Samsung 226BW dying - Some questions on fixing it

[slayer202]

My LCD monitor has started to flicker like a strobe light when it turns on, and lasts for maybe 2 or 3 minutes until its fully working. Instead of just buying a new monitor, I decided I might try to fix it. Found this video which makes it seem doable

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjjpmCcs8ho

The video says that the capacitors that are rounded on the top(which I guess are sort of "blown out"?) are the ones that have gone bad, and need to be replaced. How accurate is this? Is that all I have to do? If the monitor is still functioning somewhat, will I still be able to pick them out? And then I gotta learn to solder lol....

 

[Ksyder]

I really can't comment on the finer workings of the lcd monitor, but I can say from doing some dc jacks and other simple board repairs, etc that the desoldering and getting the board clean and ready to replace the caps with new components is the hard part. It can be a real p.i.t.a to get the solder to melt evenly so that you can get the old components off without overheating the board and damaging something else.

A friend of mine replaced all the caps in one of those Imacs where the pc and monitor are all in one, Its obviously do-able but might be tricky. You should def. practice on some old broken boards if you are going to attempt this.

 

[slayer202]

Thanks for the tips. I think I may try and find someone who can do it for me. I have the board out, and capacitors are on the way. We'll see

 

[KGB]

Are the caps on your board bulging or popped?

Also, when you ordered replacements did you go up one step in working voltage?

 

[KGB]

One more thing: don't get intimidated by soldering. If you get a decent iron and practice a bit, it's very easy.

 

[Athadeus]

I have one of those monitors, still working fine thankfully. Just this year I finally attempted a DC jack repair on a laptop and discovered solder braid, which worked a lot better than using a solder evacuator.

 

[Rifter]

Have done it many(like 1000's) of time, its not easy but its not hard either. It just takes a bit of practice. I recommend testing your soldering abilities on a old/trash piece of electronics like a VCR for example. Remove and then resolder 10-15 capacitors from the VCR or whatever you have around thats junk then decide if you can do it for real.

 

[gorobei]

why are you so sure it is the caps?
flicker can come from a few things. failure of ccf bulb, failure of inverter, failure of caps on the psu to the inverter, etc.

if you see seriously leaking caps they there is a higher probability, but most of the time it is the inverter.

 

[Jeff7]

Might be silly to ask but...is the monitor still under warranty?

I had an LG 23", and the inverter board in it died completely after a little over a year.

3-year warranty, and I ended up getting a slightly newer model.

 

[slayer202]

Are the caps on your board bulging or popped?

Also, when you ordered replacements did you go up one step in working voltage?

I went with the same voltage. Should I have gone up? I read that you can go higher, but it would be possible for them to get too hot?

Have done it many(like 1000's) of time, its not easy but its not hard either. It just takes a bit of practice. I recommend testing your soldering abilities on a old/trash piece of electronics like a VCR for example. Remove and then resolder 10-15 capacitors from the VCR or whatever you have around thats junk then decide if you can do it for real.

Yeah, I definitely plan on playing around with some garbage boards first.

why are you so sure it is the caps?
flicker can come from a few things. failure of ccf bulb, failure of inverter, failure of caps on the psu to the inverter, etc.

if you see seriously leaking caps they there is a higher probability, but most of the time it is the inverter.

Well I opened the monitor up and it is some of the capacitors. buldging

Might be silly to ask but...is the monitor still under warranty?

I had an LG 23", and the inverter board in it died completely after a little over a year.

3-year warranty, and I ended up getting a slightly newer model.

I checked the warranty a few days after the flickering started. The warranty expired a few days earlier, possibly the exact day the problem started lol.



Anyway, I ordered some supplies and they should be arriving today, so I'll practice with some old hardware and then try the real thing!

 

[Jeff7]

Ah, ok. Wow, bad timing there on the warranty. :\


When you're looking for new caps, in my experience with this sort of electronics, you're likely going to want "low-ESR" capacitors. Badcaps.net might have some, or else there's always Mouser/Digikey.


Got any pics of the inverter and the caps?

