Sony 61" plasma KDE-61XBR950 $18,000 saved from trash
 

I rescued this rather rare early model Sony plasma set from being scrapped on Sunday in Santa Barbara. Huge heavy behemoth; the one that sold for over $18K to the elite videophile... It's in really nice shape physically, got it with the media box, and even the elusive Sony interconnect cable that you can't find anywhere.

I have zero experience on plasma (or any flat display) sets, but I want to see if I can get it working. Based on the fault codes as referenced on the internet, it may have a bad sustain board. Problem is that it turns on, then shuts down right away with a code of 9 blinks-pause-9 blinks, etc. on the power LED, and the other LED alternates green-red-green-red etc (infinite blinks).

Before I go out and try to procure a pair of sustain boards, anyone have tips on this? NOTE: The 61XBR950 has completely different boards from the otherwise identical 55XBR950. It looks like these are NEC boards, and are also used in Mitsubishi 61" plasma sets.

Thanks for any experiences you might share :thmbsp:

Charles[IMG]http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...pscd2f5cd8.jpg[/IMG]

That's a great find!
No matter the cost it probably won't compare to the new Plasma models picture wise but still cool from an historical perspective.

I'd open it up and see if it's got any bulging Caps, I don't know if Sony ever had any Cap problems but it's worth a look.

What year was it made exactly?

Does the screen ever energize (glow)? Even briefly? Or does it just click on and right back off?

Thanks! Mfd 2004, and evidently was the only year sony offered a 61" plasma. I see why!!! And it's too primitive to have any HDMI inputs.

I was glad to find it, and MAN this thing is a monster! I have it leaning on my Sony KV-3000R, which is the notoriously largest console TV ever built at 510 lbs, and the plasma is wider than the whole console!

I didn't see any bulging caps, or smell "cat pee" (the telltale stink of dried out SMD electrolytics). I think it's failed solid state parts on one or both sustain boards, per the discussions on plasma tech forums. But I want to troubleshoot it properly before taking any guesses and ordering $100s of boards.

I didn't pay attention to the screen, but I do hear the high voltage trying to ignite the display for about 1 or 1.5 seconds (a normal rasping sound from the X sustain board area). I don't know if I should be hearing that from both sustain boards, or if it's normal for one to fire followed by the second, etc. I can try it again and see if I can see any light-up on the screen. There is a 315-volt supply line from the power board to the two sustain boards, and that is present, and goes a few volts high after shutdown (suggesting to me that there is not a short or load, but a feedback-triggered shutdown of some sort).

Charles

How do panels fail on a Plasma, besides just wearing out from use, can they short or lose their charge of gas? Do they have any vacuum in them?

What are the voltages used on them, I assume because they are similar to neon they must need somewhat high voltage to run?

I have never actually seen a panel totally fail. I have seen them have severe image retention, severe fading (dim picture with yellowish whites), and I have seen them overheat and damage their ribbons like LCDs do (resulting in vertical lines).

They are under vacuum (they have a little glass "nipple" on the back corner), and if they get a crack they die instantly. I smashed a screen with a line in it just to see what happens. BZZT! It usually kills the Y Board. Never buy a TV for parts that was broken while it was playing (especially if you were hoping for a good YSUS).

They are high voltage. I am not sure how high. I am sure somebody will chime in with an exact figure. I know from experience it only hurts about as much as a spark plug ;)

Usually around 207V DC and a fair amount of current

9 blinks is kind of an open ended error IIRC. The first place I would look for on that series is a shorted audio board.

The manual seesm to suggest that this unit has DVI, and if you can get the set work you might be able to use an HDMI device with an HDMI to DVI adapter.

Here is Sony's product page about it

Thanks for the tip... I'll have to try that. I haven't fooled with the set in the past couple weeks; been busy. My next step (if the audio circuit isn't the cause), was going to be to get one or both sustain boards to try to isolate the problem. I think I have a source for them, but now knowing how many different ones there were for so few different models, I'm not sure.

Charles

The Vs (160-180V depending on the actual panel/set) supplies from the PSU are normally connected by pretty heavy cables and plugs to each of the SUS boards.

Remove one at a time and re-test if the set will stay on.

This will at least tell you which board is faulty. Not sure on that actual model, but there's modules/hybrids with large heatsinks on, used in those SUS boards.
--These are 'IPM's' have MOSFETS inside that go short.

There's in fact, Loads of MOSFETS generally in both the YSUS and ZSUS boards, some of which will kill down the PSU, others just seriously upset the picture--or remove it completely!
The IPM faults sometimes blow the SUS board fuse--sometimes not, but will kill the picture/illumination of screen completely in most cases...

Generally speaking, there's very little info or schematics for the 'panel' side of things around for plasma--They expect you to replace the entire board if it faults....

Oh no!!!!!! I just noticed that there is ANOTHER KDE-61XBR950 leaning on the couch this morning.... It just showed up there; honest! :banana:

$18,000 in 2004; $free on Craigslist in mint condition with media box & cables in 2013.

This one has low hours, and comes on and works, but starts pulsating bright/dark and shuts down in a about 2 minutes. It's actually in mint condition, whereas the other one I got (topic of thread), has rub mark on the glass. So I'll probably make this one the keeper, if I can manage to get it working.

Charles

Ahh, fix them both and make them dual PC monitors. I hope you have a BIG desk ;)

Update: I finally had a chance last night to mess with these two sets... The more recent one (the one which was clicking off after a minute or so), is now working after I swapped the G1 board from the other set with the suspected failed sustain board(s). I had to fix about 1001 bad solder connections on the G1 board before I put it in, which is par for the course I guess. The set still isn't quite right (pun intended), as the picture is shifted off-center to the left by 5 inches. It may be as simple as mis-set aspect ratio or something in the configuration (consumer-level), but it may also be a secondary problem.

I had also swapped the G2 board (the larger of the two power supply panels), and did not bother to swap back. I might be well advised to swap those back, in case there is a preset memory that is saved somewhere on the G2 board.

More to come....

Charles

Update II:

I messed with it some more last night, swapped back the G2 board; still picture is off center to the left by 5". I got into the service menu, but have no clue what I'm doing, so I did not change anything. I had hoped I'd find a parameter "HPOS" as on the Sony tube sets, but I didn't, and I would bet there are sub and sub-sub service menus. I can't find an adjustment manual online, but does anyone know the Sony plasma (or maybe LCD if similar menu) codes?

I swapped boards to eliminate the possibility of a quick fix; the digital board, the "main" board (tuner, command, etc), and the whole subchassis minus the G1 & G2 boards. I did not swap the sustain boards because those are what's wrong on the other set. IDEA: I wonder if there could be a fault on the G1 board (where the problem was with this set shutting down)? I just am totally lost with flat screen sets, and I need to do a ton of learning...

Charles