Need the help of an electrician or someone w/ knowledge in circuit boards....?

Question

Ok, So my TV fell down from its spot and doesn't work anymore... Don't ask... So when I turn the TV on, It starts to tun on, than turns off. and randomly turns on and off. I heard rattling in the TV, so I opened the back and it was just pieces of plastic. But I was looking at the stuff, and found a piece of chipped circuit board and the same board is cracked. I have pics at the end of a few things. The first pic is of the chipped piece. Is it really detremental that it chipped off? The second and third pics are of the circuit board and you can see a crack in it right along the chip. The second one points it out and the third w/o marks. Is there a way to fix it w/o taking it to a specialist, or is the board just shot? Help please!!

The Pics:
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/moozleyman/circuit1.jpg

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/moozleyman/circuitboard.jpg

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/moozleyman/circuitboard1.jpg

Facts of TV: http://www.shentech.com/30pw8402.html

Answer 1

This looks totaly fixable assuming there is no other hidden damage, picture tube is OK etc. It looks like it happened right where your line cord hooks to the board, the white/black things with copper windings are filter coils that prevent high frequency noise form causing interference, one of the sockets there looks like the one that leads to the automatic degaussing coil. The parts in this area are usually not too densly packed, and should be relatively easy to repair the cracked connections.

Please note: I can not assume any reaponsibility for injury; The picture tube is under high vacuum and if you bust it, glass will fly everywhere! I have done these type of repairs for years without any problems using these procedures, but every repair is a little different.

You will need a pencil type soldering iron, some electrical solder (rosin core; do not use plumbing or acid core solder!) An exacto knife magnifying glass, a good study lamp and some scraps of light weight wire. Unplug the TV (if it isn't already) pull the back off and flip the board over so you can see the solder side. Be certian to label any sockets you pull off (usually theyre color coded, different sized, or numbered, but double check first). Some of the connections need to have a retaining clip depressed to release; don't just rip it out! Get an idea what kind of a job its going to be, if the board is cracked all the way across, you might not want to bother to fix it. If there are only a couple of the foil lines cracked you might be able to repair the board without even disconnecting it from the rest of the TV, but in case you have to completely pull it out:

The only wire that might be dangerous after the TV is unplugged is the 2nd anode lead (the wire that connects to the side of the picture tube. If the power has been on recently, the picture tube acts like a capacitor and will store a charge for quite while. Take a plastic handle flat blade screwdriver; attach about 2 ft of wire to the metal part. Attach the other end of this wire to the outer, graphite-like coating of the picture tube. (That is safe to touch; you can attach the wire to one of the uninsulated wires that runs across it). Be certian the wire to the screwdriver isn't laying across the board or touching any other wires.

I strongly suggest you borrow gloves and a face shield (or at least safety goggles, for this next step in case you bust the picture tube)

Make certian you are only handling the screwdriver by the plastic handle (it must be dry and reasonably clean). Carefully slip it inder the rubber suction cup-like electrode cover untill you reach the contact under neath; if there is any remaining charge, you will hear a distinct snap. Touch the contact 2 or 3 times to be certain its totaly drained all charge.Then you can remove the electrode. If the TV has been sitting around a long time this will be really anticlimatic as the charge will have leaked away but it is best to be safe. Note: you'll need to flip back one side if the rubber cover and use the screwdriver to gently unclip it. Don't just rip it out! Set the part of theTV that has the exposed picture tube in a safe place away from children and where it won't get knocked over etc.

Once the board is completelty free of the rest of the TV flip it over to the solder side and see how far the crack goes and get an idea how many splices you are going to have to do. If there are just a few broken connections you might be able to save it, if there is no other hidden damage. I have never run into multilayer boards in a TV set and only rarely seen 2-sided board. Yours looks like single sided, but I could only see a small portion of it from the picture. Basically, you are going to have to solder a jumper wire across every cracked connection. There are 2 ways to do this 1] use the exacto knife to scrape off any insulating coating that may be present over the copper foil pattern on eact side of the crack, then carefully solder a short jumper wire across the crack. This wire doesn't have to be insulated as long as its short and doesn't cross any other connections. It is usually easier if you strip about 1" of insulation from a piece of light gauge wire about 2 or 3" long so you have a "handle" to hold it in position; solder one side of the crack, then bend the wire as necessary to touch on the other side, and solder. If you keep about 1/2" of space between the two solder connections, when you do the second one, it is unlikely that you will accidently remelt the first one. When that jumper is done, carfully cut off any excess wire. Continue untill they're all fixed. 2nd way] You may run into a problem that there are too many wires need to be soldered close to each other and there isn't room because the foil pattern is too dense where you're working. In that case you can run longer, insulated wires, and make the connections further away from the crack. If you're doing it this way, usually it is easiest to solder onto the bumps were component wires pass through from the other side. just make certain they're on the correct part of the foil pattern! Once all the connections are made, you can secure any loose wires with silicone seal or similar material. Hints, don't try to fix the cracked connection with a drop of solder alone, it almost always cracks again later. Also, you might want to jumper across a couple of connections beyond were the crack ends, in case it lengthens from thermal cycling later on. Also make certian there are no shorts, loose bits of wire, or solder splashes across foil lines on the board! Give it one final look over to make certain you haven't missed anything; you really need to check well under a strong light. Re-conncet all the wires/sockets etc. and try to run it. I don't make any gaurantees; there may be hidden damage you can't see!

it will probably take less time to do the repair than it took to explain how to do it!

Answer 2

First, get your fingers out of your TV. Seriously. There are components in a TV that convert the 110 volts going into your TV to some very dangerous high voltages. To make matters worse, other components can store these voltages for days after you unplug your TV. It can kill you, or at the very least knock you on your butt.

Poking around in there isn't going to help you anyway, the board in the pics is shot. Didn't even bother to look to see what kind of TV it is, but unless it is something really expensive, best to donate it to the landfill and buy another. Repair will likely be more than it is worth.

*****

Just took another look at the picks, based upon the comment that it looks repairable. Thought I might have missed something. Looks like this is probably a multi-layered board. Also, it looks like the cracks follow under some of the components. If you are skilled enough to fix it, your time is worth more than buying a new TV (or at least replacing the board). That is why your local TV shop will not undertake fixing the board.

And that white thing in the middle with the heavy copper wire -- that makes the high voltage. The capacitors that store the voltage can't be far away. Fingers out!!

Answer 3

First Helper to wire your house? OR did he wire the fan? Did it work at all? Did It work for a while, then just quit? Granted, a helper should not be "wiring a house", however I would trust my "helper" to wire up a fan. Being an electrician, I can understand how the receiver might fry. The transmitter? It's battery powered. It doesn't take ant signals, it only sends. The only thing you can do ,to begin with, is contact this electrician and work it out. Being a homeowner, if you can't there are avenues you can take . You may not get the work corrected by this electrician, but you can raise a stink. (if you know how) Being a business man, there are a LOT of questions that I would be asking .

Answer 4

Well first of all do you own a soldiering pencil, soldier,small screw driver,and some wire? This looks very repairable depending on your skills