I have 50" plasma I'm wanting to sell, and I have an interested buyer, but it has some history with "snapping" off. The TV is about 4 years old or so but was only used for about 3 years. The first symptom I remember seeing is that the TV would turn itself on very rarely. This happened within the first year of owning. I read on forums that this was a common issue with the TV so I didn't take it as anything more than a strange anomaly. Not being experienced in electrical circuits capacitors, etc. I didn't realize I should have had that checked out back then.
So about a year after that symptom, the TV began snapping (electrical sounding pop) and shutting off right after turning it on within 3 seconds of pressing power. After a couple tries the TV would turn on and operate normally. It was intermittent, but increased in frequency over time.
Then it started getting less frequent. It was always plugged in, and turned on several hours each day for about 3 years. Then we had to move to an apartment and we put the TV in storage as we used a smaller tv. I took it out of storage several weeks ago and have turned it on several times and haven't had the problem. I haven't had it plugged in for more than a few hours at a time during the past few weeks, but the problem "seems" to be gone. I plan to plug it in tonight and let it heat up for a few days and see if the problem resurfaces.
Is this more likely a cap problem or an electrical switch issue? My dad says since it's so intermittent and the TV works after several tries, it may not be bad caps. Can problems like this correct themselves? The potential buyer is willing to pay about $400, but to repair power supply/caps, or maybe an electronic switch... tv repair shop estimates close to $200. So I want to try repairing myself. If it's caps, I feel fairly comfortable replacing them myself (my dad's an electrician and I'm an IT server admin). If it's anything beyond caps, we're not sure if it's worth repairing since an entire power supply board is probly close to or more than $150.
Any comments/suggestions appreciated. Thanks.
So about a year after that symptom, the TV began snapping (electrical sounding pop) and shutting off right after turning it on within 3 seconds of pressing power. After a couple tries the TV would turn on and operate normally. It was intermittent, but increased in frequency over time.
Then it started getting less frequent. It was always plugged in, and turned on several hours each day for about 3 years. Then we had to move to an apartment and we put the TV in storage as we used a smaller tv. I took it out of storage several weeks ago and have turned it on several times and haven't had the problem. I haven't had it plugged in for more than a few hours at a time during the past few weeks, but the problem "seems" to be gone. I plan to plug it in tonight and let it heat up for a few days and see if the problem resurfaces.
Is this more likely a cap problem or an electrical switch issue? My dad says since it's so intermittent and the TV works after several tries, it may not be bad caps. Can problems like this correct themselves? The potential buyer is willing to pay about $400, but to repair power supply/caps, or maybe an electronic switch... tv repair shop estimates close to $200. So I want to try repairing myself. If it's caps, I feel fairly comfortable replacing them myself (my dad's an electrician and I'm an IT server admin). If it's anything beyond caps, we're not sure if it's worth repairing since an entire power supply board is probly close to or more than $150.
Any comments/suggestions appreciated. Thanks.
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