Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrologia
So, we have come into possession of a large flatscreen TV, that doesn't work very well. My son is gung ho to open it up and see if he can fix some contact or other that he thinks might be the problem (he's been watching youtube videos). Before I let him do that, I want to check about how dangerous it might be. He's pretty responsible, and if this is on the level of taking apart and putting back together a computer, there's no problem. If it were on the level of an old CRT television where you really do need to know what you're doing to be sure you don't hurt yourself, I probably wouldn't let him do it. I'm guessing that it is somewhere in between--can you tell me where in that range it falls?
My expectation is that the TV ends up at the dump in either case, but if he can get an educational experience out of the deal without unreasonable risk, I'm up for that. (To be clear, I haven't taken apart an old CRT before, but I mess around with old radios, so I'm not entirely wet behind the ears.)
Thanks,
Mike
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If your son can get the TV working, why send it to the dump? If the set he is working on is a flat screen, the chances of restoring it to working condition are not as good as with an older CRT set (in fact, the way all flat screens are made, if anything goes wrong with them after the warranty expires, the next step is usually to throw them away and to get a new one). However, if he will be working on an old CRT TV, the chances of restoring the set could be good, depending on exactly what's wrong with it. Some parts of older televisions, such as picture tubes, could be difficult to find in this age of flat screens, but if the tube is good and the problem can be remedied by changing chassis tubes or chassis components, I would say go for it.
If the problem with the flat screen is just a bad contact, say between the display and the main board, it could be an easy fix as well, but without seeing the set I have no way of knowing exactly what is going on with it. As I mentioned, however, as inexpensive as flat screens have become these days, it often is not worth trying to fix them if they go bad; the cost to have a set repaired is often more than the set sold for when it was new.
In any case, good luck. I hope your son can get the TV working again as it once did, but if not, at least he will have gained some experience by having worked on it.