Turn Your iMac 2015 into a monitor

ID: 181638

Description: The Late 2014 and later iMac Retina models have...

Steps:

1. Beforehand, you will need: Torx screwdrivers in two or three sizes, electrician's insulating tape (or 'scotch'), large 'scotch' masking tape... and Scotch for courage. Also needed are a small pair of flush cutters, a soldering iron with solder, and some electrical wire for the on-off switch.
2. At iFixit, you can find opening toolkits with a special tool and self-adhesive strips to mount the screen on the frame, which are essential for both operations.
3. The opening tool is a kind of 'pizza cutter' disc that is passed between the glass and the frame, delicately and slowly without forcing.
4. We insert the thin disk on the side and we work around the iMac between the screen and the frame to cut the adhesive strips that held everything together.

5. To take off the screen from the top, you can use a suction cup. Then gently tip it over. This step should be done with the iMac lying on its base.
6. Here, you have to be careful and release the screen cable which has a small safety to be lifted delicately and the backlight cable to be simply unplugged. And there you have it, the screen is separated.
7. This is the operation that feels most delicate because of the risk of breaking the glass or even the panel. But with patience, it comes naturally in about fifteen minutes or less. Or longer, if you are very anxious.

8. To do this, very simple, we can refer to a tutorial linked here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81PjGv8B...
9. Once the iMac is emptied of its components, you can choose whether or not to reuse the speakers thanks to a crossover for the bass and treble. There are several, with very divided opinions; I chose those whose critiques were the best. The result is rather nasal, not very loud but adequate. Acceptable I would say—or not.
10. You can also choose to leave a male-female jack cable inserted in the motherboard and which comes out through the Ethernet port of the frame, allowing you to connect Bose companion type audio systems. You then lose the internal speakers because the jack cuts the speaker output on the motherboard that allows the crossover to be connected.
11. It seems to me the best compromise to enjoy a quality stereo sound.
12. When you use the iMacMonitor with a Mac mini or a powerbook, it doesn't matter very much. You control the sound output (DP, HDMI, speakers of the Mac or Bluetooth speakers). On the other hand with an Apple TV or a Mi box, you need sound.....
13. I forgot to mention that I kept the wire that comes from the power button of the iMac, at the bottom left, which I will use as the power on/off for the card later, as well as the AC power connector located at the bottom middle of the frame.

14. You can see the panel's model number, e.g., LM27OQQ1 or LM27OQQ2, with two sets of letters and numbers in parentheses, like (SD)(B1) here.
15. This is very important for specific cards that cost between 200 and 300€ and will have a dedicated model, or cheaper cards, between 100 and 200€ that cover up to 6 combinations in those parentheses.
16. Above all, choose the correct card matching the panel and especially get a 12V power supply at minimum 6A. If the seller offers both, go for it!
17. The front camera is no longer usable, you may choose to replace it with a 5 Million Pixel or 12 MP USB output camera, which you will plug directly into the Mac to use FaceTime.
18. Above all, choose a very, very flat camera because there are many of them, and some are rather bulky. FaceTime and all apps that use a camera work.
19. To get the best quality, you can opt not to use a camera, but rather your iPhone as a webcam thanks to Camera Continuity to be set up on the iPhone and on the Mac apps.

20. We connect the power supply to the board but not to the mains. We connect the DisplayPort and HDMI cables and the USB camera directly to the Mac. We bring back the panel that we will handle very carefully to be able to connect it to the card.
21. We will plug in the screen cable, the golden pins visible upwards; it's impossible to make a mistake especially with the locking device that clips on. For the backlight cable if the screen does not turn on when you finally plug in the mains, just unplug the mains and reverse the direction, no risk of damage.
22. For subsequent testing, while using the screen place it in a safe place, it is better to plug and unplug this cable at the motherboard, on the connector there are keys and there won't be a risk of reversing the direction (as was the case for me).
23. Fortunately, there is no risk of a short circuit or disaster.

24. At this point, we are looking for where to place the board, the power supply, and the rest. First, carefully insulate the board so that it does not touch the aluminum of the frame. I chose to fix it onto one of the lugs that held the motherboard. The location of the control module was tricky. I was thinking of putting it on the outside to access it and choose HDMI or DisplayPort.
25. That is why I wanted to go through the already existing openings and not through the memory cover. So I combined two, dedicated to USB, to make an opening large enough for the passage of the HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB camera cables.
26. And I gave up on having the control module on the outside when I saw that it detected the source on its own.
27. At this moment, I have already soldered onto the module, at the level of the two pins of the power push-button, two wires in a yellow sheath which is the extension of the two wires from the power button of the iMac. Very simple to do even for a beginner.
28. After observing that we could, in principle, do without the controller, I changed the layout.

