This is due to the difference in voltage/current for the larger/smaller bulb. There may be a family of inverters with different strike voltages and maximum currents and you may have ended up buying one that does not have a high enough voltage or high enough current.Įdited to add: The inverter on smaller screen Dell laptops is not the same as the inverter on larger screen laptops. Is the new inverter the EXACT same model? The longer the tube, the higher the strike voltage. Where did you get the new inverter? Are you sure that it is a good inverter and not one out of a system that was having the same symptoms you are seeing? If you bought it on eBay, that is a very common scam (buy a new part and sell your old parts without saying that they do not work). The failure mode once again is requiring a higher strike voltage. That one would be based on the 5 years of elapsed time (as posed to active time). Though very rare, it is possible for the lamp to leak over time. As CCFL lamps age, the strike voltage increases and the inverter will eventually not be able to generate enough voltage and the open lamp safety will kick in, even though the lamp is starting to strike. That means that on average they will live that long, but it also means that some will die sooner. They have a life expectation of about 35,000 hours of use. The strike voltage can be over 1,000V and at that voltage even a tiny crack in the insulation can arc to the chassis and the stray current will cause the controller to see a short circuit and shut down.įinally, CCFL bulbs do go bad. Inspect the wiring for cracked or pinched insulation. If the symptoms were exactly the same with your original inverter as the new one, then the problem is in the tube or the wiring. How was your original inverter behaving in death? Did it stop working completely or was that one flashing too? One or the other is getting triggered on your new inverter.

CCFL inverters have open bulb and short circuit protection.

Ccfl lamp for 2006 macbook pro repair