TV repair.....

Recently the TV give out a crackle and pop then the screen went blank but still had sound, although its old, ten years now but its a plasma 50" and in HD the picture is striking.

As with anything now I just type in to google and all the info was at the fingertips, with the symptoms it was either a buffer board or the YSUS board (Y sustain board).

With the back off (nearly a million screws to remove) removed the buffer board and tested for any short and all was ok, the culprit looked like the YSUS board but it was going to be £50 and still had doubts, a quick test is on two main components (IPM module which are covered by a heat sink shield) with the sound it made when the screen went blank this was one thing which was pointed out on the net to test, simple test is with on the TV powered up and check for heat on the heat sink..... it was stone cold compared to the XSUS board.

Ordered the part but didn't realise it was coming from China..... (it was a used but good) ??? so it eventually arrived today, fitted this and did a temp repair on the buffer board as I snapped the clip which holds the main connections from the screen (these are like thin plastic foil with the wires running through), it powers the screen, gaffer tape and one of my daughters hair clips finally did the job of holding the original clip in place.

So with a click on the remote....... My TV is back up and running.:D

Had my doubts but more than happy, as it was a gamble to buy the part or new TV, they are cheap enough now but I don't think you can beat the picture on a plasma, just a shame most manufactures have stopped producing them.

Must state there is still Danger of a shock, my testing of the part with power on and the cover off was with a heat gun (Infrared Digital Temperature Thermometer Gun), I would advise if anyone is contemplating such repair, to seek advise if unsure and not complacent with a multi meter.

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Originally Posted by bigduke6

So with a click on the remote....... My TV is back up and running.

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Outstanding !!!! ... good work ... :clap:

I'm going to call you the next time my 1975 RCA Victor all tube beast quits ... :madsmile:

Regards,
Doug

I wouldn't have a clue Doug, but if there is info on the internet or youtube then there is a chance.

My son fixed his plasma TV by looking at You-Tube videos. IIRC it cost him less than $70 US...

Russ

Russ, its where most of my info come from, Its like someone I know who runs a shop for car spares and accessories says " You can repair anything, the info is out there, its just finding it"

Congrats on the Save, bd6!

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Originally Posted by bigduke6

... but I don't think you can beat the picture on a plasma, just a shame most manufactures have stopped producing them. ...

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One of the (many) things about which I am a bit sad.

When I finally decided to make the jump a several years ago to a "big" flat screen TV, my research pointed to a particular make/model plasma TV set, but the key was to get it on sale. Yes, I work a being frugal.

As the after Christmas/New Year sales were drying up, that set failed to show ... so I opted for my 2nd choice, a like-size LED.

One week after the purchase, guess what popped up in a unexpected last gasp sale. {sigh}

I figured that I would have to wait a few years and then upgrade ... and then the plasma sets just ... disappeared. :crying:

Ah, Life ... ;)

Like VHS over Beta...

Russ

The problems start when you're doing mechanical stuff where something is a roll-sealed unit - such as an expensive but internally simple internal fault with a alternator or window winder motor. Plug in electronic units are simplicity itself - if you can get them. Just my take on these things

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Originally Posted by Peter Laidler

The problems start when you're doing mechanical stuff where something is a roll-sealed unit - such as an expensive but internally simple internal fault with a alternator or window winder motor. Plug in electronic units are simplicity itself - if you can get them. Just my take on these things

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So true Peter, but in most households these days anything that stops or needs repair normally ends up at the tip or recycling centre as they are now called, the other problem is the diagnostics of certain things, the TV seemed straight forward after a lot of searching (you tube) and reading a few snippets. Similar to the sealed unit you mention, the two things on the PCB that failed are now obsolete which is a ball ache as these are probably the easiest bits to change on the whole board apart from the capacitors.............

