Author Topic: Turbo Express Brightness wheel issue?  (Read 432 times)

dongzo36

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Turbo Express Brightness wheel issue?
« on: May 13, 2024, 09:56:17 PM »
Hello everyone. I am experiencing brightness issues with my brightness wheel. When I turn on my TE I have to kind of keep scrolling the wheel to find a sweet spot for the picture to come on. If I tap or barely move the wheel the picture goes off. I have full recapped my TE. I also desoldered the brightness wheel to give it a clean with contact cleaner and IPA and it still has the same issue.  I also noticed that I seem to have a missing pad on no.2 of the pin, but the pad on the back of the board that connects to pin no.2 is still there. Also I have a capacitor that doesn't look great next to the brightness.  Could either of those 2 cause for the flakiness of the wheel ?  I have attached two pictures of that. Also I have tied another know working screen to see if that was the issues and I have the same problem. Is there a source for a compatible wheel?
Thank you for any assistance



« Last Edit: May 14, 2024, 12:57:22 AM by dongzo36 »

Keith Courage

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Re: Turbo Express Brightness wheel issue?
« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2024, 07:05:44 AM »
Is this a new problem or did this issue start happening right after a system capacitor change?  Sometimes if the ground connection is bad for some of the caps, it can cause issues for the brightness wheel.

Gamegear Brightness dials work as a replacement but then you have to slightly file out the casing on the express so it will fit. As long as it's filed down cleanly, it looks pretty good.

I think I heard that a gameboy brightness dial works but I've never tried one. Someone else would need to chime in and say if that works or not.

dongzo36

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Re: Turbo Express Brightness wheel issue?
« Reply #2 on: May 14, 2024, 09:40:15 AM »
Is this a new problem or did this issue start happening right after a system capacitor change?  Sometimes if the ground connection is bad for some of the caps, it can cause issues for the brightness wheel.

Gamegear Brightness dials work as a replacement but then you have to slightly file out the casing on the express so it will fit. As long as it's filed down cleanly, it looks pretty good.

I think I heard that a gameboy brightness dial works but I've never tried one. Someone else would need to chime in and say if that works or not.


Thanks for the reply.  This was an issue before and after 2 recaps.  I originally capped it with radial caps then I decided to do smd caps.  I have a parts board of a game gear and will try swapping the dials. 

dongzo36

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Re: Turbo Express Brightness wheel issue?
« Reply #3 on: May 14, 2024, 11:15:12 PM »
Ok so when I came home today I desoldered the brightness dial from a parts game gear board and soldered it to my TE and boom my screen works perfect now. So now I know the original brightness dial on my TE was faulty. I actually took it apart and the carbon trace that the dial runs on is almost gone.  I happen to possibly find a replacemnet on Ali express that is a 4pin and has the same wheel diameter, so I ordered it and will test it when it arrives and I will post the results when I get it.   Thank you again @Keith Courage for all the assistance.

dongzo36

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Re: Turbo Express Brightness wheel issue?
« Reply #4 on: May 24, 2024, 01:38:46 AM »
Just a heads up for anyone looking for a brightness dials. I got my order from ali express and these
dials work and are the exact same size. Unfortunately they have numbers on them but I was able to lightly
sand them of and repaint the dial to match. Link below.  I hope this helps anyone looking for replacements

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mKJd4ow

Keith Courage

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Re: Turbo Express Brightness wheel issue?
« Reply #5 on: May 24, 2024, 07:23:41 AM »
Excellent! Glad you found something that works and thank you for the Link. I'm gonna order a few just in case.