What's A Good Home Solution To Clean & Wipe Lcd Monitors?

Hi everyone,


I own a 39 inch LG LCD HDTV which I use for cable/hdtv. I will be buying a LCD pc monitor soon. & I'd just like to know if there's any safe way to clean LCD screens without having to buy those $30 liquids bottles from places like Best Buy. I mean is there some way to make a home solution out of water or something else? I know you can't use Windex but I sure am not going to be spending tons of cash at Best Buy for some brand name cleaner in today's day where money well saved is best kept in the bank.

I know you must clean an LCD screen with a microfiber cloth... Those are cheap and anyone can get their hands on them. But I'm confused about these types of clothes. Reason being that I purchased two of them recently and one is soft and looks like the kind of cloth used on eyeglasses but yet a lot softer without the threaded eyeglass cloth look. While the other microfiber cloth I bought is much thicker, looks more like a towel, and feels like it tries to grab your skin when you wipe your hands with it [some sort of tiny strong fiber hair type feel]. I have no idea which one of these two is a true microfiber cloth. Or if they both are with just different types of texture than which would be the one to use on an LCD screen?


It would be nice if I could have a lot of people agree on the same answers. Or different home solutions for a liquid cleaner with cleaning/wiping instructions.

 

Since nobody should be touching the display, you should only have to occasionally clean some dust build up. On my 21" LCD canned air is used to simply blow the dust off. A friend of mine has a 42" HDTV (plasma or LCD, I'm not sure which) and he ended buying a custom cut piece of clear acrylic (or plexiglass) and he mounted that over the screen. So now he doesn't have to clean the screen itself, only the sheet of acrylic. And it adds a layer of protection from airborne objects, like when you pass a can of beer across the room, and then the can of beer explodes when opened. No problem, the screen is safe. To clean it he uses a "professional" glass cleaner purchased from a janitorial supply house.

 

First, turn off the LCD monitor. Let it cool down. Then cleaning with the softest microfiber cloth such as the one to clean glasses would do fine for dusting purposes. I've read that one can use distilled water to clean. Distilled water doesn't leave any streaks. Don't ever spray the LCD screens, just damp the cloth a bit with the distilled water and wipe up and down, not in circles. Then just use the dry part of the cloth to finish it off. The bigger the cloth, the better so that it won't leave any finger prints on the screen.

Another tip that is debated is to use Isopropyl alcohol mixed with distilled water... 50/50 or even less of the Isopropyl. The alcohol can break down the plastic coating of the LCD and/or possible yellowing, so only clean it when it's really dirty and do it only seldom and if desperate. I'd go with the weakest alcohol % as possible, so use much less than that. I've never tried this though.

Personally, I only have an LCD monitor and use my lens cleaner for it which is supposed to be safe for glass and plastic lenses. I get it from my optometrist. My guess is that it contains a bit of the Isopropyl, although it doesn't tell me on the bottle what the ingredients are. Sofar it's been very good. Give it a careful buff in up and down motion with the dry part of the soft microfiber cloth after.

NEVER spray anything directly on the LCD screens!!

If you do one of the above solutions, do so at your own risk!!

 

Hey guys,

I'm personally aware of the proper management of LCD screens, but I don't know why the correct management is used. One of my mates calls me anal for using the LCD solution and microfibers on my screen and just uses a wet (tap water) paper towel on his, while his monitor is running, as well. Exactly what is it that can happen to his monitor from this crude habit?

 

Tap water has minerals in it so it would dry leaving residues and paper towels can be abrasive depending on the brand. Like others have stated, I use lens cleaner and microfiber cloth. Actually I just did my monitor for the first time since I bought it a year ago.

 

So in theory distilled water should be fine, as it's not supposed to have minerals in it. Or is it that it simply doesn't have much minerals in it? I know the desk fountain I have uses distilled water for the same reasons, but obviously the build up that would hurt the function of a water pump would be a lot more than what it would take to smudge an image...

He uses a dry paper towel to dry the screen afterwards as well, by the way. I'm not sure if this has scratched his screen yet or not, but he hasn't said that it has.