In my expensive alternator headache it was a clunky end bearing. Mind you, getting the two halves of the casing apart wasn't that easy either! The bearings were standard sizes but roll sealed in. Once you machine away the rolled-over seal there was nothing to prevent the new bearings from coming out. So I had to ........ anyway, after the machined retainer plate and 3x new threaded holes and...... and.... I considered that I'd have been better off buying a new one! There's no exchange units anymore, like the old LUCAS B90 exchange unit scheme! The good news is that the rebuilt unit was still going strong when I sold the 16 valve Golf GTi a cuple of years later. Incidentally, it was my old Army pal, Bruce Gorton from Invercargill who talked me through how to do the alternator fix. I repeated the same trick in a later VW winder motor but used bronze bushes.

I'm sure a lot of these fixes will die out with our (?) generation. Any Kiwis remember Bruce Gorton. Ans wile we're here, remember KimW another ex RNZEME forumer. Great bloke

Designed obsolescence overcome! Outstanding.

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Originally Posted by Badger

I'm going to call you the next time my 1975 RCA Victor all tube beast quits ... :madsmile:

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I've been waiting for years for my (1980s?) KTV color TV with 13 inch CRT to crap out so I can buy a flat screen, but it refuses to die. I have it over my computer monitor to compete for my attention. Resolution is poor but color is great. Have to pass the digital satellite signal through an old Sylvania VCR to convert it to analog so the KTV comprehends. Gotta respect a survivor, will keep feeding it electrons until it passes on from natural causes. :D

Yes good work Bigduke, many would have said to just bin it and buy another. But now you have the satisfaction of repairing it yourself, saving some cash and preventing another item of e waste going to landfill.:)

Peter, I hope Kiwi ingenuity won't disappear anytime soon. It's something we used to share with a number of other societies where spare parts are/were either expensive, hard to find or would take along time to arrive and necessity being the mother of invention and all that, we learnt to make do. I guess it's what is commonly called the No 8 wire mentality.

I used allot of "The Farmers Friend" to hold things together on a 33,000 acre property I was a farm hand on until the correct part could be sourced the farm being in the sticks so to speak.

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Originally Posted by Kiwisteve

Yes good work Bigduke, many would have said to just bin it and buy another. But now you have the satisfaction of repairing it yourself, saving some cash and preventing another item of e waste going to landfill.

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Although my repair has done the job, its a case of how long the rest holds out, It all seemed ok on the first start up but seems to struggle in the first minute when its switched on from stand by, which I'm sure is a capacitor on the way out...... don't know if this is on the power board and was due to the old board when it went pop, or something on the replacement board. Other than that works fine when switched on/off from the mains.

Think its psycological more than anything, it works but don't watch a lot, it doesn't work but want to watch something....

Always a catch 22 on stuff like this, as you have to balance all the options etc, at the time I didn't have the cash to go out and buy a replacement...... so that was the decisive factor.
Have been looking at prices since Black Friday....... Was in Aldi last night and noticed the Smart TV's they have just got in, Freeview, HD and 4K..... £329.

I remember a few years ago, the washing machine gradually got worse and sounded like a jet taking off so decided to have a look at the bearings etc, it was beond economic repair, at the time there was a special offer on and a new machine was about £60 more than the total of the parts I needed.

The previous one before that was from when I was living the single life :D, I'd brought that back from deaths door many times, a basic machine with two inlets for the Hot and Cold...... mostly run on cold..... before I installed central heating.

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Originally Posted by bigduke6

TV repair

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12 Gauge pump...at 10 yards.

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

12 Gauge pump...at 10 yards.

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Probably next time Jim, but I'll be a bit more sporting .........and give it 20 yds

Ok but use buckshot...

I once heard someone mention computers and firearms in the same sentence and I thought it to e a lovely idea. Add cell phones as well. I wonder how they would fly out of a bird thrower.:dancingbanana::thup::madsmile:

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Originally Posted by TDH

I wonder how they would fly out of a bird thrower.

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All clumsy and end over end like...

Is that experience talking Jim? In a way though I do miss my flip phone. I would open it up and yell BEAM ME UP SCOTTY THERE'S NO INTELLIGENT LIFE DOWN HERE!

