Meter LCD self-destroying

[Helmholtz]

Anyone seen a display defect like this?


The dark area has become transparent, has lost its reflectivity.
It has been growing slowly since months.

It's a crying shame as it means I'm losing one of the best handheld DMMs ever: A Siemens B1023.
Specs are as good or better than a 600 bucks Fluke 87V (True RMS, autoscale, BW over 20kHz, Ri=10M, dB- scale, temperature, frequency and much more).
No wonder Fluke bought the original manufacturer Norma/Austria.
It's around 30 years old and the meter itself works like new.

[GoldtoneWorkshop]

From my experience with cell phone/tablet repair, that dark spot means that there is a break in the two planes of glass that suspend the liquid in the display. If one or more of the planes break then the liquid will seep out and cause that void to spread. Needs a new display unfortunately.

[Helmholtz]

Thanks for your reply.

Unfortunately little chance finding a replacement for this 30 year old rather special display and manufacturer out of business since long.

[g1]

Perhaps you could find someone selling a 'parts unit'? Unfortunately that usually means taking a gamble on which parts may still be good.

[g1]

Unfortunately little chance finding a replacement for this 30 year old rather special display and manufacturer out of business since long.

Could this display be a match?
https://www.ebay.at/itm/255540053839...Bk9SR9S3_MPLYQ

[Helmholtz]

Could this display be a match?

Thanks a lot for searching. Same manufacturer and similar looking display.
But my meter has a lot more functions and display features, so I don't think it could work.

[g1]

I saw it even had the music note and figured that was a good sign.
I thought maybe they would have all used the same display and just added circuits to the board, or different IC's, but the only way to know for sure would be if you had part numbers for the various model LCD's.

[g1]

I should add that this page gave me search ideas: http://www.auldies.euweb.cz/indev_VA_dig.html

[The Dude]

That is a bummer, Helmholtz- a nice meter rendered useless by a display.

I did a little hunting. The only thing a found that may be of help is that the same meter was manufactured as a Normameter MP14. That may spread your search criteria a bit.

[mozz]

Any way to seal it and stop it from getting worse?

[Mick Bailey]

It's worth removing the display to see if the reflective backing has started to separate. It may not be applicable in this case, but some displays can fog and go transparent-looking because the backing is delaminating and sometimes they can be rescued.

[Helmholtz]

Meanwhile I removed the display. No outer signs of damage (or even leakage).
The disintegration is in the upper (actual LCD film) layer.

Good news is that I could contact a former Norma engineer I used to meet in IEC standardization meetings.
He promised to find out about the display.
So there's still hope.