Sanyo DP37647 LCD set

[radiotvnut]

OK, these TVs are continuing to blow holes in one local dealer's claim that they are designed to run 15-20 trouble free years in the average home.

Today, an ex-TV repairman friend asked me to look at his 2007 37" Sanyo LCD TV. He said he was watching it, the picture went out, then came back on for a second, then went out again for good. The audio is still OK. When powered up, the picture will come on for a second; then, the backlights go out. The owner did say that he re-soldered some questionable connections; but, it didn't help. I unplugged each lamp connector, one at a time, to see if that would make a difference; but, it did not. I then jumped the 4 or 5 electrolytic caps on the inverter board; which did no good. Finally, I checked for voltage at the cable connectors on the inverter board. I have B+ of 23V and there appear to be some control lines that have between 4 and 5 volts on them. I'm thinking the inverter board is the cause; but, can't rule out the chance that the main board may be turning off the inverter board. I found all the circuit boards for this model on ebay for fairly reasonable prices; but, they all appear to be untested pulls from other sets and are sold as-is. It would be just my luck to spend $70 on an inverter board just to have it arrive non-functional or not even be the problem to begin with. I don't think the owner wants to spend much on this TV. When he left it, he said, "you can either have it for yourself or try to fix it for me, whatever you'd rather do". Of course, I agreed to at least try to fix it for him.

Is there something I'm missing or does it sound like I need a new inverter board? Any suggestions would be appreciated.