Let's see how creative we can be with this dead LCD TV?!?!
 

Well, it finally happened! Someone gave me one of those ultra modern flat LCD TV's that's less than one year old. It's a Sylvania (Funai) 20" model SSL2006. Needless to say, it does not work. The owners said it would play a few seconds and then shut off. By the time I got it; it shuts down instantly at turn on. I can unplug the lamp power supply PCB and the TV stays on with sound. I did find a leaky 220 uF cap so I replaced it and cleaned up the mess. Still no change. From what I've read on the net; these are disposable TV's and parts are not available. If anyone by chance has had luck fixing one of these pieces of crap; I'd love to hear from you. If not; lets all think of some "creative" things to do with it before I let someone use it for target practice. After the ordeal with this piece of junk; I turned the 31 year old Zenith Chromacolor II on to make sure it still works. Of course, it worked!! I gain more and more respect everyday for those older sets! No LCD for me! If it ain't CRT; SEND IT BACK!!

Does the LCD panel itself still function with the Inverter board disconnected? Try shining a light behind it. If it does, then maybe experiment with some form of homebrew backlight. White LED's or those cheap Cold Cathode lamps people use to illuminate their fancy PC cases might be a good option. The CCL's worked well for a 15" LCD monitor that took a spill off a desk.

Why anyone would buy an electronic item branded Sylvania is beyond me. Its been rebranded Chinese crap for years.

Check for any tiny surface mount fuses on the inverter board. They often blow for no reason. If there's on bad cap in the power supply, chances are there are more. Check them all for ESR if you can.

i will buy if from you if you want to sell it and ship it. steve

a new inverter board and lamp must be available - some where.

the lamp inverter/power supply should be pretty easy to troubleshoot

Thanks for the advice. I'll try those suggestions and see if I can get some life out of this piece of garbage. This board has a mess load of glass diodes and surface mounted caps on the underside.

I think the reason people buy this crap is because they are unaware that Sylvania (or Zenith, RCA, etc) is just a meaningless name. They think that because their '70's Sylvania GT Matic console lasted until 2007; then, a new Sylvania product will be just as good (or better). It's a pretty safe bet that people would not buy the junk if it had "Funai" stamped on it. I think I read somewhere that the Magnavox name is now being plastered on that Chinese crap. I guess Philips finally washed their hands of Magnavox. I just spoke to a man that just purchased a new 32" Magnavox CRT flat screen set. He says the picture is not near as good as his '80 Magnavox console once was. BTW, I may wind up with that '80 model. It has a T815 chassis; but, the CRT is about gone. I guess I'll sit it next to the other Maggie I have with a weak CRT.

Thanks for the offer. I will remember you if I don't get it going. I've got a feeling I'll see more of these in the next couple of years.

Sylvania was a Phillips brand in the eighties, and often their products were identical to the Magnavox products with only slight cosmetic changes. Funai (also Symphonic) products started showing up in the late eighties. When people would ask me who made the products, I would say "Funai you should ask."

Interesting note, the Maganox and Sylvania VCRs were all made by Matsushita (Panasonic) until the late eighties.

I used to love those Sylvania/Philco/Magnavox/GE (made by Panasonic) VCRs from the 80's. That was back when companies names were plastered all over high quality products they didn't make.

Shazam! I remember when Philco started showing up... though I think that was shopped to the remaining Mom & Pop retailers that were still in business, back in the day, so that they could have an "exclusive" line that the Big Box retailers didn't carry. Nowadays it's brands like Polaroid, AKAI & Sansui that are out there confusing Baby Boomers. Hey, even a venerable marque like KLH is used to hawk a wide variety of products (Boomboxes, portable CD players, etcetera).

Come to think of it, my Dad bought a Magnavox (mfg. by Panasonic) VCR in '85 or '86. It cost several hundred $$ then; but, it lasted for years. Much better quality than anything now. The only drawback to that particular model is that it did not have a cable ready tuner. It had the older varactor tuner with a thumbwheel for fine tuning each channel. I would snatch up one of those VCR's from that vintage in a second if I could find a working one or one in repairable condition.

Oh come on. You are comparing with a Funai product versus an old Zenith product. You are comparing apples and oranges. We all know Funai sucks. That's a lame comparison. You should try comparing your Zenith with a Panasonic LCD TV. Now you know that a Panasonic LCD TV rarely dies.

Well, I did see the inside of a late model 36" Panasonic CRT flat screen and it appeared to be very well made. Much better built than those Panasonic / Quasar/ GE 25" console sets from the mid '80's. Those things always had bad flyback's, bad CRT's, loose connections, or a combination of the 3. I'd probably consider a Panasonic if I was shopping for a TV. I also think the Sanyo sets are pretty good for the money.

Found this on the google. The article discusses replacing the backlight on an LCD monitor, but, they are all pretty much the same inside anyway. http://www.inventgeek.com/Projects/shorts/lcdfix.aspx