Hey BCF!
Thought this would be a fun and kind of a educational thread.
LETS HEAR, your worst horror repair story, one that you thought the TV was never going to work and end up in the recycle pile, but instead it ended up working!
I guess I will start!
My inspiration for this thread!
I recently got a Vizio VO42L FHDTV10A That had been sitting out in the rain for a few days, I got it for free so I figured why not I like a challenge (not the first rain survivor but defiantly the worse!).
So before I took it home I drained out a at least a 16oz glass of water YAY, when I got it home I broke it down and remarkably the boards were pretty dry, I pulled them all minus the TFT board due to it being fused to the LCD display.
I put them in the oven on low heat for 20 min (not hot enough to melt solder) let them cool and sit for a full 24 hours. The next day I put it all back together cleaning all the connections and checked the fuse on the power supply it was blown. So I replaced it and plugged in the panel the orange light came on and as soon as I hit the power button BOOOM the PS blew up like a xmas tree killing the circuit in the house (didn't blow the ps fuse!) I thought well crap.. I pulled the board and noticed it blew a small un repairable hole near the transformer.
I dug through the parts bin and noticed I had a polaroid power supply that was a direct swap in (yay) and after getting that hooked up the TV power up just fine.
Now when I looked at the screen there was dark splotches, circles and all kinds of crazy looking patterns going on I thought crap.... This sucker is really toast, I decided to hook the BR player up and see. Affliction was still there and I was about to pull the cord and start to gut it when I noticed when I turned the TV on its side those shapes and distortions moved like a water globe.
I thought hmm lets see what that could be, so I broke the panel down to the CCFL level and noticed the 3 sheets between the CCFL's and the TFT panel had water in-between them!!!
I carfully pulled the screen off, each sheet and cleaned them all up and dried them out inspecting the CCFLs (they looked great!) After those light defusing sheets and polarized sheets dried up I put it all back together and crossed my fingers.
upon power up the screen looks brand new ZERO water behind the screen, picture looks sharp and its been running now for 6 hours no problems.
So I guess I would call this a Win? I checked the tabs they all looked great no electrolysis on any board, I did get a little proactive with the TFT board and cleaned it with contact cleaner to avoid any future electrolysis.
Not a bad 42" panel its actually got a decent picture for a middle of the road Vizio.
I wish I had taken pictures of the entire breakdown but I needed 3 hands and I only had 2 plus watching a 2 year old at the same time made it a challenge
TLDR version: I saved a TV that was sitting in the rain for a few days! Kept it from the landfill!
Lets hear your stories!
Thought this would be a fun and kind of a educational thread.
LETS HEAR, your worst horror repair story, one that you thought the TV was never going to work and end up in the recycle pile, but instead it ended up working!
I guess I will start!
My inspiration for this thread!
I recently got a Vizio VO42L FHDTV10A That had been sitting out in the rain for a few days, I got it for free so I figured why not I like a challenge (not the first rain survivor but defiantly the worse!).
So before I took it home I drained out a at least a 16oz glass of water YAY, when I got it home I broke it down and remarkably the boards were pretty dry, I pulled them all minus the TFT board due to it being fused to the LCD display.
I put them in the oven on low heat for 20 min (not hot enough to melt solder) let them cool and sit for a full 24 hours. The next day I put it all back together cleaning all the connections and checked the fuse on the power supply it was blown. So I replaced it and plugged in the panel the orange light came on and as soon as I hit the power button BOOOM the PS blew up like a xmas tree killing the circuit in the house (didn't blow the ps fuse!) I thought well crap.. I pulled the board and noticed it blew a small un repairable hole near the transformer.
I dug through the parts bin and noticed I had a polaroid power supply that was a direct swap in (yay) and after getting that hooked up the TV power up just fine.
Now when I looked at the screen there was dark splotches, circles and all kinds of crazy looking patterns going on I thought crap.... This sucker is really toast, I decided to hook the BR player up and see. Affliction was still there and I was about to pull the cord and start to gut it when I noticed when I turned the TV on its side those shapes and distortions moved like a water globe.
I thought hmm lets see what that could be, so I broke the panel down to the CCFL level and noticed the 3 sheets between the CCFL's and the TFT panel had water in-between them!!!
I carfully pulled the screen off, each sheet and cleaned them all up and dried them out inspecting the CCFLs (they looked great!) After those light defusing sheets and polarized sheets dried up I put it all back together and crossed my fingers.
upon power up the screen looks brand new ZERO water behind the screen, picture looks sharp and its been running now for 6 hours no problems.
So I guess I would call this a Win? I checked the tabs they all looked great no electrolysis on any board, I did get a little proactive with the TFT board and cleaned it with contact cleaner to avoid any future electrolysis.
Not a bad 42" panel its actually got a decent picture for a middle of the road Vizio.
I wish I had taken pictures of the entire breakdown but I needed 3 hands and I only had 2 plus watching a 2 year old at the same time made it a challenge
TLDR version: I saved a TV that was sitting in the rain for a few days! Kept it from the landfill!
Lets hear your stories!
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