29. We graft the crossover modules to the card to connect to the speakers (check right left with the YouTube stereo videos). To insert the speaker cables you have to cut the lugs on the side with a cutter until it fits. It's very easy, but be patient and careful.
30. They are installed on the right and left near the loudspeaker. We take the opportunity to place the USB camera in the housing for this purpose at the very top, in place of the old one, checking that it will be in the middle of the hole for this purpose in the screen glass.
31. I also change the location of the control module which I place very close to the memory cover so that it can be easily accessed if necessary. We see it with the cover open on it's right. I took the opportunity to connect the HDMI socket, the DisplayPort and the extension of the camera's USB cable.

32. I attached the power supply using Velcro which compensates for the curvature of the frame. I also took the wires from the original power supply, cut the connector to the original Apple power supply, and cut the original EU socket from the power side and connected them with a small electrical strip.
33. We can see the black wire from the power supply which goes to the electrical strip. The yellow wire coming from the on/off button and leading to the controller attached to the side of the opening.
34. There's not really a need to extend the on-off wire, but I extended it since I was planning to put the controller outside.
35. The last photo shows the extension of the on-off button cable by the yellow wire which has its two core wires soldered to the button board at the level of the on-off button, on the two small tabs of this button which are towards the other buttons of the module.

36. At this point I decided not to use the speakers. Too nasal. On the other hand, I placed in the motherboard jack socket, a male jack cable on the motherboard side and a female jack on the outside. It comes out through the Ethernet port and is ready to receive a Bose companion system or any other….
37. Then we align the screen, check that the camera is correctly placed at the level of the glass, and we use masking tape to fix the screen glass to its base. You can then place a shoe box to be able to tilt the screen 90° to peel the protective adhesive strips.
38. We put the screen back on the horizontal base (the masking tape keeps it aligned); we reconnect the screen cables which we latch by pressing the small strip and we secure the backlight with the ribbon cable.
39. P.S. After deciding not to use the speakers, I may have just found a solution that I did not test because I had closed the iMacMonitor. I found on A.express an amplifier module which is placed after the crossover filters and is equipped with a jack socket which must find its source in the jack output of the motherboard.
40. We would connect the crossover modules provided by this seller to the speakers, and place the Bluetooth module outside the iMacMonitor to enable volume adjustment if necessary. The In jack input would connect to the motherboard via a male-male jack cord so sound would go from the motherboard to the speakers of the iMacMonitor and adjust the volume.
41. You could also not use the jack input and instead use the Bluetooth module from the Mac connected to the iMacMonitor. For around €21.59 but you must also provide the external power supply for the module. Choose the Crossover option and amp. https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/100500819...

42. The iMacMonitor sits at an almost right angle on the raised shoe box. And above all it must be perfectly aligned for closing and gluing to be successful. The screen cable is detached from the screen and the backlight cable is detached at the motherboard.
43. We use the adhesive strips from the iFixit toolkit. Clean the remains of the previous adhesive with your finger, a cotton swab soaked in isopropyl alcohol at 60% or isopropyl alcohol (great for photo lenses, but complicated to obtain). In short, clean well.
44. The strips are marked with numbers to place them exactly on the frame of the chassis and have small holes (markers) to place opposite the existing holes in the frame. We hold the strips using a slightly pointed tool, it could be a sharp pencil, splinter forceps, etc.
45. We stretch the strip and stick it straight along the frame. We move on to the next one... This operation is done with the screen removed from the cables and placed exactly horizontally on a shoebox, for example, in front of the frame and almost held in place by the masking tape at its base.
46. We can then peel the adhesive protections.
47. And we reassemble by pivoting the panel towards the vertical, ensuring that it is well aligned. Pay attention to the alignment of the front camera, and carefully wipe the glass in this area on the inside so as not to leave grease from your fingers which would blur the camera image.
48. We reassemble the panel, reconnecting the two cables.
49. And then we press the screen firmly against the frame. We put masking tape back on the 4 corners, on the screen and the frame, and above all we leave them for at least 24 hours before removing them. There you have it! It's done: an accomplishment we can brag about... that's what I don't deprive myself of here.

50. I thank a thousand times the pioneering authors who allowed me to achieve this feat by providing the links to their YouTube videos. They're in English and German.
51. So thanks to Luke Miani, Run Young and Armand from Abgechekt who doesn't specify his last name, but whose German meaning of Abgechekt would be 'verified' in the sense 'good for service' in my opinion. Despite my German first language, it is not in my usual vocabulary, so with reservations......
52. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VXQu0fA...
53. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS_zWnZI...
54. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhqxWd7Y...
55. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhqxWd7Y...

56. During the transformation, as I was not sure of my success, I imposed breaks on myself. A lot of questions slowed me down, such as the direction of connecting the cables, especially the use of the HP of the iMac. Where to exit the cables and especially the installation of new components.
57. I am very proud of the achievement but above all over the moon to rehabilitate this marvel of design and image quality. Associated with my two Bose MusicMonitor speakers (not new) 'it's really a ball baby'. So I don't dare imagine with a current system.....
58. Do you want to get started? Don't hesitate, with all the tutorials online, but especially mine 😎, you will get there! and then, if necessary I will answer your questions if it is within my ropes. Have a good adventure.