 

[slayer202]

I have no idea what the inverter is, but I can take some pictures of the capacitors. I already ordered some from mouser, UPS literally just dropped them off now, along with a soldering iron from amazon. picked up some solder from radio shack this morning and just waiting on the solder sucker from amazon, whenever fedex shows up.

I really wish I had someone who knew what they were doing to help me lol. we'll see what happens

 

[slayer202]

Here are some pictures. The set of 3 capacitors are the ones that appear blown, while the set of 2 appear to be ok

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43024664@N04/sets/72157625564521846/with/5247372790/

 

[slayer202]

well, I have all the supplies I need. I'm scared :$

 

[bendixG15]

well, I have all the supplies I need. I'm scared :$

Look at it this way.
If you don't do anything, its going to be toast anyways, so you have nothing to loose.

Good Luck

 

[gorobei]

ummm.... yeah.
if those 3 caps are the ones in question, that is only minor bulging. they are going south but they dont look that bad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverter_%28electrical)

and that is the inverter you are working on.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Inverter-Power-...312?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a3b6ba68

 

[slayer202]

well it is definitely difficult to really see just from the pictures, as I've realized after looking at other people's pictures online, but they are definitely not how they should be. Not sure if the buldging is a progressive problem or what, but the monitor was not completely dead yet, but on it's way I assume. I've been putting it off but I think I'm ready to go try this lol

 

[slayer202]

well that didn't go too well. I was practicing with an old video card and did not have much success. I don't know if the iron wasn't hot enough, if it was because I was using a thin pencil tip, or if I didn't tin it properly, but I couldn't get the solder hot enough to suck it up. Very small amounts were liquifying but barely at all.

I'm using this 30 watt iron http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ef=oss_product

Not too sure what to do next

 

[gorobei]

try solder braid

 

[KGB]

well that didn't go too well. I was practicing with an old video card and did not have much success. I don't know if the iron wasn't hot enough, if it was because I was using a thin pencil tip, or if I didn't tin it properly, but I couldn't get the solder hot enough to suck it up. Very small amounts were liquifying but barely at all.

I'm using this 30 watt iron http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ef=oss_product

Not too sure what to do next

Get one of these.
Very affordable and gets you temperature control. Also get the extra tips with it.
Those boards you have are all RoHS type (NO LEAD) and require a shit load of heat to reflow. I'd suggest getting some Kester 44 solder (60/40 or 63/37) LEAD solder since it's much easier to work with. Get some solder braid and one of those squeeze bulbs and you're set.

 

[slayer202]

if the board solder isn't lead, is that making it difficult for me to heat it since I am using lead solder to tin the tip?

I'm gonna give it another try, but after that, the kit you posted looks nice. something local would have been nice though to save time and the $10 shipping :/

 

[slayer202]

I could have sworn I posted again saying it didn't work. I might give it one more try later. If it doesn't work, I might try a 40watt iron from radio shack :/

 

[alkemyst]

stereo/tv repair shop could have done this for you. You just hand them the components, tell them what goes where and they are always looking for more work lately.

 

[KGB]

I could have sworn I posted again saying it didn't work. I might give it one more try later. If it doesn't work, I might try a 40watt iron from radio shack :/

With a properly tinned tip, add a dab of solder to it and hold it onto the joint you want to de-solder. Yup, you heard that right: you have to add solder to remove solder!!!
If the joint doesn't start to reflow within about 10-15 seconds MAXIMUM, the iron isn't hot enough.

This is NOT an absolute statement... some of those joints connect directly into power and/or ground planes within the circuit board. Those planes can take quite a while to heat up due to their thermal mass.

 

[slayer202]

stereo/tv repair shop could have done this for you. You just hand them the components, tell them what goes where and they are always looking for more work lately.

I wanted to take it somewhere, but I couldn't think of anywhere local to do it. I should have tried harder. Now I want to get it done lol. Gonna stop by radio shack in few hours and try a 40watt iron. Radio shack lists it as getting as hot as 6 hundred something degrees while the 30watt amazon one was mid 400s I believe, so hopefully that will do the trick. How much do I have to worry about fumes? Ive been working in a room in the basement with a fan blowing in