My frustration as a technician..

DerStrom8 said:

That is a good point, I can't say the ones I've seen are a good representative example. I could just have very bad luck, as could the people I talked to. Tell you what--If at any point you can submit the actual statistics, and it turns out that flat panel TVs DO, in fact, last longer than CRT TVs, then I'll take it all back. Deal?

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There's no way I can - such statistics are kept fairly secret by the insurance and rental companies, my boss only had access to them because he was a director (and one of the founders) of an insurance company who provide extended warranties for electrical goods. The rental side came from a buying group meeting, where one of the dealers was complaining about the 'unreliability' of LCD's - some of the other members ran LARGE TV rental businesses, and produced their laptops containing all their statistics about reliability across both CRT and LCD sets on rental.

The dealer who was complaining was (rather stupidly) offering a free 5 year guarantee on all sets he sold - so any failures after the initial 12 month warranty period were down to him, you only need a couple of panel failures and it starts to look pretty nasty.

Uh cough cough

CRT tech here

We are still repairing 6 YR old Chinese sets here that came out with good tubes (AKA genuine Thomson). No end to them except for crappy Caps...
Do the dj's and change the Caps and solder the Frame IC.....and it is good to go. Clean the touch pad too. Lot's of funny stuff a touch pad can do...

Also, check for Ozone smell.... A whiff of that means EHT is leaking and you are about to get belted.

Ahh, then my beloved Tedelex/ Sansui sets assembled locally here.....Also Thomson tubes and a really good TCL chassis. Some are approaching 12 Years and still going strong. Bit of TLC on the bench and they look like new again.

So, I know buggerall about Flat Screen sets.....but then well designed CRT is very reliable too.

Regards,
tvtech

I’ll believe stats on CRT vs LCD reliability when I see them in a reputable source. Like my mate Steve down the pub, he told me CRTs are more reliable so I will have to go with that.

Considering how many inverter caps I have changed in LCDs for friends and family (in reputable brands), yet all my families CRT TV’s refuse to die (all Hitachi, made around 93). The LED backlight ones are nicer, but the respectable emission lifetime of LEDs is not that great. Check it out.

RichTheDude said:

Considering how many inverter caps I have changed in LCDs for friends and family (in reputable brands).

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What 'reputable' brands?, I can't say I know of any with capacitor failure problems? (I presume you mean the little blue HV ones? - that are difficult to source).

The old repair shops is a thing of the past. For a tech to find viable employment, you can work as a factory test tech, or an engineering tech. The latter is preferred as you get the opportunity to learn some engineering skills.
Repair shops is not where techs should be seeking employment.

Consumer or domestic electronics has for a long time been going down the road of scrap it and buy a new one.
Joe Public is only interested in the newest latest whiz-bang novelties.
Take mobile phones as an example, most people get a new one every one or two years, just so that they can have the latest shiniest toys. Repairing a broken one is not even considered.

My mobile phone is about 10 years old!
I rarely use it, usually just for liaising with work customers to make sure that we meet in the right place at the right time.
I dont do texting, and it would not know what an e-mail was if I showed it!


Industrial electronics on the other hand may be worth repairing. They usually have a higher value.
Things like test equipment, voltmeters, signal generators, oscilloscopes etc. I am thinking more of the "high end" stuff here rather than the cheap stuff.

Other things like industrial controls for process plant and machinery are also high value and worth repairing.
First line repair will usually done by exchanging a faulty module with a spare, in order to get the process running again as quickly as possible.
The faulty module with then be taken back to the local workshop for repair, or, sent back to the manufacturer for repair or exchange.

If you want to work with electronics and get into real repairs, you need to work either for a company that has a large plant/factory that needs maintenance, or work for the manufacturer of the electronics at their service base.

My thoughts, for what they are worth.

JimB

Agree with what Jim B said, also if you as a tech want some unique opportunities you should add welding and technical rope rescue to your resume, then you can do high line tower work which I hear pays very well.

Mikebits said:

Agree with what Jim B said, also if you as a tech want some unique opportunities you should add welding and technical rope rescue to your resume, then you can do high line tower work which I hear pays very well.

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I know this thread is kind of old.

Funny enough, a guy that works at Telkom SA came round today to tell about "their hasstles" They pay huge amounts of money to outside companies to provide "protection" for their lines. Not lightning protection...just the Normal mains up and down stuff. Like Mains decides to Brownout....and them comes back online waaaaay too high...blows up everything SMPS in sight. Fridges and everything else take strain too....Until obviously something somewhere trips the whole Network....and so start again

And they do. Until all works again

I said to the Guy (I spoke somewhere on this Forum about my little Emergency light that is able to deal repeatedly with this kind of abuse) that it can be done. SMPS plays no part of it. Neither do MOV's. Linear transformers and well designed X2 circuits can deal with this though...

You see, MOV's really only work ONCE properly in their lives. They stop the surge in its tracks....and then go open. And that is that. Next surge and they don't work anymore.

SMPS get a heart attack if a nasty little spike comes along. Some survive, some don't. Most of our TV repairs here are SMPS related.

Linear transformers, on the other hand, can handle sustained attacks by the Power Grid. Provided all is well designed on the Secondary Side. Not too much Current drawn for too long. Too long, and the core heats up and the Primary burns out....too long is probably a couple of Minutes...

So can X2 supplies handle this kind of abuse. Sure, not as much current as a SMPS or Linear supply can provide. But, X2 can survive repeated abuse like this with no sweat whatsoever for minutes at a time. No isolation from Mains Voltages. It is not always needed anyway provided the electronics inside the insulated/plastic box are not accessible by the user. Good for most low current Mains applications that the user does not have to plug metal things into the unit and thus stand the chance of a shock...a headphone socket on one of these for example is a no no.

Certain applications out there are begging for X2 use. I found mine. And I am mightily impressed.

My application needs a Maximum current of 120 to 140mA to charge my little lights battery and light the LED's too at 220VAC.

Plugged into Three Phase @ 400VAC...it has survived three seperate runs of 5 Mins each @ 400VAC. No issues at all. Built another light today with brand new components. Everything tests the same as the poor bugger that has been through hell and survived

That makes me very happy. I will only re post here if I have a failure of any kind . So far, in
about three years of testing, all is good. Except, this time round, I am taking stuff to the limit.

And so it must be for reliability. Everything or nothing.

Regards,
tvtech