Need Help!- Replacing a Haas Monitor

[Depth_of_cut]

Our monitor on our haas vf3 is going dim. Haas wants 350 for the new one plus labor. I can get a 12" lcd for 50$ and the old monitor has a 9 pin hookup.
I tried a adapter for 9pin vga to a 15 pin(lcd monitor) but it read no signal from the haas. Has anyone done this? If so what are the pin-outs to make this work.

[revlimit]

Hi, did you solve this problem? I'm curious because I am taking the advice of others on this forum and buying a new LCD display kit from earthLCD. The kit includes the display AND the controller. I'm wondering if an incompatible controller may be your problem? The kit...SK-3012R...has been sold to quite a few users in the same boat we are in with great results I'm told. You will need a 12 volt power supply and a db9 to db15 adapter (which it sounds like you have). If you would, let me know how you solved your problem if you have. Thanks and have a good one.

[Dementianati]

I have an old vf-2 I got cheap with the same problem. They sold it dirt cheap 'for parts" because it would not "power up" and it was not worth their time to diagnose it.

When I hooked it up, I found everything working, except the monitor, which had gone bad. I want to put an LCD on it and went through a lot to figure out how.

First, the old monitors are MGA - the 9 pin is not the DE-9 VGA semi-standard, but rather the original IBM monochrome video (remember the original IBM PC with the green screen monitor?).

Later came color - CGA then EGA. All of these, MGA, CGA and EGA are digital signals, whereas VGA is analog. The sync is compatible with VGA, but the video levels and horizontal refresh aren't. So those are the two problems - signal level and refresh rate.

The signal levels are TTL (about 3-5 volts peak) and VGA is .7 volts p-p although some VGA will take 1 volt p-p. If quality is not a big deal, a simple resistor network will fix the levels.

The refresh rate is the biggest problem. You need a monitor that can sync to the 15 KHz refresh rate of MGA / CGA. Most current monitors only go down to 30 KHz.

15KHz is about the same frequency as NTSC, so these are your options:

1) Buy an old IBM PC era (early 80's) monitor from a used equipment place or flea market.

2) Convert the signal to NTSC and feed it to a monitor that takes NTSC. These are more prevalent than monitors that take VGA at 15 KHz (although during the mid 90's there were some models that did). The circuit to convert to NTSC is more complex, but not too complicated.

3) Get a scan line doubler. Unfortunately, most of these are in the $900 to $3000 range which makes this option a no-go. It is cheaper to convert your system to full HAAS LCD.

4) Convert your system to HAAS LCD by replacing the video board and monitor.

5) I just found this option... Several far east manufacturers have started making converters for older video game consoles to use a VGA monitor. These normally hook to a TV. This, as it turns out, is exactly what is needed. A search on eBay (search for "CGA VGA") turns up several models under $100. You just need to make your own cable for the input, which is trivial.

I am doing option 5 immediately to get the thing going, but will do option 4 eventually.

Go to Wikipedia and look up MGA (actually listed under MDA on Wikipedia) and CGA for the pinouts.

On the DE-9 connector, pins 1,2 are ground, pin 8 is horz sync and pin 9 is vert sync. Intensity is pin 6.

MGA (and HAAS) use pin 7 for monochrome video with pins 3,4,5 unused. CGA uses pins 3,4,5 for RGB with pin 7 unused. Most monitors that take CGA also take MGA and figure out which pins have signal. The eBay adapters also do this.

Good luck.

[MMTechi]

Did you guys ever get your Haas monitors replaced and working with LCD screens. I have a monitor on my 2001 TM1 that is not displaying anymore, or it takes hours for it to finally come up and display and this is the second one?

[zagan engelsein]

Hello, this is my first comment here; regarding the issue we are trying to change the monitor in a VF6 Haas, we bought a CGA to VGA converter (GBS-8220; 42 dlls) but it didn't work because the signal from the Haas is MGA (MDA) not CGA, so, for this purpose you need a converter from MGA to VGA and the one I found might work is the GBS-8219 (280 dlls), as it is intended for that.

So, we gonna order the GBS-8219 from jammaboards and I'll post if it's worked.

Zagan

[DaOne]

Zagan,


Did the new one work?

[zagan engelsein]

Hi!

We have just ordered this item and we're still waiting for it, as soon as it arrives, I'll post if it worked.

But, I was tell that this module was specially designed for this kind of signal.

See ya soon!

[Ron22]

Not sure the GBS-8219 from jammaboards is worth it. $259.95 seems like a lot cant you still buy monitors from Haas?

[zagan engelsein]

Hello;

I don't know if you can buy monitors from them (you can get the upgrading kit but it cost around $3000), we ordered a monitor from another supplier as we needed the machine to be working as soon as possible but that kind of monitors are very expensive, the one we bought cost around $650 dlls and it will probably last for one year only (like the last one).

We're still waiting for that board and when it arrives I'm going to post if it worked.

ZaGaN

[Wizzard of H]

Replacement CRT monitors are available from Haas.
They fit in the old openings and look a lot better than what you might find in the open market.
The signals are IBM MDA.

[DaOne]

Zagan,

Any updates? I so badly want an LCD in the CRTs place. Mine is very blurry. The monitor fitting and looking good is the easy part. Getting the signals to sync is the issue at hand. I want a new TFT due to the viewing angle and brightness of the display. This would require a scan conversion. I am hopping this converter board works.

[Facilitymngr]

I just ordered a 12" CRT from Omni Visions Inc. Omni Vision Inc. Contact Omni Vision for my Haas VF2 for $335 w/ a one year warranty and they are made in the USA. I am told they are a drop in replacement for the China made Haas unit and by the way I was also told they are 18 Khz not 15. I will report back when I have finished installing it.