CTC 203 opinions please,( before I tear ALL my hair out)......

[Lenny]

This is an excerpt of a message that I previously asked:

The customer who brought this set in said that for the past month

intermiitently he would see about four inches of black,(whether it was
compressed or just like a blanking problem I don't know) appear on

the top of the picture. This was sometimes accompanied by "popping"

noises. Then the other day it just came on very dark and now its dark
all the time. I looked it over and did not see any black come down
from the top as he had described but I did notice that although the
screen control has no effect on the raster however the brightness does
somewhat. The OSD looks fairly normal however at one point it too
dimmed and looked smeared but in turning the set on and off a number

of times during the day, I have not seen this particular smearing
repeated. so I don't know what thats all about either.
I think I hear this one barking but I can't be certain. Does anyone
have any idea what these symptoms could possibly indicate? Thanks very
much. Lenny Stein, Barlen Electronics.
Since that time one of the guys on the group was nice enough to send
me the service manual on the set. I was preparing to take some voltage
measurements and scope the video when I noticed that the raster looked
different. I measured the screen voltage and it was almost 300V. I
adjusted it and Lo and behold now it did make a difference in the
raster! I then went into the menu and cranked up the brightness,
connected the antenna and now I have a normal picture. I flexed the
board, cold sprayed, heated it, bounced it and its rock solid. The
sets been working for a few days. Obviously I didn't DO anything to
fix this set and really I would just like to see it leave here and
never come back. But that would not necessessarily be in my best
interests for a number of reasons.
I know that I should at least do the horizontal coil but I was
wondering if (given the popping noises that the customer reported too)
should I do the flyback as well? I know these are a high failure item.
I never saw the flyback arc but I suppose that it could have, and been
the cause of the "popping" noises that the guy had been hearing for a
few weeks before the screen problem which he experienced, (which of
course is no longer there)? And could that have been the cause of the
original symptoms, which no longer exists?
If I just charge the guy 25.00 bench charge, tell him its working now
etc, and send him packing with an questionable unrepaired set, if it
fails again, he probably will not bring it back here. That in itself
would not be a bad thing except for the fact that I will have lost a
customer. On the other hand if I do the the flyback and the coil and
the video fails again, that was a 150.00- 200.00 job, and there still
exists the possibility that he will get pissed off and not bring it
back here again, in which case I will have also lost him as a
customer. However if he does bring it back you know damned well I'm
married to it.
I know that the coil will probably eventually fail and take out the
HOT if its not resoldered and the flyback is 27.00 my cost. But really
I don't want to put anymore troubleshooting time into this thing. And
besides now that "it ain't broke" how the devil am I going to "fix"
the video problem anyway?
I've cut my losses so many times in the past, I hate to do it again if
it can be avoided. This is not a request for technical assistance per
se,
(unless someone has a magical rabbit in their hat), but more a
question of business practice. Any suggestions/opinions would be most
sincerely appreciated. Lenny Stein, Barlen Electronics.
SORRY FOR THE LONG WINDEDNESS OF THIS. I APPRECIATE THOSE OF YOU WHO
TOOK THE TIME TO READ IT.

 

[John Del]

Subject: CTC 203 opinions please,( before I tear ALL my hair out)......

From: [email protected] (Lenny)
Date: 12/4/04 12:03 PM Eastern

I measured the screen voltage and it was almost 300V. I

adjusted it and Lo and behold now it did make a difference in the
raster! I then went into the menu and cranked up the brightness,
connected the antenna and now I have a normal picture.

I've found that on low end models that don't have any A\V jacks, customers
(usually their kids) try to hook up RCAs from their games or DVD players into
the G2 and Focus access ports on the back of the TV. This will invariably
leave the TV with brightness as well as focus issues. If the TV doesn't have
A\V jacks, that's what likely happened.

John

 

[Jason D.]

This is an excerpt of a message that I previously asked:

would not be a bad thing except for the fact that I will have lost a
customer. On the other hand if I do the the flyback and the coil and
the video fails again, that was a 150.00- 200.00 job, and there still
exists the possibility that he will get pissed off and not bring it
back here again, in which case I will have also lost him as a
customer. However if he does bring it back you know damned well I'm
married to it.
I know that the coil will probably eventually fail and take out the
HOT if its not resoldered and the flyback is 27.00 my cost. But really
I don't want to put anymore troubleshooting time into this thing. And
besides now that "it ain't broke" how the devil am I going to "fix"
the video problem anyway?

If this TV with CTC203 has glue around that coil, DO IT. It will
haunt you endless till you get that coil out and remove all glue and
two holes that coil leads goes through. Not a diffcult job. Early in
the 203 days, I simply resoldered those L14401 coils and they bounced
back few months later. This L14401 will cause all kinds of failures
from ones that I love so much simply just remove glue & reinstall
coil, second less fun is replace a HOT and L14401 job. Third much
less fun is rebuild SMPS (not too bad; Three transistors 401, 402 and
403 and a R14107, maybe a 5A fuse.) along with HOT, L14401 job.

Remove glue completely on that L14401 and board's holes is a must.
And that also stops the "popping" because the loads changes provided
by flyback circuit suddenly when solder opens up and make contacts on
L14401.

As matter of policy I do this for any reason I'm in those 203. If the
ones that has no glue around that L14401, leave it be. Few ATC113
chassis had this glue on that L14401 since the basic chassis is based
on CTC203 with number of changes & improvements.

Oh yes, there was few boards that had very fine stress crack radiating
from specific holes. Inspect carefully with magifier.

Cheers,

Wizard

 

[[email protected]]

If this TV with CTC203 has glue around that coil, DO IT. It will
haunt you endless till you get that coil out and remove all glue and
two holes that coil leads goes through. Not a diffcult job. Early in
the 203 days, I simply resoldered those L14401 coils and they bounced
back few months later. This L14401 will cause all kinds of failures
from ones that I love so much simply just remove glue & reinstall
coil, second less fun is replace a HOT and L14401 job. Third much
less fun is rebuild SMPS (not too bad; Three transistors 401, 402 and
403 and a R14107, maybe a 5A fuse.) along with HOT, L14401 job.

Remove glue completely on that L14401 and board's holes is a must.
And that also stops the "popping" because the loads changes provided
by flyback circuit suddenly when solder opens up and make contacts on
L14401.

As matter of policy I do this for any reason I'm in those 203. If the
ones that has no glue around that L14401, leave it be. Few ATC113
chassis had this glue on that L14401 since the basic chassis is based
on CTC203 with number of changes & improvements.

Oh yes, there was few boards that had very fine stress crack radiating
from specific holes. Inspect carefully with magifier.

Cheers,

Wizard

 

[Jason D.]

Snip.

You're welcome, keep us posted with your luck on this 203.

Cheers,

Wizard