How to make a steal on an HDTV.. at Home Repair explained.

You know, all of the time, I hear from people who say they are looking for a nice big display, but damn is it pricey.   Well, if you've got a sharp eye, I will let you in on a little trick.
 

For our bedroom, I just picked up a great 52" 1080P Samsung for $300.  Wait, this has got to be a scam!   Nope.  But this little bit of a guide is great for those who either have a failed Samsung HDTV or think they can snag one cheap.

First, when Samsung came out with their series of sets, they made a monumental mistake.. they used capacitors that were prone to pop.. and worse then that, they used ones that were rated at the exact load requirements (1000).  This created a real hitch: they'd pop.. and then a TV set would not come on.. or maybe it would (eventually) after tons of clicking to get the power supply up.  Calls around to Samsung (which can be confirmed now) offered solutions of buying a power supply and paying for install.. about $500-$800.  RIDICULOUS! 

Seeing enough of these, and knowing people with them, I had a client call me and tell me they were furious with theirs that now had a CLICK OF DEATH, and they would let their beautiful 52" go, an LN=T5271F/XAA for $250 if I'd come and pick it up.  "It kind of works" they said. 

Well, I knew the problem, and figured: no problem solving it.  But I figured, now that someone has a Youtube video up of the solution, I'd offer people a chance to see how they could do it themselves as a reference.  So here you go:

Here's the full repair as presented by someone else:

While the video is informative, a lot of people say: "Yeah, but what kind of capacitors should I buy?  What's easy?"

First, this is a sauter job, so this isn't for the faint hearted, though the work isn't that difficult either.

I generally recommend these:  http://parts.digikey.com/1/parts/49504-cap-1000uf-16v-elect-fm-radial-eeu-fm1c102.html

Buy 6-8.  It'll cost you less then $10.

These are 1000uF @ 16V (vis 10V) with a set life of 5000hrs, but you'll likely get considerably more.

The entire process should take you about an hour, maybe an hour and a half.

Over the last year, thanks to Craigslist and the help of others, I've picked up two of these "wayward" Samsungs.. a 52" and a 46", both with the same problem, and now have a nice 52" in the bedroom and a 46" in my office. 

If you're looking for a big TV, or you have a chance to snap at one of these.. you might be willing to take a shot.

BUT if you have one of these that is failing.. or you are worried about it failing, before you let Samsung convince you into a $200 part + labor, you might give this a try. You'll find it's pretty rewarding to complete a task like this, and seriously, with better capacitors on this, I'd -swear- that my TV looks better then it ever did before, with less shake and a nice, clean picture.

So hurray for the do-it-yourselfers!

Since Samsung has this as a known issue, this is VERY common.  I see these sets come around all the time with this problem and people give up.  I figure, if you can save a high end TV for about $10 and some time, wouldn't you want to?  :)

And if Sam reads this: it's so much more environmentally friendly ;)

This problem is an almost lock on several of the Samsungs.. every single one of them run into this at some point.  It's so common it's just an example.
But I've seen it on Mitsubishi and cheaper brands also.  (It should be noted: Sony Bravia and LG use solid capacitors, which is GREAT quality control as it basically eliminates this issue)

We're such a disposable society, these things break we just throw them out and buy again because the when we call to get a price to fix it seems "outrageous" but if you are willing to try, 95% of the time, you can get it.. especially if it's one of the common problems (they shut down on their own or fail to turn on are the big symptoms in most sets). 

Hell, I've had people let me "look" and see how it looks inside and I tell them: it's a power supply.  They normally know that.  Just too eager to dump it.

Meanwhile, I'm sitting in a bedroom watching on my like new 52" Samsung for cheaper then I could get a 32".