 

Distilled water won't leave streaks/film as may tap water that's what I heard and read. It's supposed to be safer than tap water. Never use paper towels as it may create scratches on the screen. Think of it.... paper is made of wood. :eek

Use the softest kind of microfiber cloth that you can find. Microfibre cloth to clean your glasses with it is the safest imo. When the cloth is dirty don't put it in the washing machine but wash by hand with a very mild detergent.

My Sony Syncmaster 191T Plus LCD is more than 4 years old, paid a TON of $$ for it at that time but it's still looking great & clean.

 

Please let me know what the ingredients are in the solution you use? If you see that Isopropyl alcohol is in it and what %, perhaps one can then make/mix their own solution (with distilled water)?

 

Unfortunately it doesn't list the ingredients, or I'd do the same myself. It's made by a company called Original in Queensland Australia (where I'm located). So no help there.

 

My lens cleaner from the optometrist doesn't list the ingredients either. Therefore I have to assume that the mfg is using (cheap) easy available products and does not list them in order to sell the cleaners at much higher prices than if one would mix the *secret* ingredients themselves.

 

I just picked up a bottle of the stuff I normally use, the previous one I got because they were out of my normal cleaner, this one doesn't list the ingredients either, but it does say that it's alcohol free. It's made in Germany by a group called Rogge. I also checked my mates glasses cleaner and it doesn't list ingredients either. >_<

The secret formula must be known!!!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzdqfSRG9ew

loved this link
http://www.wikihow.com/Clean-a-Laptop-Screen-With-Household-Products

 

Now I know of the ingredients - de-ionized water and "propriety" (secret?) polymer? See if I can find them.

 

Use isopropyl alcohol and a lint-free cloth... That'll do the job w/o any problems...

 

What is it about isopropyl alcohol that makes it better than other alcohols? Personally unless there's a very specific reason to use it, I'd rather use a solution without alcohol personally. As he said in the vid, unless you're constantly sneezing on the monitor or something you shouldn't really need much to clean it, basically just something to get rid of dust build up.

Also, anyone know if ionized water is better than distilled? Distilling is supposed to get rid of all the minerals, which I believe is the main thing you don't want on your screen in relation to water...

 

If you watch that Video it clearly states within the first 30-40 secs DO NOT use any form of alcohol! I have also read NOT to use any form of chemical.

Personally I use filtered water and a soft cloth, I have been for years with no problems.

 

I just took the A+ Certification Essentials test and one of the answers to a question about monitor maintenance was isopropyl alcohol and a lint free cloth, and I doubt CompTIA would lie about something stupid...

 

There's a difference between lying and not knowing what you are talking about.

I've taught in a University for a number of years and couldn't count the times that teachers taught false information to their students based on popular belief, that was later proved wrong.

Personally I consider any source of information to be absolutely worthless unless it explains the logic behind what it's stating.

For instance:

1) Tap water + LCD Screen = Bad. Explanation - the impurities of tap water can cause build up on the screen.

2) Ionized/Distilled Water + LCD Screen = Good. Explanation - the impurities are removed, thus no build up.

3) Alcohol + LCD Screen = Bad. Explanation - alcohol can eat away at the screen.

4) Isopropyl alcohol + LCD Screen = Good. Explanation - no Fing clue.


I can clearly see why tap water is bad, why ionized/distilled water is good, and why alcohol is bad. So until I get a better explanation than smart guys said so, I think I'll avoid using Isopropyl.

 

Nice break down and well weighted. My current understanding is the LCD has a "protective" coating which is not glass and can be degraded/eroded by the use of any chemicals. Damn alcohol will strip gunked and weathered grease of a concrete driveway I certainly wouldn't be using that on any non-glass, eg. not molecular hard/high bonding potential surface as it will change the structural properties. De-ionised water with a soft cloth works for me. A very coarse example of molecular change (erosion/degradation) would be to put a ice block on a sidewalk in summer and watching it change from a solid to a liquid and if hot enough a gas. Admittedly you want be seeing this with chemicals on an LCD so dramatically but over time there will be degradation and "change"!

 

I use this product but as to it's availability worldwide i am not sure.

http://translate.google.com/transla...ean.nl/SafeClean%20guarantee%20conditions.pdf