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LCD/PLASMA REPAIR

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norman:
Hi folks, How are you at lcd/plasma repair. I find that at least a third of the repairs I get now are scrapped due to no service info available or expensive parts or no parts being available. I am self employed and am finding it difficult to make a living at this now. How are you doing? Look forward to your replies. Norman

ex ttg:
Hi Norman
Only just spotted your comments.I only went self employed at the start of january after 20 years of working for first a small business as bench and field then field for just about the biggest before taking redundancy.I suppose i'm lucky in that for the last 3 years i've been repairing pc's as well so i can advertise for both but at the moment i reckon 85% of business is the flat panel repairs.
I'm finding the majority of faults to be secondary smoothing caps and inverters(which are getting fairly cheap now)on lcd's but the plasmas do tend to be more of a problem.I think the trick is forget the workshop and work from home thus cutting overheads massively.If you can't repair the psu in home bring it home with you,any other board but psu forget all about component level and treat it as you would a motherboard in a pc.There are good second hand and breaker parts available with sjstv being just one that provides a great service when your in the trade.Euras is worth every penny of the £20 or so a month for tips and schematics and part numbers etc for chas hyde and anyone in the trade who isn't signed up wants their head examining.
When a customer makes arrangements for a callout do your best to get the model and symptoms before going and i'll bet 90% of the time you'll be well armed by euras before you get there-print off the model tips.
Good luck norman
Nick :thumbup:

norman:
Hi Nick, Thanks for the reply and comments. I work from home so overheads are minimal. I repair a lot of PSU's,although mainly I bring them home for repair. I find I get a lot of trouble with main boards in LCD, these are very expensive if you can't repair them. It is difficult with little or no service information. Plasma is a bit of a nightmare as diagnosis can be difficult and expensive if you get it wrong. I wonder if anyone goes on manufacturers courses now and if they do could they share the notes. I have been looking for books on repair, particularily with pictures of symptoms so as to give a clue where to start looking. On the subject of EURAS, I have considered it before but have wondered about the benefits as the monthly subscription might be too much during the quiet times (which can be very quiet).
I have been self employed for 6 years now and I too worked for 30 years for a small repair company as workshop manager tackling anything from tv to video, hifi, microwave, camcorders, phones, breadmakers! I used to always be arguing with the managers saying that just because it has a plug on it doesn't mean I can repair it!
 Sorry to rant on, thanks for the input. Norman

ex ttg:
Hi Norman
I think manufacturers pulled the plug on training years ago.The last time I was sent anywhere by ttg was for a tosh course on rear projection where they advised us to watch out for possible problems with their new text boards(stuck in standby,no channel change etc)but i'm sure we all saw plenty of them(used to take the board out,take to the customers kitchen and use their worksurface as a bench and reflow qt07).
Oh for the good old days of hitachi courses in a nice hotel,slap up meal and trying to stay awake in the afternoon so i could tell the boss how nicam worked the next day.
Euras has definitely given me at least three tips in the last month that i otherwise would have struggled to find without a manual,bench,scope.Also they have a fault photo section to help with plasma/lcd symptoms.You get a free month trial to start with so what have you got to lose,but like a woman,once you've got it you wont want to let it go even though it's a drain on your resources.
Cheers
Nick :wink1:

Technomaniac:
Hi from Down Under !...  Having been in my own business 35 years with staff, now alone, and just beginning to get into LCD and Plasma as they fall out of their warranty carried by opposition firms (which have mostly closed down anyway), I find myself not having a high success rate on these sets. I have several problems:  Can't find correct or complete schematics, can't find sources of boards, and can't positively diagnose which board is faulty without sufficient info. So I wouldn't have the confidence to blow a couple of hundred dollars on a board I may not need, as we never see the same model more than once ! That is, if I could source the boards!  One would think that if a power supply is faulty, check or replace all the electros, but when you still have ripple coming out and the thing is massively complicated, no circuit diagram, you wonder whether something might be pulling a bit too much current, but can't be sure. Maybe experience will improve the situation, but I think the gap between the manufacturer and repairer is widening much too quickly!

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