RMA Guide

To help customers avoid a $75.00/hour RMA Evaluation Charge, TVI Electronics offers the following guide to the most common problems. These problems are often caused by mishandling or improper testing at the customer's location. Please review these problems before requesting an RMA.

This guide has helped many customers solve recurring problems - saving everyone a great deal of time and effort. However, if an RMA request is caused by a manufacturing defect, TVI Electronics and its suppliers will take immediate corrective action to avoid this from happening again.

IMPORTANT: NO PROBLEM FOUND
This is the most common result from TVI Electronics's QA analysis of returned material. Please be sure to thoroughly check the part(s) before asking for an RMA and pay special attention to all connections to the display, controller, backlight and touch screen.

Please choose from one of the topics below:

After carefully removing the displays protective film, if there is still a mark on the surface you can try to carefully clean it with a soft tissue slightly dampened with water or isopropyl alcohol. Extra care should be taken not to scratch the surface because the display's surface is soft and can be easily damaged. Scratches or other marks are considered customer or in-transit handling issues since all displays are 100% tested visually & electrically before shipping and they all come with a protective sheet on the display and in a protective ESD bag.

All RMA requests for this reason are rejected by all manufacturers unless we can show pictures of in-transit damage due to poor packaging.

2. Marks inside the Display

Generally these problems are caused by foreign material behind the display. Since this area is generally not accessible to a customer (warranty voided), it can be a manufacturer's defect if the foreign material shifted from the display's non-viewing area during transit. Because most displays are assembled in clean rooms, it is unlikely any foreign materials present so this problem is rare.

While every manufacturer has their own foreign particle criteria and we need to abide by those specifications, we can offer a simple visual criteria: if you can "readily" see a defect from a minimum of 18" from the display then it will be evaluated. (We understand "readily" is subjective; use your best judgment on what your customer will object to, not necessarily the trained, expert eyes of your QA staff.)

If the mark is larger than a dust or a dirt particle and it looks like a larger area is affected, sometimes this is caused when a customer solders connectors or wires to the display and then cleans it with flux remover. It is very easy for the flux remover to wick under the display - extreme caution should be taken if you use flux remover.

RMA requests should follow standard procedures unless the flux damage is suspected. In that case, with your RMA request please provide a picture of the subject display for review.

3. Glass Cracked or Broken

All displays and touch screens are made of glass and can be damaged by mechanical shock/stress. All products are 100% tested visually & electrically before shipping.

All RMA requests for this reason are rejected by all manufacturers unless we can show pictures of in-transit damage due to poor packaging.

4. Dim Display/No Backlight

This complaint can often be traced to a bad connection to the backlight assembly, defective inverter, excessive backlight cable length or capacitive coupling of the cables. Please check this carefully.

RMA requests should follow standard online procedures if still considered a warranty issue after checking for the above technical issues.

5. Mechanical Damage

Damaged printed wiring boards (PWB), connectors or components can create electrical failures. The visual manifestation of these problems is readily seen at final inspection by our suppliers and/or at TVI Electronics. We can usually reliably diagnose the cause of these failures. However, to help avoid needless paperwork, please consider using the following checks before asking for an RMA.

Damaged PWB: Look for cuts, scratches and other physical damage to the display, especially near the mounting holes and connectors.

Damaged Connection Area: Look for bent or missing pins. If you solder your own connector, look for solder splashes/solder bridges between pins, cold solder joints, damaged lands on the PWB from excessive heat during soldering.

Damaged Flex Circuits & Wiring: Look for damage to the flex circuits (especially touch screen flex cables) from sharp objects, excessive bending of the flex cable or excessive insertion of the flex cable's conductor into it's receptacle during customer assembly (most common on silver/carbon flex types).

All RMA requests for this reason are rejected by all manufacturers unless we can show pictures of in-transit damage due to poor packaging.

6. Non-Functioning, Partial Functioning or Intermittent Display

After checking for mechanical damage, please be sure to check the following.

Backlight is Working: In many displays you cannot tell if the display is working unless the backlight is functioning. Check your power source or inverter for proper operation, check for proper orientation (ground & positive) as well as the connector and cabling.

Contrast Voltage: Another major reason for no display is not applying the correct contrast voltage for passive displays (prefix DMC-, DMF-, F- and C- typically).

Blown Fuse: On active matrix displays a fuse helps protect excessive applied voltages from damaging the display. Check that this fuse is still operational and if not, very carefully replace it. Check all your power supplies and be sure not to apply power until all connections are correctly installed.

RMA requests should follow standard online procedures if still considered a warranty issue after checking for the above technical issues.

7. ESD and/or Over Voltage Applied

Electro Static Discharge (ESD) and voltage spikes on power or data inputs can easily damage the display. Voltage spikes are usually intermittent but can coincide with an "event" such as the turn on/off of heavy equipment.

CAUTION: LCD module circuitry is industry standard CMOS logic and is susceptible to ESD damage. Please use industry standard antistatic precautions as you would for any other PCB, such as expansion cards or motherboards. To avoid damaging your LCD module, please read the "Handling Precautions".

RMA requests should follow standard online procedures if still considered a warranty issue after checking for the above technical issues.

8. Unknown Failure

Some failures modes are not obvious to customers. We will evaluate these products and advise the cause to the best of our ability. In some cases, we need to send the material back to suppliers for more detailed analysis.

RMA requests should follow standard online procedures if still considered a warranty issue after checking for the above technical issues.

9. More Questions

For any queries regarding the Return Material Authorization (RMA) and/or if you have any question or concerns, please contact your salesperson or our RMA department. Please make sure you provide as much information as possible in the email.

For Touch Screen LCD Module Handling Precautions please click here.
For Touch Screen LCD Module Warranty please click here.

10. Need to Return an Item

Every effort is made on the website to provide enough information for your purchase to be satisfactory. If for any reason you are not completely satisfied with your purchase, we will be happy to work with you to ensure your complete satisfaction.

Complete your return request here. Please carefully review our Return Policy before shipping your product(s) back to us.

All returns and warranty services are subject to approval by TVI Electronics Customer Service department. RETURNS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT PRIOR APPROVAL BY OUR CUSTOMER SERVICE.