set my soldering iron to 500 deg Fahrenheit. That seems really hot but my attempts at lower temps were not successful.
After I finished I had an LCD with no more lines. The zebra strip can be difficult to position correctly but it can be positioned with the meter powered up and taken apart, giving you feedback by observing lines come and go. As for finding the correct zebra strip. I’m not sure about this part. I just harvested mine from an old LCD panel meter. This just happened to be a perfect fit.
Hope this helps somebody attempting the same repair.