Don't Throw Away Your Old GPS!
Chances are that if you are looking for a new GPS it's because the display on the old one refuses to light up. It happened to my Garmen 498s GPS. I replaced it with a newer model but as is typical for me I didn't throw away the 498s so I could tinker with it.
That was 2 years ago.
A few weeks back I started tinkering. After inspecting for broken wires and blown fuses I decided to disassemble the illuminator. Inside I found a tiny "L" shaped cold cathode fluresent lamp, ccfl. My first reaction was to see if I could rig together a replacement light source. I began by wiring together a string of tiny Christmas tree lights. It actually worked... but it started generating a fair amount of heat...not so good.
I then started thinking about a string of LEDs. That would solve the heat issue but, like the Christmas tree lights, there would still be the issue of how to power them up. So I went on line to see if I could find some very small white LEDs.
That's when I smaked myself in the head and declared, "Doo!"
I switched my search to: "replacement ccfl." It landed me at, among other places, www.ccflwarehouse.com . Search no more!
The CCFL Warehouse has an easy to navigate website. You can easily find the replacement ccfl you are looking for...and here's the best part, if you don't feel like getting into wiring and soldering, simply unplug the ccfl and ship it with the "C" reflector to them and for a very nominal fee (about $5) they will do the work for you!
The lamp for my GPS was about $20 for the do-it-yourself version then add $4.99 for shipping. For another $5 for the work and $5 for shipping the lamp to them, I got back a perfectly new replacement.
So, for about $35 my Garmen 498s ($500) works great again.
We highly recommend www.ccflwarehouse.com . And it's not just for GPS's. They have replacement ccfl's for computer monitors and TV's, anything with a ccfl.