Westinghouse 32" LCD TV found in Goodwill Salvage Bin

[jr_tech]

"I don't have an ESR Tester, and the only problem is that all the ESR Testers I've seen on eBay need to be assembled from a kit and I don't have much experience assembling things from scratch, that's my only hesitation with buying an ESR Tester, plus all of the preassembled ESR testers are over $100 or more at places like Allied."

Check again... there are many esr testers on eBay that are in the $12 to $25 range that are assembled. Many are "bare board" units that you might want to package in a nice enclosure if you so desire, but thes units are fully assembled and just require a 9 Volt battery to operate.

jr

[Captainclock]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

"I don't have an ESR Tester, and the only problem is that all the ESR Testers I've seen on eBay need to be assembled from a kit and I don't have much experience assembling things from scratch, that's my only hesitation with buying an ESR Tester, plus all of the preassembled ESR testers are over $100 or more at places like Allied."

Check again... there are many esr testers on eBay that are in the $12 to $25 range that are assembled. Many are "bare board" units that you might want to package in a nice enclosure if you so desire, but thes units are fully assembled and just require a 9 Volt battery to operate.

jr

Yeah, that's the problem, I'm not very handy with building things like cases out of wood, and as proof of how bad I am at working with wood, I had to build a simple wooden box for 4-H one year and it got me a red ribbon because I didn't do a very good job at making the joints and the finish wasn't done very well either. If I were to get myself something like that I would rather have something that's already assembled and already cased up, but I don't want to pay over $100 for that kind of thing though either.

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by Captainclock

I had to build a simple wooden box for 4-H one year and it got me a red ribbon because I didn't do a very good job at making the joints and the finish wasn't done very well either.

I'm a city boy, so haven't had any experience with farming organizations like 4-H (IIRC 4-H is a rural farming thing, about cows and growing stuff that gets converted to food by major corporations to be sold at supermarkets).
I would have thought that your bad work would just be passed over, getting no awards instead of a "bad job" award...

[Captainclock]

Originally Posted by wa2ise

I'm a city boy, so haven't had any experience with farming organizations like 4-H (IIRC 4-H is a rural farming thing, about cows and growing stuff that gets converted to food by major corporations to be sold at supermarkets).
I would have thought that your bad work would just be passed over, getting no awards instead of a "bad job" award...

In 4-H you get different ribbons like a white ribbon (3rd place), Red Ribbon (2nd place), Blue Ribbon (1st place), Reserve Champion, and State Fair Entry. By the way 4-H is more than just Agriculture, they have projects ranging in fashion, art, electrical, food, woodworking and more.

[jr_tech]

But they don't need to be packaged, many of us just use them naked.

Here is the best selling one on Amazon...not an offshore seller that will have slow delivery.

http://www.amazon.com/Yosoo-Display-...ords=esr+meter

not affiliated,
jr

[Captainclock]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

But they don't need to be packaged, many of us just use them naked.

Here is the best selling one on Amazon...not an offshore seller that will have slow delivery.

http://www.amazon.com/Yosoo-Display-...ords=esr+meter

not affiliated,
jr

OK. but with my luck I'd break the darn thing if it wasn't cased up in someway, shape or form.

[Captainclock]

I think I'm just going to try and get another power/inverter board from ebay for the TV and see if that does the trick. I don't think its worth trying to monkey around with trying to figure out which capacitors are responsible with killing the TV set. The TV doesn't have its original remote so I'm going to have to probably search for one on ebay.

[WISCOJIM]

Power supply & remote = more than that set is worth.

[Captainclock]

Originally Posted by WISCOJIM

Power supply & remote = more than that set is worth.

Really... I kind of doubt that. Of course considering the source here (you are the one who constantly trolls me on here in practically every thread I've posted on here) I think you're just saying that to just be a troll as usual. I know for a fact that I've been able to get used TV remotes on ebay for as little as $5 and free shipping, the power supply and inverter board for this particular TV was selling for as low as $20 and free shipping on ebay, and considering you can sell one of these sets for as much as $100 there's still plenty of room to make money on this TV yet. So keep your negative nelly comments to yourself!

