Solder sucker

[ronsimpson]

New non CRT are made for board swapping. No skills required really.

Most people can not board swap.

 

[narkeleptk]

Nothing wrong with swapping whole boards if its a viable option. Sometimes its more cost/time effective to do so and you can always go back and dig the scrap board out later if you have time for it. I definitely prefer having the options of repair or replace at my disposal.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Most people can not board swap.

No, it's still a skill set, just a different one - the main problem is cost (often it's too expensive to do) and the very limited time that replacement panels are even available.

For example, Samsung's tendency to fit known sub-standard electrolytics in their TV's meant that for many sets spares were no longer available while sets were still under guarantee.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Nothing wrong with swapping whole boards if its a viable option. Sometimes its more cost/time effective to do so and you can always go back and dig the scrap board out later if you have time for it. I definitely prefer having the options of repair or replace at my disposal.

It's nice to have the option, but now it's common practice for manufacturers to not even make the circuit diagrams available, so you're working very much in the dark.

But cost is the main factor - "Yes Mrs. Smith, we've repaired your £500 TV for you, that will be £728.64, thank you"

Essentially you do warranty repairs now, and once it's out of warranty throw it away and buy a new one.

As a Sony service agent I replaced MANY LCD panels over the years (it's by FAR the most common failure on a decent make LCD TV), and sometimes I even replaced them out of warranty, as some Sony LCD panels were quite reasonably priced. However,since a few years ago they no longer supply LCD panels, either in or out of warranty - instead they supply an exchange TV (either the same model, or a later similar spec model) if the LCD fails - it's called AES (Advanced Exchange Scheme). Under warranty it's obviously free to the customer, but out of warranty it's a 'special' price - so 'special' that it's more than the original cost of the TV was.

So again, once out of warranty, throw it away.

I'm quite pleased to be out of the TV game, less hassle now, less hours, less money (but enough for my needs) and plenty of fun with electronics I even went in to work yesterday, and did a few unpaid hours.

I'm expecting some new PCB's tomorrow from JLC PCB - they cleared UK customs early hours of this morning, and while scheduled for Tuesday they should arrive Monday morning, unless there's some kind of hold up.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

I used to self-service Dec PDP-11 microcomputers e.g the 11/2 and 11/23+. They had an exchange/repair price with very resonable turn-around. Board repair was impractical because of the small pad size and the boards being at least double-sided.

Board swap was definately a skill set. I eventually added a ONEAC power conditioner combined with an ISOBAR surge suppressor and reduced my repairs to 5-1/4 floopy drives, dust in the fans and chassis and power supply. When we upgraded to a Mac system in the Win 3.1 ERA and used LabView, that system had dust and floppy drive issues. The SCSI hard drive was still going after 17 years. thw computer was on 24/7.

Keithley Instruments repair cost is nearly 1/2 the cost of the instrument. Many times I could fix those problems, but you had a $250.00 USD minimum order for parts to deal with.

For some critical systems, we did the "spare instrument" thing. Repair was sometimes me. "Repair" parts were stocked. At one oint we had about 10-12 Sorenson DCR series switching power supplies. They all developed the same faults where most of the electrolytic caps needed replacing.

 

[narkeleptk]

It's nice to have the option, but now it's common practice for manufacturers to not even make the circuit diagrams available, so you're working very much in the dark.

There are no schematics in my field so I am used to working in the dark

Essentially you do warranty repairs now, and once it's out of warranty throw it away and buy a new one.

As a Sony service agent I replaced MANY LCD panels over the years (it's by FAR the most common failure on a decent make LCD TV), and sometimes I even replaced them out of warranty, as some Sony LCD panels were quite reasonably priced. However,since a few years ago they no longer supply LCD panels, either in or out of warranty - instead they supply an exchange TV (either the same model, or a later similar spec model) if the LCD fails - it's called AES (Advanced Exchange Scheme). Under warranty it's obviously free to the customer, but out of warranty it's a 'special' price - so 'special' that it's more than the original cost of the TV was.

So again, once out of warranty, throw it away.

