Finding a good, honest TV repairman

[Dave C.]

I have a 32 inch (CRT type) Quasar TV that has something wrong with
the vertical drive circuitry. The TV is about eight or nine years
old.

The picture is normal horizontally but it is not full height. The
height seems to vary between about 25 percent and 75 percent. The
problem seems to be temperature related. The colder the TV is the
smaller the image Is.

For about two weeks, I was able to keep the image full size most of
the time by leaving the set on all the time. For the last three
days, It has been about 66 percent all the time.

About how much should I expect to pay to repair this TV?

Minimum of $200 labor, plus parts.

Note that a brand new 32" LCD TV can be purchased at Best Buy or
Wal-Mart for about $300.

IMHO, it would be foolish to even try to repair that Quasar TV. -Dave

 

[Daniel Prince]

I have a 32 inch (CRT type) Quasar TV that has something wrong with
the vertical drive circuitry. The TV is about eight or nine years
old.

The picture is normal horizontally but it is not full height. The
height seems to vary between about 25 percent and 75 percent. The
problem seems to be temperature related. The colder the TV is the
smaller the image Is.

For about two weeks, I was able to keep the image full size most of
the time by leaving the set on all the time. For the last three
days, It has been about 66 percent all the time.

About how much should I expect to pay to repair this TV? How can I
find a good, honest TV repairman? I live in the Southwest corner of
Los Angeles county very near the intersection of the 110 and 91
freeways. Thank you in advance for all replies.

 

[Adrian C]

I have a 32 inch (CRT type) Quasar TV that has something wrong with
the vertical drive circuitry. The TV is about eight or nine years
old.

About how much should I expect to pay to repair this TV? How can I
find a good, honest TV repairman? I live in the Southwest corner of
Los Angeles county very near the intersection of the 110 and 91
freeways. Thank you in advance for all replies.

Bin it. Ask/Find on FreeCycle for another.

 

[Mike]

I have a 32 inch (CRT type) Quasar TV that has something wrong with
the vertical drive circuitry. The TV is about eight or nine years
old.

The picture is normal horizontally but it is not full height. The
height seems to vary between about 25 percent and 75 percent. The
problem seems to be temperature related. The colder the TV is the
smaller the image Is.

For about two weeks, I was able to keep the image full size most of
the time by leaving the set on all the time. For the last three
days, It has been about 66 percent all the time.

About how much should I expect to pay to repair this TV? How can I
find a good, honest TV repairman? I live in the Southwest corner of
Los Angeles county very near the intersection of the 110 and 91
freeways. Thank you in advance for all replies.
--

Are you capable of repairing it yourself? I would make a $2 bet it is
a bad capacitor. Probably an electrolytic between 10 uf and 470 uf.
With a can of freeze mist and a heat gun, it could be isolated in just a few
minutes. I agree with the suggestion that it will cost $200 if you have
a shop repair it. Just the cost of staying in business.
Good luck, Mike

 

[SMS]

Daniel Prince wrote:

About how much should I expect to pay to repair this TV? How can I
find a good, honest TV repairman? I live in the Southwest corner of
Los Angeles county very near the intersection of the 110 and 91
freeways. Thank you in advance for all replies.

They'd likely just replace the entire PCB if they can still find one.
Probably would cost you around $300. The days of a repairman with the
skills to get in their with a scope, troubleshoot the problem, and
solder in a new capacitor or drive transistor or replace the flyback
transformer are long gone.

Of course people are giving away CRT TVs for nothing on Freecycle, or
worst case selling them for $50 on craigslist, so it may not be worth
getting it fixed.

 

[William Sommerwerck]

For about two weeks, I was able to keep the image full size most

of the time by leaving the set on all the time. For the last three
days, It has been about 66 percent all the time.

If this is a thermal problem (it might not be, but probably is), wholesale
parts replacement in the deflection circuitry might fix. You might also try
squirting the parts with liquid freezer.

 

[Rod Speed]

Daniel Prince wrote

I have a 32 inch (CRT type) Quasar TV that has something wrong with
the vertical drive circuitry. The TV is about eight or nine years old.

The picture is normal horizontally but it is not full height. The
height seems to vary between about 25 percent and 75 percent. The
problem seems to be temperature related. The colder the TV is the
smaller the image Is.

For about two weeks, I was able to keep the image full size most of
the time by leaving the set on all the time. For the last three
days, It has been about 66 percent all the time.

About how much should I expect to pay to repair this TV?

More than a replacement will cost.

How can I find a good, honest TV repairman?

With great difficulty now that hardly anyone gets stuff like that repaired anymore.

The honest one that I have known since when he was a little kid
40 years ago has given up on repairing TVs and now drives a truck.

I live in the Southwest corner of Los Angeles county
very near the intersection of the 110 and 91 freeways.

Thank you in advance for all replies.

Even replys that tell you to shove your head up a dead bear's arse ?

 

[Sanity]

Even replys that tell you to shove your head up a dead bear's arse ?

Another brilliant reply from ****-VADER

 

[Sofa Slug]

I have a 32 inch (CRT type) Quasar TV that has something wrong with
the vertical drive circuitry. The TV is about eight or nine years
old.

The picture is normal horizontally but it is not full height. The
height seems to vary between about 25 percent and 75 percent. The
problem seems to be temperature related. The colder the TV is the
smaller the image Is.

For about two weeks, I was able to keep the image full size most of
the time by leaving the set on all the time. For the last three
days, It has been about 66 percent all the time.