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by Captainclock

considering you can sell one of these sets for as much as $100 there's still plenty of room to make money on this TV yet.

Couple of things to consider here:
1. The power supply board might not fix the problem or other serious problems might be discovered, such as a bad screen.
2. A brand new 32 inch Westinghouse sells for about $130 on Amazon...possibly cheaper in discount stores...Why would anybody spend $100 for an old one with no warranty?

jr

[pac.attack76]

This is why I pass these up when I see them.

[Jeffhs]

There was a large-screen Westinghouse flat panel TV last year beside the trash barrels behind my apartment. I have no clue as to why it was being discarded, but I'm glad I left it where it was. I have read about the power supply problems these sets are prone to, and figured I would be better off without it.

I haven't seen another Westinghouse FP since then. Who makes these sets? I very seriously doubt it was any reputable manufacturer, which would explain why the PS boards go bad so often.

If I were to guess, however, I'd say the Westinghouse branded FPs were then and are to this day made offshore, like all other flat screens. The only American TV manufacturer left is Motorola, unless they too left our shores (as I am almost certain they did) and are now turning out short-lived FPs. Motorola was a great brand of television (I had a Motorola 21-23" b&w console, a trash find in my home town, in the '70s that worked very well) when they were making b&w and color NTSC TVs; it is a darn shame their sets' quality went downhill, not unlike Zenith when that company left Chicago.

If anyone here knows if Motorola is still making flat screens (or if they ever did), please let me know. Many Chinese and/or Japanese no-name electronics firms make the chassis for these TVs, which are subsequently rebranded using the names of former American TV giants like Zenith, Magnavox, RCA, et al.

Nice try, but this junk does not deserve to bear the name of any former great TV manufacturer; in fact, I believe it gives these companies, especially Zenith and RCA, a very, very bad name. This is exactly why, when my flat screen finally quits, I will bring out my 19" Zenith Sentry 2 to replace it. I am not that impressed with high definition TV, so going back to a 19" CRT set will not bother me in the least. This is the same thing, IIRC, that VK member Kamakiri has said he will do when his flat screen quits, and it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of other folks will do the same when their FPs do the same; that is, unless they made the mistake of throwing away their CRT TV when they got the flat screen. I will have no sympathy whatsoever for these people when (not if) they are left without TV (if they cannot afford a new FP) after the flat set quits. They were asking for it.

Update (5-12-16 8:28 PM EDST): I just looked up Westinghouse TV on Google, and found that they are (at least they say they are) the leading LCD TV manufacturer in the world. Perhaps they have gotten most if not all the bugs out of their flat screens, and the sets now being sold are much more reliable than the early ones. I have no idea how old the Westinghouse FP I mentioned earlier in this post (the one behind my apartment) was, but I would guess it was an earlier model; that or else it was used a lot, failing due to the usual reasons FPs bite the dust (exploded capacitors, et al.). The owner put it out with the trash and didn't look back.

[Captainclock]

Originally Posted by pac.attack76

This is why I pass these up when I see them.

Yeah, well you're missing out on a great opportunity, because most of these Flat Pamel TVs only have a few capacitors that are bad in the power supplies that is why they quit working and once you replace the crappy poor quality caps with high quality Nichicon caps these TVs will last quite a while.

[centralradio]

Originally Posted by pac.attack76

This is why I pass these up when I see them.

That probably will happen here if theres no cheap fix for them.Now I got two to my name sitting here.The good thing about them is they dont take up room and some are light to carry around.Not like those boat anchor 32 inch CRT sets.

[centralradio]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

Couple of things to consider here:
1. The power supply board might not fix the problem or other serious problems might be discovered, such as a bad screen.
2. A brand new 32 inch Westinghouse sells for about $130 on Amazon...possibly cheaper in discount stores...Why would anybody spend $100 for an old one with no warranty?

jr

You got a point there.I just looked up a Delta power board for a Vizio and almost died after looking at the price for it.A couple to few hundred bucks more you can buy a new set.