Flatscreen TV Repair - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Neil and Connie · RV-Dreams Family Member

Flatscreen TV Repair

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

the mounts are the same.......if you give me the model number/mfg yr. of the TV I can give you the failure Test and repair procedure. Most repairs are pretty simple if you have decent soldier technique.

GENECOP · RV-Dreams Family Member

http://rv-dreams.activeboard.com/t56083926/fyi-samsung-tv/

There is a recall, check out my post on page 3-4 of the forum......Samsung will come out and repair for free...

-- Edited by GENECOP on Saturday 11th of January 2014 09:30:19 AM

Neil and Connie · RV-Dreams Family Member

Lucky Mike…it's a Samsung Series 7 Model UN46D7000LF (I only thought it was a 42") manufactured in Jan 12. I'm pretty good with minor soldering skills but nothing on the level of board component repair.

Genecop…thanks; I didn't see any details on the link you provided but will search the whole forum for it as well as google…as it shouldn't have failed this quickly.

Ah, found it on Google and it doesn't cover sets manufactured in Jan 12 or the model number I have. Bummer.

Given the large number of complaints about Samsung's willingness to fix this even for those affected that I found on the net…is there a better quality set I should look at instead?

I did a little more troubleshooting this morning and when I try to turn it on I get the click of the relay (the same one you normally hear on power up) about 1 time out of 10 and then it clicks bout 5-7 seconds after that (like it's turning off because something timed out). No picture at all though…and it does not appear that it's just the backlighting as there's not even a ghost of a picture even during the time between the click on and click off. Looking at the manual it only talks about having the sleep timer set wrong and/or the auto off…but we've never used either of these features. When it died last night we were watching it and the picture faded from normal to about 1/3 brightness back to full brightness then shut off all over the span of about 2 or maybe 3 seconds. I think there was a click when it went down but can't specifically remember that. Left it off and unplugged over night to see if it was just a heat issue (had been on for maybe an hour when it quit and it was only about 70 degrees tops so wouldn't think so but ya never know). Same symptoms this morning as last night. Power is good on the cord and no breakers tripped in our electrical panel.

-- Edited by Neil and Connie on Saturday 11th of January 2014 10:52:02 AM

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

The issue you describe is consistent with a power supply board issue.

This is the board where the AC goes to.

I do not think it needs replacement,rather some defective capacitors are causing this issue.

Open unit up and take a look at the power supply board.You will probably see one or more electrolytic filter capacitors that are bulged up in the top-not perfectly flat like the others.

The value of these capacitors will be different,most likely they will be somewhere around-820 to 2200uF/25 V( or /10V sometimes)

You can replace them with same values but I would recommend the voltage rating to be higher(like 35V for an original 25V) for reliability purposes.

What happens is,these bulged top capacitors will cause a low and unfiltered DC voltage=main board will malfunction(the relay will keep clicking until the caps are holding enough charge to bring the voltage up over a threshold point).

You can buy these capacitors at any Fry's or Radioshack store or you can order them online at vendors like "mcmelectronics.com"(look for electrolytic capacitors).

After replacing these capacitor(capacitors) most likely the normal operation will be restored.

Please note:

There may be also some other causes for this symptom ,like a defective T con board ,or main board,but the bulged top capacitors are the most common cause for this issue.

If no bulged top capacitors are found,then the tv will need to be troubleshooted by a professional.

If you plan on doing the repair yourself ....check the fuse on the power board first.......and make sure this TV has been unplugged 24 hrs to insure all capacitors have bled off or its gonna hurt!!!!

Lucky mike

WestWardHo · RV-Dreams Family Member

If you happened to buy it at Costco, they extend the warranty to two years on many electronic items. Dig out your paperwork.

Mike, is there anything you don't know how to fix???

😄 Sherry

MarkS · RV-Dreams Family Member

According to the industry, Samsung is the number one TV right now for quality and sales and innovation. I heard this on the radio this morning from the CES.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Neil,

I am of no help to you for real recommendations, but when we ordered our Mobile Suites, we specified the 32" Sony Bravia. We had seen the larger Bravias at Sam's Wholesale Club stores and liked the picture. While a lot of stuff we watch is NOT HD, we are getting our over-the-air TV broadcasts in HD, and the picture looks absolutely great with that signal.

Of course, this is our absolute first-ever flat screen TV. It may only be a 32" model but it came with this REALLY GOOD entertainment center. Such a good entertainment center that it needs wheels so we can take it places.

Terry

folivier · RV-Dreams Family Member

A few years ago I had a Samsung go out. Luckily I had the extended warranty. The repair guy pointed over to a pile of tv's and said he is waiting for parts to fix those. Yep a bunch of Samsungs in the pile. He recommended Sony and a couple others mainly because the parts were available.
Meanwhile there are very few tv repair guys who do anything more than swap out the boards. I really admire people who have the knowledge, time, and skill to diagnose and repair all the little teeny tiny doodads on the boards!

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

Forest....

It took me a long time to teach my son that being able to service electronics was a knowledge he needed.....

When I was little my grandfather taught me.....where most kids spent there time playing with tonka trucks and baseballs , I played with resistors , capacitors and transistors!!! Learning from the bottom up....the best knowledge ever taught to me by one of the greatest men to have ever met in my life!!

Stanaslaus Wrezinski was one of the Engineers of our missile guidance systems and he taught me so much in that little "shack" he called his workshop !!!!

One must excel in an honorable life full of knowledge and adventure so that in the end they can sit down and think ,Re-live the journey one more time.....and cross over to the other side with a smile on there Face!!!!!!