About how much should I expect to pay to repair this TV? How can I
find a good, honest TV repairman? I live in the Southwest corner of
Los Angeles county very near the intersection of the 110 and 91
freeways. Thank you in advance for all replies.

http://tinyurl.com/Johnnys-tv-yelp
http://tinyurl.com/Terk-tv-kudzu

 

[Rod Speed]

Sanity wrote

Another brilliant reply from ****-VADER

Yours in spades, child.

 

[Sanity]

Sanity wrote


Yours in spades, child.

At times (very seldom) you come up with some helpful replies. But most of
the time you're a sh-t. Didn't your mother tell you that if you didn't have
anything nice to say, keep your mouth shut?
Asstard

 

[Rod Speed]

How about replies that teach you to spell?

I choose to spell that way, fuckwit child.

 

[[email protected]]

Minimum of $200 labor, plus parts.

Note that a brand new 32" LCD TV can be purchased at Best Buy or
Wal-Mart for about $300.

However, as the saying goes, "You get what you pay for."

First (and less important), a 32" HD TV has about 20% less vertical
picture height thatn the Quasar. Yes, to a certain extent it makes up
for it by improved resolution. Still, the objects on the screen are
smaller than they were on the 32". You have to go to a 40" HDTV to
get the same image height.

Second, the $300 TVs are house brands, or otherwise have very
limited service availability. The Insignia and Dynex brands available
at Best Buy may look good while they are in teh store, but once the
warranty expires, the buyer is SOL.

The Vizio, Viore, and Haier TVs represent an even worse value. A
failure under warranty will get you a replacement TV of uncertain
history. In the case of Vizio, the full warrant only covers the first
90 days. After that you have to ship the Tv to Vizio AT YOUR EXPENSE
to get a replacement.

IMHO, it would be foolish to even try to repair that Quasar TV. -Dave

I almost agree with you. It might be worth spending a few minutes
with freeze spray and a hair dryer trying to find the thermally
sensitive component (probably a capacitor). If that fails (or reveals
other problems), it's not worth it.

PlainBill

 

[Rod Speed]

Sanity wrote

At times (very seldom) you come up with some helpful replies. But most of the time you're a sh-t. Didn't your mother
tell you that if you didn't have anything nice to say, keep your mouth shut?

It was a joke, you stupid humorless fuckwit.

Dont laugh, see if I care.

 

[Jumpster Jiver]

They don't repair them any more, the replace the board which costs more
than the whole unit. Throw it off a bridge and buy a new one.

What is this guy talking about? CRT TVs are repaired by tracking down and
replacing faulty components, not the whole (unavailable) board.

 

[Jumpster Jiver]

This sounds like a capacitor in the vertical/frame circuit. Should be
an easy fix and a part costing cents - but given the size of the set,
I imagine that taking it somewhere is tricky. A call out will be
prohibitive, cost-wise. So I suggest you have a go - do you have a
soldering iron and som e solder? (available in a hardware/hobby store
I imagine). if you can post some pics of the main pcb , we can guide
you to the likely problem area. It would be a pity, and wasteful, to
dump an otherwise working set....
-b

That was the most useful reply to the OP

 

[PeterD]

What is this guy talking about? CRT TVs are repaired by tracking down and
replacing faulty components, not the whole (unavailable) board.

Yea, if you say so...

Anything is fixable, IF you want to spend a lot of money. As far as
cost effective, I don't think so. Component level diagnostics and
replacement is not exactly quick and easy.

 

[krw]

'purpose built and unlabelled' components? what does that mean? In
fact, I suspect it means nothing as it is gibberish, although I
imagine most components are 'purpose built' for something - resistors
for providing resistance for one. Hate to tell you, but that's been
going on a lot longer than 2 decades!

Custom ASICs and components with their labels either removed or with
the box manufacturer's part numbers. If you've been around that long
and haven't seen these, you're blind.

As for unlabelled, I'd love to know what kind of 'unlabelled' gear
I've been missing these last two decades. Those of us who work on
these items daily can identify the components by reading those cute
little coloured stripes or printed text on them. If need be (for
example if a component is destroyed) we even sometimes look for the
component reference off the pcb, and consult the schematic. You know,
you can even find lots and lots of them for free on sites like
eserviceinfo.com. Try it one day.

I'd like you to point out these "colored stripes" on SMT devices
(almost everything is, anymore). Most SMT devices, particularly
capacitors aren't marked with value. If you can find a schematic
*maybe* it'll help.

 

[Leonard Caillouet]

20-30 years ago, maybe. Most consumer electronics from the last couple of
decades, the components are wave-soldered, purpose-built, and unlabeled,
other than on the circuit diagram in the manual you can't get. Around
here, bench fee at an electronics shop is fifty bucks to bring it in the
door. I think the nearest one is in the next county- the local guy
couldn't make his rent.

Have to do a cost-benefits analysis. Take how many years you expect it to
live, post-repair, and compare that against cost of a similar new one. In
almost all cases, home TVs count as disposable, if they are over 2-3 years
old.

I'm a cheap SOB, so I'll open stuff up and look for any obvious stuff like
a popped fuse, or mouse piss on a circuit board that a little spray
cleaner will solve, or maybe a cold solder joint on a power lead. But any
evidence of fried components, life is too short.

This is nonsense, from someone who has no idea what he is talking about.
This set likely has a rather trivial problem in the vertical output stage
that we repair at the component level all the time for around $100.

Leonard