DIY UV Treatment for Yellowed MCU Screen

[PWlakewood]

well I purchased the light that the OP linked to but they only came in a 2 pack. No biggie though, I thought it would make it go faster as I could cover more of the screen at once.....well long story short...after 4 hours one night on the upper part of the screen with the light as close as possible there was no change at all. The next day I set it up for an 8 hour session and let it do its thing. I was expecting much much better results....so I'm currently sitting at Tesla renton SC getting the UV treatment for free and they said this was the third iteration of the contraption so we shall see after 2 hours.....

 

[PWlakewood]

...update....

2 hours later all yellowing is gone. All it cost me was my time and some kwh. They offered me a loaner for the weekend but I can't stand driving them since they lock them all in chill mode.....I opted to sit there and wait...all in all I'm happy with the outcome and the service department in renton.

 

[timvracer]

I purchased the same nail dryer that was shown from Amazon, and modified it to be a enclosed chamber, with foil to direct all the light. The real win however, is that I also found 260nm 9w bulbs that fit this nail dryer, and now I have an N95 Mask Decontimination chamber. These are the same lights used for decontaminating aquarium water, and are NOT eye safe or skin safe (they will burn quickly), but there have been multiple studies done to show their effectiveness against viruses (the short wavelength UV cuts through viruses and scrambles their DNA in very short order).

So I have both a tesla screen repair mechanism, and a virus killing sterilization chamber!

Effects of Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI) on N95 Respirator Filtration Performance and Structural Integrity

 

[Messagepads]

After the first parking time in plain sun yesterday, I noticed the yellowing appearing on my Model S central screen

Could this disappear when it will cool down, or is it now there "forever"?

Being in Europe, I would have to check for a UV lamp available here...Maybe in DIY shop.

 

[chingwodapigu]

...update....

2 hours later all yellowing is gone. All it cost me was my time and some kwh. They offered me a loaner for the weekend but I can't stand driving them since they lock them all in chill mode.....I opted to sit there and wait...all in all I'm happy with the outcome and the service department in renton.

Did you have any other services done, or just the de-yellowing of the screen? They weren't able to do this the last time I had my car in at the Bellevue SC for other repairs, so I'm hoping they can just do the UV treatment for me.

 

[croman]

Did you have any other services done, or just the de-yellowing of the screen? They weren't able to do this the last time I had my car in at the Bellevue SC for other repairs, so I'm hoping they can just do the UV treatment for me.

I've had just UV for my car. Took 4 hours and didn't fully go away but was much better. They said about 4 more and no one would be able to tell but they made me wait instead of loaner, so I'd had my limit given the marked improvement.

Fwiw, they will do this out of warranty for free or at most $13 because it only takes 5 minutes of labor. They just set and forget.

 

[croman]

After the first parking time in plain sun yesterday, I noticed the yellowing appearing on my Model S central screen

Could this disappear when it will cool down, or is it now there "forever"?

Being in Europe, I would have to check for a UV lamp available here...Maybe in DIY shop.

Forever. In us as long as uv tool isn't broken they'll do it for free or very cheap even out of warranty.

 

[KyleDay]

I did this DIY UV light and it seemed to help. Today I put my car in the AZ sun for the day for the first time this year and the yellow border came back within hours. Bummer.

 

[ucmndd]

I did this DIY UV light and it seemed to help. Today I put my car in the AZ sun for the day for the first time this year and the yellow border came back within hours. Bummer.

I’ve noticed mine starting to return too as it gets hot. Was actually going to pull the light back out tomorrow and see if I can beat it back again.

 

[PWlakewood]

Did you have any other services done, or just the de-yellowing of the screen? They weren't able to do this the last time I had my car in at the Bellevue SC for other repairs, so I'm hoping they can just do the UV treatment for me.

Just the uv light treatment...took 2 hours...try the renton sc...if I had to pay out of pocket it would only cost 35 bucks so not expensive at all and definitely worth it free or not.

 

[P16888]

I’ve noticed mine starting to return too as it gets hot. Was actually going to pull the light back out tomorrow and see if I can beat it back again.

Based on your original post, the yellow border you had on your screen is not that dark.. Mine was like tobacco color to begin with, it takes 48 hours (same UV solution you used) and you can still see a slight yellowish hue. I suspect you may need to cure it more to guarantee it will not come back.

