I hope this isn't too modern for this forum. I have a Pioneer SD-P403 that was made in January of 1990. It's held up well. I had to re-solder a bad solder joint in the horizontal section about 15 years ago. The horizontal was acting up intermittently.

It started to do the same thing again so I opened it up to check. I didn't find anything but I re-soldered the most probably places on the PCB.

The procedure to discharging the HV is to disconnect the filament connector and then apply 6.3 volts to the filaments which draw about 690 ma. Then after 30 seconds connect the cathode of the blue crt to ground. You should see a blue glow in a circle that dies away. This should bring the HV down to about 10KV. Then they have you disconnect the anode lead at the flyback and carefully touch it to ground. They have you reinsert it and then ground it again at least 3 times.

I still managed to get zapped several times working on the set. There's quite a bit of stored charge in this thing.

Anyway, it didn't solve my intermittent. The horizontal either goes out completely or goes to half width. A slap on the side of the set fixes it. I guess I need to make an insulated rod to poke around to see which component it is. I was actually hoping I would kill it since I need to move the set out to make room for the Sylvania I'm working on plus an HD set that I'd like to get. I find it difficult to just get rid of it though since it still performs pretty well.

You can see by the attached photos that it doesn't work too badly, though I need to touch up the convergence a bit.

It has another problem that I think will be very difficult to figure out. The blue CRT sometimes has hum bars. It doesn't make sense to me that only the blue CRT would show them.

John

I usually find 100s of cold solder joints on the sweep board on those. To really make it easy and to do it right, You have to remove the chassis frame with both boards on it, and then remove the boards one at a time from the frame, and solder all the bad connections. Or, you can remove the boards from the frame while the frame is still in the cabinet, but that's tougher to do as it's hard to reach all the screws (at each transformer, the FBT, and many around the perimeter of the board and across the middle). Watch out on Pioneers for some of the plug letters NOT matching the board, or some maybe blank. And it's easy on a Pioneer to mis-plug those boards and blow them up.

Charles

I usually find 100s of cold solder joints on the sweep board on those. To really make it easy and to do it right, You have to remove the chassis frame with both boards on it, and then remove the boards one at a time from the frame, and solder all the bad connections. Or, you can remove the boards from the frame while the frame is still in the cabinet, but that's tougher to do as it's hard to reach all the screws (at each transformer, the FBT, and many around the perimeter of the board and across the middle). Watch out on Pioneers for some of the plug letters NOT matching the board, or some maybe blank. And it's easy on a Pioneer to mis-plug those boards and blow them up.

Charles

Thanks for the advice. I had removed the chassis frame except that I had left the focus cable connected. The other connectors were pretty easy to match up. I was tired of getting zapped and was getting leary of putting my hand into tight places like where the focus connector is.

The frame is mostly open on the bottom, but I suppose I should remove the boards to make sure I don't miss anything.

If I put that much work into it I'm going to have to find a place to store it in case I eventually have room for it.

And of course I wonder about the 20 year old electrolytics. At least the set is smart enough to protect itself from most faults.

John

O.K., this time it died while I was watching it. This is more than the horizontal going out. Now it blows the thermal circuit breaker after a few seconds and there is no sound, which it did have when just the horizontal was going.

It's probably an easy fix, but I've been wanting to replace it with an HD flat panel. Now I have an excuse.

If anyone lives near enough to the East Lansing, MI area to pick it up they can have it, the service manual, and remote. It's a Pioneer model SD-P403-K

John

If it's blowing the breaker, I'd start pointing fingers at the flyback and the focus divider block. In all honesty, if you aren't totally attached to it, this is a great excuse to get a new set. I wouldn't say that if it were a standard CRT set of the same quality as your projection set, but in this case, it's a thought.

There are several threads on the merits and pitfalls of plasma vs. LCD, and just a personal note: My favorite technology for a 50" or larger set, is DLP. I would always choose LCD for anything smaller than 50", as the plasma sets suck up more power than a whole room full of LCDs, and they're super-heavy, and the display goes weak like a tube. However, I'm not trying to start up a third thread for a plasma vs. LCD war... Please see existing threads.

Charles

If it's blowing the breaker, I'd start pointing fingers at the flyback and the focus divider block. In all honesty, if you aren't totally attached to it, this is a great excuse to get a new set. I wouldn't say that if it were a standard CRT set of the same quality as your projection set, but in this case, it's a thought.

There are several threads on the merits and pitfalls of plasma vs. LCD, and just a personal note: My favorite technology for a 50" or larger set, is DLP. I would always choose LCD for anything smaller than 50", as the plasma sets suck up more power than a whole room full of LCDs, and they're super-heavy, and the display goes weak like a tube. However, I'm not trying to start up a third thread for a plasma vs. LCD war... Please see existing threads.

Charles

That makes sense; but since I was having problems with the horizontal, which is seperate from the flyback in this set, I suspect it might be there. I don't want to think too much about it because then I might fix it.

I too have a preference for DLP. Though the other technologies are starting to look better than they used to.

The local stores have stopped carrying DLP sets though so if I want one I'll have to order it. What do you think of the Mitsubishis?

John

The local stores have stopped carrying DLP sets though so if I want one I'll have to order it. What do you think of the Mitsubishis?

John

Mitsubishi & Samsung are probably my favorites for picture, and they have a few patents on the DLP light engine that others can't exacly copy. I don't see so many failed light engines in the Samsung as I do in the Mitsubishi, but if you averaged out all of the ups & downs of both sets, they probably would come out about even. The Sony is OK too. I thought Costco still had a Mitsubishi DLP... If not, I'd try Best Buy (or Fry's, if they have one in your area). You could also try for a good used one on Craigslist or eBay... with late-model used TVs going for 10c/dollar, you could still get a great deal on a used DLP even if you need to replace the lamp.

Charles

Best Buy doesn't have them in the stores here, but I ordered one online from them. Delivery is scheduled for Dec 26th. It's a WD-60C9.

I have a very low ceiling and there will only be 6" left once I place it above my 1-128 Sylvania console. I was going to fabricate a mount for it but I found some inexpensive DLP wall mounts. I might eventually make a nicer looking mount but I have too many projects going right now.

Hopefully it'll last 20 years like my last set, except for the light bulb that is. I was going to hold out for the laser version, but except for constrast and efficiency, it sounds like bulbs with their broad spectrum might do better in the color department.

If there are no takers for the Pioneer I'll let them recycle it when they deliver the Mitsubishi. I'll hang on to the service manual in case someone has need for it.

John