Converting TE comp screen to RGB: worth it, or nah? (warning: potential carnage)

[blazingtaserface]

So have a few questions about this TE I picked up on eBay that already has a composite screen mod. This is the first time I've looked inside a unit with a comp mod, and uh...there sure is a lot of hot glue, among other things (images attached).

My first impression powering the unit up is that the screen is not IPS, given the viewing angles. Still an improvement over the OEM, but I wanted to get feedback on what some of the experienced modders think of this. Does it look about par for the course? Worse? Better?

The screen is held in with what looks like a bunch of hot glue. Brightness control has no effect. There's a blue rectangular component with a brass colored screw in the 2nd image, and while it turns, it doesn't seem to do anything. Thought it might be a brightness control at first, but seems to have zero effect. Anyone know what it is/does? Tried to leave it exactly in the position I found it just in case.

There's a push button accessible from the battery compartment (4th image) that looks to be epoxied in, but on the inside it's not connected to anything. Anyone know why it was put there or what purpose it may have served at some point?

Given what you see, would it ever be a good idea to try to clean this up and change it to an RGB mod (or even leave it composite, but swap out for an IPS screen), or should I just be happy it works and leave it alone?

All feedback welcome, feel free to be harsh. Just want to get a feel for how these mods should look/be done.

Thanks.

Image Album: https://imgur.com/a/PJktZSU

Note: Tried multiple times to upload the images, continuing to make them smaller and smaller, but to no avail. So in the end, I had to use an imgur album.

[Keith Courage]

I've done a lot of composite screen mods but I've never seen one like that before. I've never seen that particular screen with the controller board behind it, nor have I seen the wiring done quite like that.

it is completely normal for lots of these to have the screens held in with hot glue as the plastic braces made for them do not always perfectly center up the screen. So the hot glue part is fine.

It's kind of hard to tell the quality of the actual screen that's in there from the pictures. if this is one of those generic 3.5" backup screens, then it would definitely be an improvement to go up to rgb. However if this is was the more commonhttps://console5.com/store/universal-3-5-composite-video-lcd-module-320x240.html deposit screen, then I would say it's not really an upgrade to go up to rgb. But that's just my personal preference.

[blazingtaserface]

Thanks for the reply. I'll probably leave it as-is then, unless they release an RGB mod board that seamlessly interfaces with the brightness control.

One other thing I noticed is the screen stays a little warm, even when off. Don't think that's normal...gonna open it back up and see if I can find anything off.

[blazingtaserface]

So figured out what was going on with the screen staying warm. Whoever did the mod ran separate power wires from both the DC input jack, and the battery compartment direct to the small blue power board that powers the LCD driver board. The main IC on the driver board was staying warm due to constant power draw, even when the system was off.

I removed said wires, and ran a new wire from the power switch to the small blue power board. Now it seems OK.

Fix in case anyone is curious: https://imgur.com/a/nL7qw9d

[Keith Courage]

You did it the correct way. I believe the center contacts on the power switch would also turn the screen on and off without the constant draw of power.

So strange as there is no reason to tap the battery power for the screen. Whoever did that screen upgrade obviously wasn't familiar with the job.

[blazingtaserface]

Was definitely worried there for a bit...not a great sign when your off devices are warm! Just glad the fix was pretty straightforward and didn't have to dig too deep.

[tawy]

I think you can power the LCD board with the 5V from the motherboard, removing the stepup converter, and bypass the dc-dc converter from the LCD driver, you just have to find the component on

where the DC input is converted to 5V.
The screen is not LCDDRV quality, but it is not bad at all

[MasterofBiscuits]

Yes that blue board is a DC-DC converter and the blue component with the screw is the voltage adjustment. Most likely they used one of those because the screen needs a higher voltage, but it looks like they voltage modded the driver board so who knows why. It would be worth measuring the voltage being drawn, if it's 5-9v you can just tap it from the motherboard.

It's a bit of a bodge job by the looks of it, there's really no need to hot glue the panel in place nowadays when there are 3d-printed frames available. Personally I always do RGB mods as it's a cleaner picture and less invasive for the console, but the best one (RGBDRV) is going to be out of stock for a long time (until next year possibly). For comparison this is what one of my RGB/ lipo battery modded consoles looks like