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DIY LCD Backlight Repair
Bill Nye (not the science guy) writes to tell us that InventGeek has an interesting article on do it yourself LCD backlight repair. From the overview: "Those of us that have used LCD monitors for a while know that over time the backlight starts to dim and will eventually completely fail. Leaving you with some electronic scrap that you could sell on eBay for 35 bucks or so. Well for less than $20.00 and about a half hour of your time you can replace the backlight and rejuvenate that monitor to as good as new condition."
Anyone who uses the phrase "jillions of volts of capacitance" obviously doesn't understand what's inside an LCD monitor, nor how dangerous it is.
There is really nothing dangerous in them, LCD's cathodes don't use more than 1kv, and unlike CRT's, there is no significant capacitor that will remain charged when the monitor is turned off. Obviously there would be some risk if you actually worked on the inverter while it was on, which isn't even dangerous if you are careful.
And if you're that worried about the safety of cutting into a cold cathode, you could always use a shop vac to improvise a fume extraction system, in case you screw it up. Or you could order a harder to find cold cathode that does not have the covering mentioned, or salvage one from a scanner.
If you take a few minor precautions this operation is not really dangerous at all. Don't complain about how stupid this author is when you don't understand how LCD backlights work or basic safety proceedings.