Alie and Jims Carrilite · RV-Dreams Family Member

Mike- Ever heard of William C Tinus? Was with Raytheon and Bell Labs.. Did a bunch of work on guidance systems and stuff.

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

A name from the past........if its the same person he was 2nd in command there.......He passed on in the late 70's ,early 80's while I was in school

Alie and Jims Carrilite · RV-Dreams Family Member

Lucky Mike wrote:
A name from the past........if its the same person he was 2nd in command there.......He passed on in the late 70's ,early 80's while I was in school

I too sat at the work bench, but learned other skills, machining, old school lathes and mills, mechanical engineering, etc.

He died in '78 I believe. My sister has a picture of him laying on his back under the dash of Amelia Earhart's plane hooking up radios. He was in the business for a looonnngggg time.

-- Edited by Alie and Jims Carrilite on Sunday 12th of January 2014 10:23:41 AM

Neil and Connie · RV-Dreams Family Member

Lucky Mike wrote:
The issue you describe is consistent with a power supply board issue.

This is the board where the AC goes to.

If you plan on doing the repair yourself ....check the fuse on the power board first.......and make sure this TV has been unplugged 24 hrs to insure all capacitors have bled off or its gonna hurt!!!!

Thanks Mike…I'll check the fuse and the capacitors before buying a new one. Pretty sure it isn't the fuse though since it didn't just quit working all at once and I get the occasional click when trying to turn it on…but I'll pull it off the mount and take a look.

Neil and Connie · RV-Dreams Family Member

Amazon so no extended warranty (at least I think it was Amazon, but it was purchased by New Horizons when the built the rig…and I just gave them an amazon link for what we wanted. I'll verify that they didn't use Costco but since there isn't one in Junction City AFAIK I doubt it.

Neil and Connie · RV-Dreams Family Member

We had a Bravia in our house before we hit the road…but went with the Samsung in the rig simply because New Horizons was more familiar with installing them and because the 46 would fit instead of only the 42 if we had gone Sony. They don't make 42s any more that I can find anyway, and the current 46s won't both fit on our lift and get high enough so that the remote can see the bottom of the screen so we don't know whether to get a 40 or just stand up when we need to use the remote. All the channel switching gets done via the Direct TV box anyway and it's got one of those outside the cabinet remote extender things on it…but to turn off the TV you need to point it at the bottom of the screen and with the new slightly larger 46 models the IR receiver will be about a half inch below the countertop when it's raised. We could dispense with the lift and use an arm instead…but that would make Connie very unhappy so I'm not even going to suggest that.

Lonney Wade · RV-Dreams Family Member

We had the same problem with our TV, to low in the lift, had to stand up to use the remote, we replaced the 42" LCD TV with a LED 46" Samsung (very light TV) and raised the TV in the lift, just took the TV off the lift moved the TV in higher in the lift, then latter I order at Amazon a TV wall mount full motion with swivel articulating arm, it was $25.00, had to put I think it was a 2"x15" plate on the back of the mount to mount the TV, now I can watch TV anywhere in the RV, left or right, just push it back in and I can lower the TV back in it's hole LOL!!!!
We just love it and the new TV only uses 30 watts when we turn down the brightness, very low watts when we are on the inverter and batteries, the other LCD TV used about 146 watts, always testing things out.
You know the old saying for me, (as I get older) it is measure 3 times and cut once LOL!!!!!!

Lonney

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Neil and Connie wrote:
We had a Bravia in our house before we hit the road…but went with the Samsung in the rig simply because New Horizons was more familiar with installing them and because the 46 would fit instead of only the 42 if we had gone Sony. They don't make 42s any more that I can find anyway, and the current 46s won't both fit on our lift and get high enough so that the remote can see the bottom of the screen so we don't know whether to get a 40 or just stand up when we need to use the remote. All the channel switching gets done via the Direct TV box anyway and it's got one of those outside the cabinet remote extender things on it…but to turn off the TV you need to point it at the bottom of the screen and with the new slightly larger 46 models the IR receiver will be about a half inch below the countertop when it's raised. We could dispense with the lift and use an arm instead…but that would make Connie very unhappy so I'm not even going to suggest that.

Neil,

We also have direct TV. The remote for our receiver/DVR will control the on/off functions of both the receiver/DRV and the TV. Don't ask me how it is done, but the Direct TV remote might be programmable to turn off both at once.

Terry

Neil and Connie · RV-Dreams Family Member

Terry and Jo wrote:
We also have direct TV. The remote for our receiver/DVR will control the on/off functions of both the receiver/DRV and the TV. Don't ask me how it is done, but the Direct TV remote might be programmable to turn off both at once.

Yeah, we have the DirectTV Remote set so it turns the TV off as well; but you do have to point it toward the RV's IR sensor down on the bottom. The DirectTV receiver is up in the overhead cabinet and has one of those little IR extends things that sits in the corner and runs wires to the front of the receiver. There isn't a good way to get one of the little wires down to the front of the TV and they're way too short anyway.

I did take a look at rigging up a longer one with about 12 feet of wire so that it could run down the back side of the cabinet to the TV area and then up to the bottom of the set…but finally decided it was just too hard.

I checked the capacitors on the board and they don't appear to be bulging so who knows what's really going on with it. I've got a call into the local repair place and will see if they have a reasonable diagnosis fee so that we can get a repair estimate. If the repair is more than about 300 bucks and I would be surprised if parts and labor were much less than that then it's probably not worth spending half the cost of new to repair I guess. Hopefully they'll call back tomorrow and tell me it's cheaper than that to fix though.