Vizio M420SV
 

Anybody know anything about a Vizio M420SV? Picked up one from the roadside since nobody else did. Its an LED type. Has a strange design on it when it powers up. Screen seems to be intact. Haven't really gotten into it otherwise.

"Has a strange design on it when it powers up" - Sounds like the screen may be cracked. How about a pic?

They can look fine when powered off and still be cracked.

Its a burn!
 

I didn't think LED sets could do that. Looks like freckles on peoples faces.

That's probably because it's not an LED screen, it's an LCD screen with an LED backlight. It's probably had water get into it. But if it's working fine other than the funny spots, you should be able to take the screen apart, clean the water marks, and reassemble for a nice working tv.

Its and LCD screen with LED sidelights. I noticed some arrow burns near the bottom. I can dissassemble it. I'v done that on a 14 inch computer monitor before and it came out well.
I admit it looks like water but I don't see how it can get in.

You'd be surprised.

Do the spots
Move around if you push gently on the screen? That would indicate liquid water is still in there, if not then it’s probably stains.

May be bad diffusers behind the LCD screen. Had a Sharp european TV that had one. I removed the offending part and it was fine minus one sheet. If it is water in there, That screen wont last long if the water got into the tab bond area and the set is run for any length of time.

Yeah, as others have mentioned, that's water between the panel and diffuser sheets. I've seen it several times on store-returned sets I used to work on. I don't know how it got there. Maybe it was in a flood? Maybe it sat outside on the curb with the trash? LOL, who knows. But that's what it is.

I sure hope it's water and not windex or something else. The previous owner must have tried to clean the screen. I don't think it got wet during the time it was on the roadside.
It doesn't smell, so I don't think it's cat pee. I'll pull it apart and report back.

A cat sneezed on it. :D

Its water. Apparently it sat outside in the rain before it was hauled to the street.

Odd that someone would leave a fully functioning LCD outside, let alone in the rain.

Hell, once while out walking Yeller I found a perfectly good student guitar and a like new Sony AM/FM radio. People will throw out all sorts of things.

Some folks will throw out perfectly good items if they have no use for them, or if they want to get them out of the house in a hurry. I admit having done just that with a 6-foot-high shelf unit and an entertainment center cabinet I had used at my former home; the reason I just put them out for the trash was that I simply had no room for either item in my apartment (I had just moved here) and I didn't want to wait to find someone to take them off my hands. I also did this with my 22-year-old (at the time, year 2000) Zenith 12-inch solid-state b&w portable TV, which was still making an excellent picture and had a very strong CRT at the time. Someone may have found the set and put it to good use shortly after I put it by the trash barrels for the apartment building, as I noticed it was gone the next day.

BTW, I was glad to read that the problem with the Vizio HDTV was just water that somehow got into the screen, between the safety glass and the LCD panel itself; now you have a fully functional HDTV. It was also good that the set was rescued from the rain before it became too soaked; otherwise, the motherboard and other PC boards inside the set may have been ruined. The speaker cones may have been warped, unless they are of the type that uses some other material for the cones. The speakers weren't mentioned here, however, so they probably escaped serious damage.

FWIW, I wouldn't have been concerned about the condition of the speakers, even if they did suffer warped cones or other damage. Most HDTVs have small transistor-radio speakers anyway, which do not do justice to the set's MTS stereo decoder and other parts of the audio system. I would just connect a pair of amplified speakers to the set's headphone jack, or connect the TV's audio directly to an external audio system.

It's too bad, but some folks will throw out perfectly good items if they have no use for them, or simply want them out of the house in a hurry. I admit having done just that with a 6-foot shelf unit and a TV entertainment-center cabinet (among many other things) after I moved to my apartment, the reason being I had no room for either item in the apartment (this place is very small) and did not want to wait to find someone to take them off my hands.

BTW, I was glad to read that the Vizio HDTV is now operational, the only damage (if you want to call it that) being a slight amount of water that got between the safety glass and the LCD panel itself. If the set was left out in the rain (!), it is very fortunate that there was no other damage to the motherboard or other parts of the TV. The speakers may well have suffered warped cones, but since almost all HDTVs have just two transistor-radio speakers that do not do justice to the set's MTS stereo decoder and other parts of the audio system, this wouldn't be a tremendous loss. I would just connect a pair of amplified speakers to the set's headphone jack or, alternatively, I'd connect the set's audio output to an external sound system, bypassing the internal speakers entirely.

I would also add a safety warning: If that Vizio HDTV was in water for any length of time, don't immediately plug it in to AC power; if you do, the set may be (probably will be) irreparably damaged. I don't know if HDTVs have "hot chassis" designs, as did most transformerless CRT sets and even certain solid-state TVs, such as RCA's CTC1xx chassis and likely others, but it doesn't pay to take chances. Make sure the set's innards are absolutely dry as a bone before applying power; use a blow dryer, heat gun or other heat source to dry out the set if you must.

#calledit

Well, he already turned it on, so... But anyways, I find the water to be of little consequence for PCBs. It's the stuff IN the water that does them in. Even after they're bone dry, the minerals, electrolytes, etc. that were in the water remain dried onto the PCB, and can still conduct electricity.

A common thing that I do with small PCBs that've been contaminated is to simply wash them off with soap and water, and a soft bristle brush, then let them dry. Sounds all kinds of wrong, but I've had good results.

I always open then up before powering them up. No water was visible in the interior.
The speakers are enclosed in a box-like enclosure.
The last flat screen that I found (a Sanyo 20 inch) worked but was stuck in CATV mode and I did not have a factory remote. The universal remotes that I have would not access that level of the menu.