Transformer blew and took out my 52" Sony LCD ***Update***

[weadjust]

The wife was watching our 52" Sony LCD TV on Sunday and we heard and explosion and the power went off. We heard the fire truck and discovered a electrical transformer blew up one street over and started a grass fire. Power was restored in about a hour. She cut the TV back on and we had two horizontal bars across the TV where the picture was lighter than the rest of the TV. After about 20 minutes the bars went away and the picture was normal. Now when we turn on the TV the bars appear for 5-20 minutes or not at all. I bought the TV at Sam's and for the first time in my life I bought the extended warranty.

I called Sam's to file a claim. The next day the TV repair guy calls and I describe the problem. He advised that the LCD screen needs to be replaced and he will have to order it. He also advised the replacement screen cost $2200 for just the part. I advised the current replacement cost of Sony 52" LCD with much better specs and features cost $1900 and why spend more money to fix a TV when it is cheaper to replace it. He advised it was based on what I paid for the TV 2 years ago which was $2700 plus tax so just under 3K.

So my question is have any of you had and large LCD screen replaced and should I be concerned with possible future problems? Any advise is appreciated.

 

[ProfJohn]

For a second I thought that the movie was so bad that it blew up your TV...

 

[PM650]

Ordering a new screen without even inspecting it, and justifying the price of a $2200 part where a new TV is $1900...whatever this guy is smoking, I want some. If only mechanics could get away with this. :twisted:

The only thing I would worry about is if this doesn't actually fix the problem. It's entirely possible that this guy knows exactly what he's doing from previous units, but I still have doubts.

 

[SlickSnake]

Ok, the repair guy TOLD YOU OVER THE PHONE what was wrong without even looking at the TV? I kind of doubt it. He's just quoting you the largest possible expense just to screw the warranty. And if that don't work, he will then claim to replace what's REALLY broken, and my guess would be probably something in the tuner or power circuit board, and then add that to the warranty bill, as well. You can't even be sure he will actually do the work and replace the display if he takes it with him, unless you covertly marked it somehow, and he could just put the new one he orders in his stolen parts warehouse. Or take the perfectly good display he takes out of your set back with him to repair another one.

I think I would call Sony back and tell them this guys trying to bill for the most expensive part, the display, sight unseen, and you want another repair company to look at it. But that's just me.

Especially if they end up having to replace the entire HDTV and it's parts. Under those circumstances, I'd certainly complain to SONY and want them to send me a new or refurb unit from the warehouse that's already been tested to work and not trust this guy at all.

You also need to look at your warranty very carefully, because a lot of them are invalid if something happens externally to the TV, like a power surge or lightning strike. I would definitely keep that info to yourself, unless you want to file a household insurance claim on it instead, and IF your even covered there, that is.

I bet you are going to start seeing more electrical failures around the house, and off the top of my head, I'd say the fridge or some other appliances might have also been adversely effected.

Next time you need better surge and power protection on your TV and HT gear.

 

[dmw16]

For a second I thought that the movie was so bad that it blew up your TV...

Ha! Me too. I thought the subject said "TransformerS blew and...". I had never heard of a movie being that bad.

Sorry about your TV.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Ha! Me too. I thought the subject said "TransformerS blew and...". I had never heard of a movie being that bad.

Sorry about your TV.

Transformers 2 was pretty much that bad.

 

[weadjust]

I guess I'm going to go forward with the LCD panel replacement. I really don't have a choice. Repair guy says his co. has been in the TV repair business for 30 years. Said he will send a qualified Sony tech to replace the panel at my residence and the repair will take about an hour.

 

[marcplante]

STOP!!! Hox bout buying a new 58" panasonic Plasma at Costco for $1650? Why not shopf for alternatives in new. there are a LOT of deals out there, especially with the large chunk of cash you're ready to spend. plus you get a fresh warranty. BTW, use an Amex card if you have one forthe buy. It adds a year to your warranty and would cover an "accident" like this.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

STOP!!! Hox bout buying a new 58" panasonic Plasma at Costco for $1650? Why not shopf for alternatives in new. there are a LOT of deals out there, especially with the large chunk of cash you're ready to spend. plus you get a fresh warranty. BTW, use an Amex card if you have one forthe buy. It adds a year to your warranty and would cover an "accident" like this.

He's not paying $2200

 

[PsiStar]

It is what they do. I guess it is "funny money" as in the part does not really cost that much.

My son went thru this very similar issue a couple of years ago and they even ordered the wrong part (the LCD) initially but did not want it back. Yes, they did get the correct part (the LCD) replaced, but he was stuck with the huge wrong part & could not use it either! It had no useable ports on it & he finally demanded that someone come & take it away.

 

[Modelworks]

I worked for a number of years as the lead engineer for GE/RCA warranty repairs for the eastern region. You wouldn't believe the kind of crap that corporate dictates. The smart thing to do would be to just replace the entire set with a new one, but that would make sense and corporations lack that .

We had to repair cordless phones that retailed for $19.95. Total bills for each repair were $45 labor, $15 parts, $20 shipping back, $20 shipping reimbursement to customer and $15 processing the paperwork = $115. I asked about it many times at conferences why couldn't we just sent them a new one. The reply was that it was all about the corporate image and how replacing an item made it seem like the original was some how defective, that the customer had to get back the original.

Glad I left that field years ago, pure stupidity.

