42" Hewlett Packard Plasma TV powers up but doesn't give a picture

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by Captainclock

I didn't want to invest in an ESR meter to try and figure out which caps in the power supply/inverter board were bad because yes a bare naked ESR Meter is only $15 on ebay, what scared me the most about those meters is that I could accidently short it out.

If that is your main concern, for only a few dollars more, you can get one in a fairly basic looking plastic box:

https://www.amazon.com/SainSmart-Poc...ords=esr+meter

Or a nicer looking box wih some handy short clip leads:

https://www.amazon.com/Huhushop-Tran...ords=esr+meter

Either one of these, properly used, should substantially improve your chances of finding bad caps on these sets... bulged and oozing appearance does *not* tell the whole story.

just my 2 cents,
jr

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

If that is your main concern, for only a few dollars more, you can get one in a fairly basic looking plastic box:

https://www.amazon.com/SainSmart-Poc...ords=esr+meter

Or a nicer looking box wih some handy short clip leads:

https://www.amazon.com/Huhushop-Tran...ords=esr+meter

Either one of these, properly used, should substantially improve your chances of finding bad caps on these sets... bulged and oozing appearance does *not* tell the whole story.

just my 2 cents,
jr

Being an impatient cheapskate I paid $5 more than the (2 month shipping time ) Asian sellers were asking for a bare board that had fast shipping...Then I made my own box from a piece of plexiglass leftover from my college senior design project. Mine gets exposed to steel wool fibers etc. and has never shorted or been damaged in the year + I've had it...Granted my case does a decent job keeping that crap out.

[Captainclock]

I'll admit that I probably should invest in one of those ESR Meters, but then again like I said if its only 15-20 dollars you're probably going to be paying for something that's of poor quality build wise because that's usually the way it is in the electronics world, the cheaper the price is, the lesser the build quality and thus the more likely it is that it will be dead in about a year or 2.

Well I broke down and ordered an ESR Meter, and its was one that was in a case already. it was $35 but I figured it would be worth it, because it also had Mosfet, Transistor and resistor tests on it as well besides ESR Tests for Capacitors and it can test capacitors in circuit. And Jr. Tech, the ESR Meter I ended up getting was the one that was in the second link you posted in your post on here.

[jr_tech]

I suspect that you will be pleased when you discover all that the tester can do. If you have not seen it yet, here is a link to a YouTube video of a short demonstration:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b3dPBnYixs4

Contrary to his opinion, I find the ZIF (zero insertion force) socket to be very useful... about a month ago I went through a bunch of random semiconductor devices that were just thrown into a coffee can over the years and sorted out npn, pnp, fets, scrs, thyristors, diodes... very useful device!

Here is a pdf by the original desiger... likely more than most need to know, but an interesting read nonetheless:

http://www.mikrocontroller.net/attac...er_eng104k.pdf

jr

[Captainclock]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

I suspect that you will be pleased when you discover all that the tester can do. If you have not seen it yet, here is a link to a YouTube video of a short demonstration:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b3dPBnYixs4

Contrary to his opinion, I find the ZIF (zero insertion force) socket to be very useful... about a month ago I went through a bunch of random semiconductor devices that were just thrown into a coffee can over the years and sorted out npn, pnp, fets, scrs, thyristors, diodes... very useful device!

Here is a pdf by the original desiger... likely more than most need to know, but an interesting read nonetheless:

http://www.mikrocontroller.net/attac...er_eng104k.pdf

jr

OK so when measuring a capacitor's ESR rating what kind of measurement should I be getting if the capacitor is good, and what kind of reading should I get if the capacitor is bad? I'm wondering because I'm going to see If I can take another crack at that Westinghouse TV.

[jr_tech]

Depends on the size, voltage rating of the capacitor and quality of the capacitor, but lower esr is better. I printed out this scale as a guideline, and find it useful.

http://www.electro-tech-online.com/a...003-jpg.84737/

It is also useful to compare readings to those taken on a new good quality capacitor of the same size and voltage rating. On large capacitors, say under one tenth of an ohm or lower, you may need to zero out or just subtract the test lead resistance to get a better reading.

jr

[Captainclock]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

Depends on the size, voltage rating of the capacitor and quality of the capacitor, but lower esr is better. I printed out this scale as a guideline, and find it useful.

http://www.electro-tech-online.com/a...003-jpg.84737/

It is also useful to compare readings to those taken on a new good quality capacitor of the same size and voltage rating. On large capacitors, say under one tenth of an ohm or lower, you may need to zero out or just subtract the test lead resistance to get a better reading.

jr

OK, so which leads should I use on the ESR meter to test the Capacitors? It has 3 leads a red, yellow and a green lead, and I'm assuming that I just need to use 2 of the 3 leads for the ESR test.