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Making LCD Screens Readable in Full Sunlight?

Posted by Cliff on from the glare-busters dept.

irregular_hero asks: "I'm in the process of constructing a navigation and vehicle-management system based on Linux for a car. The trouble I'm having is finding a suitable screen to be mounted in the dash of the car. It seems that traditional SVGA/XGA LCD screens have a really bad tendency to totally wash out in bright sunlight -- in fact, nearly every screen that I've tried turns jet black in sunlight. Are there any SVGA/XGA LCD screens out there that one can get that are sunlight-readable? Or is there a way to make an existing screen not respond so badly to sunlight?"

3 of 27 comments (clear)

  1. Known problem by heikkile · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I don't know how they do it, but the guys making navigation stuff for boats have been fighting with the same problems for a while. Maybe they have found some good solutions?

    --

    In Murphy We Turst

  2. Why LCDs? VFD's work too... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    LCDs work off of polarized light blockage with a back light or reflective background. This sucks in the daytime--VFD's--vacuum fluorescent displays operate much better in sunlight and an graphic matrix VFD screen can be substituted into a circuit designed for LCD interfacing. They only have maybe around 5 to 8 colors at most, but the way it sounds, you're not looking for some gigantic screen or mind blowing graphics. Noritake's a decent company, and--ah just do a google search for VFD companies.

  3. You need a front lit reflective TFT LCD. by stienman · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You need a non backlit (reflective) TFT LCD, then you need to get a special plastic overlay that acts as a light pipe. This takes light from around the edges of the screen (from LEDs, CCFTs, etc) and shines it onto the display, which then reflects it back to you.

    This same stuff is what is being used by the people making the 'backlight' for the gameboy advance.

    You should be able to get this all in one package, but you need to make sure that the LCD is reflective, with lighting coming from the front.

    -Adam