 

[ucmndd]

Based on your original post, the yellow border you had on your screen is not that dark.. Mine was like tobacco color to begin with, it takes 48 hours (same UV solution you used) and you can still see a slight yellowish hue. I suspect you may need to cure it more to guarantee it will not come back.

That was my suspicion as well. I gave it a further 12 hours under the light this weekend and it's back to good again. Guess I may have to do this a couple more times to get all of it.

 

[P16888]

Got rid of most of the yellow over the weekend but cannot quite cure it 100% (using the LED UV method) the last couple of days. Only thing I noticed is the temperature is lower the last couple of days.. Can lower temperature be the problem?

 

[Messagepads]

Got rid of most of the yellow over the weekend but cannot quite cure it 100% (using the LED UV method) the last couple of days. Only thing I noticed is the temperature is lower the last couple of days.. Can lower temperature be the problem?

It must depend on the exact characteristics of the UV itself as well. Duration of treatment is a parameter too for sure.

I don't think that cold temperature has an effect, on the contrary I would say. I guess that high temperatures are more critical for this phenomenon to appear, at least was it my case.

I've ordered the UV lamp through Amaz... and am awaiting delivery... some time.

As such still very interested in your return of experience.

Thanks and best to all

 

[wwu123]

This thread has been very informative and lead me to my own solution for $14.99.

I found this device that has 4 UV bulbs at 365nm:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06X8ZVJSS



I removed the lower sides of the bottom cover and lined the inside with foil HVAC tape.

I ordered the nail dryer on Amazon that folks have posted. While I do have silver foil HVAC tape, I wonder if just lining with a sheet or two of aluminum foil would work as well? Is the point just to reflect back more of the UV light towards the screen, increasing the efficiency and reducing the time needed?

 

[KyleDay]

So my DIY 100w UV lamp job didn't hold up over time. Yellowing came back in the summer heat here on AZ. I took my car to thr SC today and it's currently undergoing their UV light treatment and I'm anxious to see how long it holds for.

 

[Trebek1762]

Is

So my DIY 100w UV lamp job didn't hold up over time. Yellowing came back in the summer heat here on AZ. I took my car to thr SC today and it's currently undergoing their UV light treatment and I'm anxious to see how long it holds for.

Is this on your retrofit MCU2? Did the SC say anything about it!

 

[Messagepads]

So my DIY 100w UV lamp job didn't hold up over time. Yellowing came back in the summer heat here on AZ. I took my car to thr SC today and it's currently undergoing their UV light treatment and I'm anxious to see how long it holds for.

My reseller just told me that this problem is occuring almost systematically on the "new generation" screens. The previous ones (first generation were "all" breaking at some point and needed replacement - this is my case).

So now it is supposed to be "better" but it suffers from this yellowing problem when exposed to heat as a consequence of the behaviour of the glue or glass treatment... something around this.

The UV will decrease or solve the problem but, as soon as the initial conditions are met again (exposure to high heat or direct sunlight) the risk is very high that it will come again.

As it is considered as "cosmetic" by Tesla they won't replace it under warranty and, even if they would do it on isolated occasions, the problem is still there untill they modify the construction process I guess.

Still waiting for my UV lamp ordered recently on internet

 

[EVortex]

My reseller just told me that this problem is occuring almost systematically on the "new generation" screens. The previous ones (first generation were "all" breaking at some point and needed replacement - this is my case).

So now it is supposed to be "better" but it suffers from this yellowing problem when exposed to heat as a consequence of the behaviour of the glue or glass treatment... something around this.

The UV will decrease or solve the problem but, as soon as the initial conditions are met again (exposure to high heat or direct sunlight) the risk is very high that it will come again.

As it is considered as "cosmetic" by Tesla they won't replace it under warranty and, even if they would do it on isolated occasions, the problem is still there untill they modify the construction process I guess.

Still waiting for my UV lamp ordered recently on internet

It will eventually cure when all layers of LOCA have gone through the electrochemical reaction.

 

[ucmndd]

It will eventually cure when all layers of LOCA have gone through the electrochemical reaction.

This is what I’m thinking.

Mine did start to return, but another treatment got it back to looking good again. Thinking I might need to do it a few more times.
Whatever light Tesla is using must be pretty intense.