TV troubleZ

Just after Christmas, I got a request from one of our neighbors to help "lift out" their old CRT TV. He told me it was big and heavy, and more hands were needed than just those of son and wife. Even a cart had been specially built for the removal (very impressing) and although maybe not needed, it certainly did no harm. TV was rolled out into the garage and a day later, the "prime location" now sported a brand new 50" plasma TV.

Since the old TV did not have a home we ended up "taking over" the 37" CRT monster. This big honker would fit perfectly in the emerging media room downstairs, and finally my old Rauna speakers (concrete towers) would come to be used again.

Although impressed by the new LCD/plasma TVs, I am not yet up for the purchase of a large LCD or Plasma model. The 1080p versions are still in the upper price ranges and 1080i or 720p is just an intermediary resolution, not giving THAT much more than what you get from a good CRT TV. It is sort of rushing out and buying an decent VW today, when you can get a great Audi for the same amount of money if you wait a year. Plus, this TV was free. What could be better? OK, maybe it is an American truck, but it still works. And it was free!

After having pulled in new coax and Ethernet cables, it was time to clean up the room. It had been sort of a dead storage type area for years, only being used "treadmilling", or for the occasional summer night when it was too hot to sleep upstairs. In this room has also for years been sitting idle my old TV from Texas and wife's smallish TV/VCR combo. Neither have been used since I won a Dell LCD TV during a promotion about two years ago.

One day while strolling through Costco, we met up with Bob, one of our elderly neighbors out scouting for a new TV. His had died just a few days earlier, and he was now looking to get a new set, although they really were all too pricey for him. Knowing that my old Texas TV was fully functional and likely never to be used again by us, I offered it to him. It would be better used in his house than just collecting dust in our basement. Wife was not really in agreement, but I thought it was a nice gesture, especially since he does not have cable, only "rabbit ears", giving him a limited selection of channels. Also knowing that he certainly could use his money better than spending it on a new TV, it was an easy decision.

"Texas TV" was picked by up Bob a few days later and yet another neighbor helped carrying (w/o a cart) the "obtained" monster TV onto its new stand. All was good. Great picture, and when hooked up to my amplifier, wonderful sound. Almost like being at the movies!

About a month later I was watching the news up in the living room on our old "big" TV, a 32" JVC model that I had bought from a former colleague when he suddenly decided to return to Sweden. It'd been a great champion and a welcome replacement when it took the spot where earlier my meager 20 incher (don't get the wrong ideas here, folks...) had been sitting. The following morning I was to take a peak at the news news but the TV had other ideas. It did not to power up, it was stone dead. Strange, it was working the night before. Maybe it was the curse for keeping the big TV and giving away the "Texas TV".

Of course I got to hear it from the wife as well. "I told you not to get rid of that old TV". My defense was of course that it was a good gesture and it ended up in a home that needed it more than ours. I was still bummed of having to have this (primary) TV repaired, knowing that it'd be at least $200 for someone to look at it and fix it. $200 that better could be used towards a new LCD/plasma down the road.

I sort of did nothing for a few weeks, but one night before calling a TV repair guy, I decided to google the JVC model number. Got a large number of hits, but one stood out. It was to a forum for repair of home electronics, a forum seemingly based in New Zealand. The site was Pechorin.

Upon a little bit of reading and searching, many had had problems with the very same JVC model we now had sitting, stone dead, in the living room. Turns out an electrolytic capacitor just ages prematurely and gives up. The capacitor was C926, a 1000uF 35V capacitor. According to other posters, one would be able to see it "bulging" when it was dead. Soldered it out and went over to RadioShack to pick up a new one. Price $1.73 including WA sales tax.

Upon inspection of the circuit board, one could clearly see that this C926 had been leaking. The circuit board looked "wet", significantly different compared to all other areas in this TV that were just covered with dust (amazing what amounts of dust that actually pile in a TV over the years).

After a bit of "dusting", it was time to solder C926 in position and test TV. After a few seconds of hesitation - long enough for me to utter "darn" - TV powered up like nothing ever had happened. A little cylindrical piece for less than two bucks fixed what certainly would have been a $200 repair job + the hassle of dragging this monster out to the car.

Bottom line, the web is a wonderful thing! It just takes some time to sort all the information and find the really good one.