 

[Modelworks]

Next time you need better surge and power protection on your TV and HT gear.

There isn't anything you can buy without going commercial and several thousand dollars that will protect from a transformer failure. Your dealing with power that will smoke just about any protector short of very high end models. When a transformer fails it is usually because it overheated and the enamel burns off the windings, the voltage arcs through the oil inside the casing, converts it to plasma around the arc and into the secondary windings. So for a short while you have 4,000 volts at 100-150Amps or 600,000 watts of power flowing into a connection on the home designed for 240VAC at 200 Amps or 48,000 watts of power. There isn't anything sold on the low price end that can take that, most devices will just burn out completely forming an arc through the protector and passing the current . At those power levels current can even arc between screws inside wall outlets.

 

[manimal]

btw what kind of surge are you using?

My panamax lived trough a transformer going out last summer.

 

[Modelworks]

btw what kind of surge are you using?

My panamax lived trough a transformer going out last summer.

The surge protector I use is one I made. It contains a couple gas tubes at input, three MOV across the 3 lines , goes to a crowbar circuit that can take a 600A surge for .4 seconds and finally a series of EMI/RFI chokes. Total cost was around $40 in parts . Closest thing to it is from brickwall here:
http://brickwall.thomasnet.com/item/industrial-surge-protectors/hard-wired/pw2rh15?&forward=1

 

[jlee]

A guy I work with had his stove replaced after a problem with the power caused something to break (something to do with phases...I'm no electrician ). It might be worth a call to the electric company..

 

[simonizor]

I would definitely call the electric company. If a problem on their end caused something in your house to be damaged, you would definitely have good court case against them if they didn't just offer to replace it for you.

 

[weadjust]

Extended Warranty Co. called today and said they would be sending me a new Sony 52" Bravia Z Series TV with 240 Hz and internet video capabilities. They said I can do whatever I want with the old one it was mine to do with as I please. Can't believe that they would replace a TV without anyone ever looking at the TV.

 

[sdifox]

Extended Warranty Co. called today and said they would be sending me a new Sony 52" Bravia Z Series TV with 240 Mhz and internet video capabilities. The said I can do whatever I want with the old one it was mine to do with as I please. Can't believe that they would replace a TV without anyone ever looking at the TV.

good for you I guess

 

[SlickSnake]

Extended Warranty Co. called today and said they would be sending me a new Sony 52" Bravia Z Series TV with 240 Hz and internet video capabilities. They said I can do whatever I want with the old one it was mine to do with as I please. Can't believe that they would replace a TV without anyone ever looking at the TV.

So now you opened the barn doors and it's buy one get one free SONY TV time!
WOOHOO!!!

 

[weadjust]

Any suggestions on what to do with the damaged TV. It works fine after it's been on for15-20 minutes. I don't have anyplace to use it at my house. Do you think it would be worth my time and money to take it to the repair shop and get it looked at by a professional?

 

[tweakboy]

Did you have the TV connected to a power surge protector ???

If so the TV shouldn't have gotten damaged. If you connect straiht to wall or a cheap power surge then that could have been the reason it blew.

Soo sorry to hear and ya getting extended warranties is waiste of money IMO.

Sorry you going through this, I pray your Sony comes back to life as you decide what your gonna do next... gl

 

[ericlp]

Throw it up on Ebay... Sell it *AS IS* might get lucky and someone might bid over a couple hundred bucks.

 

[PM650]

Throw it up on Ebay... Sell it *AS IS* might get lucky and someone might bid over a couple hundred bucks.

On ebay, that's basically guaranteed imo. CL is another option for getting rid of it quick without having to ship the thing.

 

[JechtShot]

Extended Warranty Co. called today and said they would be sending me a new Sony 52" Bravia Z Series TV with 240 Hz and internet video capabilities. They said I can do whatever I want with the old one it was mine to do with as I please. Can't believe that they would replace a TV without anyone ever looking at the TV.

I have the same TV but the 40" version. Its an awesome set .

 

[0roo0roo]

Ok, the repair guy TOLD YOU OVER THE PHONE what was wrong without even looking at the TV? I kind of doubt it. He's just quoting you the largest possible expense just to screw the warranty. And if that don't work, he will then claim to replace what's REALLY broken, and my guess would be probably something in the tuner or power circuit board, and then add that to the warranty bill, as well. You can't even be sure he will actually do the work and replace the display if he takes it with him, unless you covertly marked it somehow, and he could just put the new one he orders in his stolen parts warehouse. Or take the perfectly good display he takes out of your set back with him to repair another one.

I think I would call Sony back and tell them this guys trying to bill for the most expensive part, the display, sight unseen, and you want another repair company to look at it. But that's just me.

Especially if they end up having to replace the entire HDTV and it's parts. Under those circumstances, I'd certainly complain to SONY and want them to send me a new or refurb unit from the warehouse that's already been tested to work and not trust this guy at all.

You also need to look at your warranty very carefully, because a lot of them are invalid if something happens externally to the TV, like a power surge or lightning strike. I would definitely keep that info to yourself, unless you want to file a household insurance claim on it instead, and IF your even covered there, that is.

I bet you are going to start seeing more electrical failures around the house, and off the top of my head, I'd say the fridge or some other appliances might have also been adversely effected.

Next time you need better surge and power protection on your TV and HT gear.

kinda hard to claim you are getting screwed when trying to screw a company over for something that wasn't their fault