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Originally Posted by TDH

Is that experience talking

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Not a cell phone, but there was an ashtray went out of the lowhouse one day...many years ago. Strange things used to happen out there...

I fixed my mother's 1950s Singer sewing machine control unit with info from the inevitable bulletin board on them. One of the electrolytic condensers had deteriorated. They even suggested a modern equivalent replacement with the part number from Maplins.

A service engineer (but not for washing machines) once told me that faulty automatic washing machines can often be repaired by simply turning them upside down* and removing the various rubber pipes, one by one, and cleaning out all the black/brown gunge. I have found this to be true a number of times and have successfully repaired several faulty washing machines using this simple method.

*It is best to move the washing machine outside before performing this task unless you wish to have a sudden flood across your kitchen floor and make yourself instantly unpopular with your other half.

One of the biggest killers of "modern" washing machines is the "stuff" that gets left in pockets and missed by the designated "washer-person".

Our last washer started showing small leaks from "somewhere", then making odd noises when draining.

So, I grabbed my trusty "Mini-maglite", had a bit of a look into the rubber drain hose and spotted a coin. Fished it out with a bit of bent brazing rod with the end rounded so as to not damage the rubber.

Eventually fished out about twenty coins, several hair-pins, (not mine, honest), odd bits of plastic etc. and the usual "sludge". Some of the coins had been there long enough for a calcareous shell to have built up on one side, whilst the flow of detritus , like other coins, had almost worn the other side dead smooth.

Ran it up again and it drained a LOT better, but the pump motor was still making expensive noises and water was still escaping from underneath.

Took out a zillion more fasteners and discovered that the "drain-hose" had been punctured in several places by feral sewing pins. Ordered and fitted, (pig of a job), a new one .

After that costly little exercise, I ran it up again. Shortly thereafter, the pump, which I had NOT completely stripped out, made even MORE expensive noises and the motor generated a brief burst of terminal smoke.

After twenty years of sterling service, the old girl had "demised".

As for "flat" TVs:

We now have two of the beasts and I also work with them quite a bit, as an operator, not a service tech. The BIGGEST drama, (after screen damage), is power-supply failure. These units are invariably switch-mode modules, usually made by one of several large oriental manufacturers.

The catch is that like just about everything these days, they are built to a price and the TVs, like everything else, are built from the inside out.

Thus, to get at the defective unit, you have to peel away layers of stuff, including fragile, adhesive-backed foil tapes, to get to the "problems". Then reverse the process after replacing / repairing the dodgy power-supply. Many switch-mode PSUs are repairable, IF you can get the components. Electrolytic capacitors are not exactly uncommon, per se, but some of these units use "weird" values and often use ones that have the minimum sane voltage rating, and are thus subject to "stress' from day one. Worse are the "exotic "chips", with indecipherable ID codes or, worse, NO codes at all (wiped off at the assembly plant, just to make things "interesting"). On top of all this, most suppliers are very "economical" in their provision of service manuals / tech data.

And some folk complain about parts for their hundred-year-old rifles!!

An old thread Bruce, the TV in question give up the ghost in the end, I got a partial refund for the board and sold the TV for spares or repair on ebay for £10.00......... must admit the picture quality on the new one (I went to Aldi in the end) is good, but its nothing like the plasma used to produce.

Strange as it is, the old Plasma was HD ready but never I got HD until just before it popped........ I've now a TV which is 4k or Ultra High Definition and won't benefit from that for a good few years.

The washing machines that I have had upside down, in order to remove the pipes to clean, have only ever contained a black/brown, foul smelling slimy sludge, sadly no cash.

The black and white television that my family owned and used until the mid 1970's was a small square wooden cased t.v., Pye?, of mid 1950's vintage and was of 405 lines. When it went wrong a local television repair man came out to fix it* and he would normally arrive mid to late afternoon. He would usually have it repaired within an hour or so but he would often stay taking and drinking tea until gone midnight.

*This t.v. repair man normally did the repairs in people's homes and carried a vast quantity of electronic spare parts and his tools with him in his Rover P5 car.

Rover P5 - Wikipedia