26" Element ELCHW261 Possible Bad LCD Panel

[MisterD]

I picked this one up this morning at no cost to me, When first powered on it had a plain white screen, then it tried to display horizontal lines after on awhile, and this was intermittent when squeezing the plastic bezel at the top so I got out the hairdryer and heated where the connector from the main board plugs into the panel board and then it went to a normal blue screen, I removed and reseated the same connector, not sure if that really helped but then I hooked up a Dvd player to AV Input and got a good picture and sound, let it play for about 30 minutes with no problems, will let cool down over night and test again tomorrow. here are the pictures of the display, chassis and circuit boards. I may have bad tab bonds that I can try to fix.

[budm]

Re: 26" Element ELCHW261 Possible Bad LCD Panel

You have one of those LCD panel integrated with the T-CON, it looks like it lost the GAMMA circuits when it fades out like that. You may have to remove the froma and check it closer to see if it is the component on the T-CON or tab bonding problem.

[MisterD]

Re: 26" Element ELCHW261 Possible Bad LCD Panel

Thanks Bud for the quick reply, I ran out of component cooler/air in a can, will try to get some tomorrow, then will disassemble by removing front bezel and metal panel frame to try to determine the problem area with pressure, heat and cold.

[MisterD]

Re: 26" Element ELCHW261 Possible Bad LCD Panel

Thanks Bud for the quick reply, I ran out of component cooler/air in a can, will try to get some tomorrow, then will disassemble by removing front bezel and metal panel frame to try to determine the problem area with pressure, heat and cold.

Appears to be bad tab bonds, twisting the panel with the back off restores to normal display, otherwise it's a white screen. I will get back to this later when I have some materials to fix and a chance to tear it down to check tab bonding.

[tom66]

Re: 26" Element ELCHW261 Possible Bad LCD Panel

Looks like CHI-MEI panel, have done tab bonds twice on their 26" 720p panels.

[MisterD]

Re: 26" Element ELCHW261 Possible Bad LCD Panel

I disassembled removing front bezel and LCD Panel Frame, couldn't get it do act up was working good, tried cold spray on tab bonds seemed to have no effect.

So I got out the hair dryer and heated all tab bonds and finally it went to the lines or white screen, located a bad tab bond on the far left facing panel in normal upright position.

This time the bad tab bond was on the LCD Panel Glass, the 32" LG I fixed a couple weeks ago was on the driver board (also part of the panel) anyway I used a small piece of bicycle inner tube folded and taped down over the tab bond, reassembled everything and the LCD Panel Frame where I installed the piece of inner tube applied pressure when reinstalled and screws tightened down. tested for intermittent and this set is working good for now.

[tom66]

Re: 26" Element ELCHW261 Possible Bad LCD Panel

So it seems the new trend is no longer Samsung panel failure... but Chi-Mei panel failure, and their panels are used in a lot of cheap TVs.

[MisterD]

Re: 26" Element ELCHW261 Possible Bad LCD Panel

I tried my 42" Vizio Remote Control (also the LG remote works) on this Element TV and it works on most functions I sure hope the Vizio doesn't have the Chi-Mei Panel, I've never had the back off of it, my wife bought it for my Birthday a few years ago. It is one of the "E" series.

The 26" Element has been on for 2 hours last night and 4 hours today, powered on for awhile and powered off for awhile for testing, so far so good.

[DakotaKid]

Re: 26" Element ELCHW261 Possible Bad LCD Panel

I sure hope the Vizio doesn't have the Chi-Mei Panel

Not sure which Vizio you have but I just had my Vizio VW26L apart earlier today and it has the Chi-Mei panel. My specific panel was the V260B1 L01 rev C1. The Vizio was a 2 seconds to black case that I had put on back burner. Today I opened up a Westinghouse SK-26H240S that has blue power but no picture or backlight and I know it has power supply issues at a minimum. Upon removing the back I found that it has the exact same Chi-mei panel and inverter as the Vizio. Pulled the inverter from the Westinghouse and put it in the Vizio and it now works like a charm. Guess I will scrap the Westinghouse now that I have a known bad inverter and power supply. I hope this isn't one of the panels with bonding issues, the Vizio is a really nice little TV. That same panel is used in a lot of cheap 26" sets.