On Sun, 10 Jan 2010 09:59:34 +0800, who where wrote:

On Sat, 09 Jan 2010 13:54:35 -0700, wrote:

On Sat, 9 Jan 2010 13:36:13 -0500, "Jumpster Jiver" no reply wrote:



In some cases, fixes are trivial (one particular line of Philips
plasma sets blow a pair of $1.00 caps in the power supply). In other
cases, expensive equipment is required.

Please tell me more about this particular Philips line. I have not yet come
across any of these and if someone calls me for repair I would love to check
these caps first and perhaps save some troubleshooting time.
Please let me know the models/line, as well as the location/value of the
affected caps.
A tip like this could save a small repair company like mine some valuable
troubleshooting time, and it would be greatly appreciated.
Mike

The Philips 42PF7220A and 42PF7330A sets used a Samsung 'core'
consisting of the panel, power supply, drivers, X, Y, and Z sustain
boards, and perhaps some other components. The manufacturer (Philips
in this case) added the small signal boards, I/O panel, controls,
case, etc.

The symptom on the Philips set can take two forms: Turn the TV on and
it appears to turn on, then instead of the green 'working' led you get
a red led blinking in a 6 short blinks, short pause, 3 short blinks,
long pause, repeat. Or the blink can be 7 blinks, long pause, repeat.
This depends on the level of firmware loaded on the set.

In each case, the cause is a pair of 3300 µF 10 V caps in the power
supply with bulging tops. Replace them with the best low ESR, long
life caps you can find. I use Panasonic FM series. Then download the
latest firmware from Philips and update the set.

The same power supply and same problem occurs on a number of other
sets, including the Philips 50", and I believe TVs by other
manufacturers including Samsung and Zenith.

The biggest problem I have found is removing the power supply. There
are about 60 screws you have to pull to remove the back and pull the
power supply.

Bill, wouldn't that be a routine "first step" these days with LCD
TV's/monitors, checking for visibly failed (bulging/leaking) electros
before digging any deeper? Takes litltle time, saves much.


It should be, but the level of troubleshooting ability varies widely,
even among so-called professionals. For example, it is a given that
switching supplies require low ESR, 105 °C capacitors. Any number of
times I have heard of consumers discovering a service shop has
substituted standard caps for low ESR caps.

This particular flaw in the Philips Plasma set is well known, and
is obvious once the back of the set is removed (no a trivial task,
admittedly). I recently assisted someone who had the same problem on
a 50" Philips plasma. The TV had previously been taken to a service
shop who had kept it for several months, then pronounced it 'too
expensive to repair.'

PlainBill