Seems tv's never hold up that well. I could see someone doing pretty good for themselves as a mobile TV repair man. Schematics or not. I have surely had a few fail on me. The first one was out of warranty. I dug into it and determined the ysus was bad fairly quickly. Took it out and tossed the board in my to do pile but ended up seeing one on ebay for $20-$30. No sense taking time away from better paying work for $30. Even if I was doing this as a job for someone I could see it being worth time saved vrs the added 20/30 profit. Plus you can always repair it later and reuse/sell.

The second one was under warranty and the manufacturer sent a "technician" . After using my couch as a table, He replaced the main board with no difference to original problems and now no audio. He claimed I just needed to wait a few days for it to come back or to buy a new tv. After he left I opened it up to find he reversed the power and ground to the audio board... With techs like that I can understand why tv manufactures switched to AES. I doubt he would know what to do with schematics even if he had them.

 

[rjenkinsgb]

The manual solder suckers I used to get seamed like they were only good for a few projects before falling apart or maybe I was just getting poor quality ones.

You are definitely getting poor quality ones!

I think this one is now over 30 years old and still in regular use - though it has had an occasional new nozzle..

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

You are definitely getting poor quality ones!

I think this one is now over 30 years old and still in regular use - though it has had an occasional new nozzle..

View attachment 119272

My exact one (or two, one at home and one at work) - I tell a lie - three, two at work, one in a draw, and one in my overall pocket.

Looks like you're about ready for a new nozzle?

My two are over 30 years old as well, and while my home one has only had occasional use, my work one has had extensive use.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Seems tv's never hold up that well. I could see someone doing pretty good for themselves as a mobile TV repair man. Schematics or not.

Not really so, modern TV's (particularly Sony ones) are extremely reliable.

As a Sony service agent working for an independent Sony dealer, I had access to the warranty claims I processed, and also to the sales records of the sets we sold.

Now quite a lot of Sony sets came with manufacturers 5 year warranties, so I collated all TV warranty claims for the preceding 5 years, along with all our TV sales figures for the same period.

I can't remember the exact figure now, but the failure rate during the five years was less than 2% - which I think was pretty impressive. Also, the majority of those failures were the LCD panels, as I mentioned before little else fails on quality sets.

As for "doing pretty good on TV repairs", those days are LONG, LONG gone - the fact they pretty well give new TV's away (and have for a great many years) means that people aren't prepared to spend any reasonable amount having a set repaired.

 

[sr13579]

A

Hi! What is a solder sucker?

A solder sucker is a tool that removes melted solder from a circuit when things go wrong or you want to change a component.

 

[granddad]

Ive got three 'suckers' not one is any good.. Trigger stiff, piston not fitting nozzle , top jumps out.. and more...

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Ive got three 'suckers' not one is any good.. Trigger stiff, piston not fitting nozzle , top jumps out.. and more...

Consult the picture in post #27

 

[unclejed613]

But cost is the main factor - "Yes Mrs. Smith, we've repaired your £500 TV for you, that will be £728.64, thank you"

i worked at a major retailer's service center for 9 years. they sell a TV for less than what they would charge for any one of the 3 parts (panel, main pcb, and power supply). when the warranty expires, they expect you to buy a new one. most manufacturers of "smart" devices only provide firmware upgrades for a limited time. panasonic is the worst with that one, they cut off firmware updates almost as soon as the warranty period is over. other manufacturers like samsung and lg seem to provide firmware updates up to about 1.5-2 years after the warranty expires. as far as pricing repair parts out of reach, panasonic again is the worst. for a blu-ray player that costs $200 in the store, the replacement cost of the power supply is $250, the drive is $600, and the main board is $400.

 

[tvtech]

Here where I am I can't keep up with CRT repairs. Every day 8 to 10 sets are coming in. All different types. I find myself wasting loads of time repairing broken controls (the buttons you push for channels and volume etc). Remotes not available for many of this rubbish.

Gotta glue plastic etc to get the sets working and usable by the customer....or just rejected everything...

Can't do that. Gonna chase away too much money. So, roll up the sleeves, and do the necessary to complete the jobs as best as possible.

tv

 

[ronsimpson]

This is what the big boys do:

 

[Charlie_Baker]

Detailed information is on the blog of one expert https://solderingironguide.com/reviews/best-solder-suckers/. Everything is available here.