RCA HD52W56 - buzzing, no picture - fixable?

[radiotvnut]

If it has a suction cup, it sounds like it's for a regular CRT TV. Did you get an original RCA transformer or a generic replacement? I'll let someone else chime in here; but, I suspect you got the wrong part.

[rca2000]

Often times, RCA fly's DO come with the suction cup anode lead on them even if they are for a Projo set. I KNOW the 239111 fly (for the CTC-195 sets) do, as I have replaced MANY of them. For your set--most likely it is the same thing. Just cut the Anode wire long enough to use (making SURE you leave a bit of extra lead, so that it is not "too tight"), and then, cut it off, with the cap. Plug the bare end of this HV lead from the fly into the splitter. Just make sure you got the right part # fly, don't worry about that cup.

[jfh2112]

I double-checked the part #'s and they're the same - I don't know why I have a cap on one lead. <shrug> Oh, well.

So do I need to discharge the old flyback before I go desoldering it? I don't see how, if there's no CRT per se. Someone please tell me before I get zapped!

[radiotvnut]

You should be safe. For the record, the HV build up on the CRT will not harm you. It may make you hurt yourself or say a few choice words!

[jfh2112]

I'm not dead! Yay!

Replaced the flyback. Now here's what I get.

Plug in the TV. Red light on logic board. Power button light comes on green, flashes 10 times, goes off. I turn on the TV, it sounds like it's going to power up, but still no picture. I'm guessing - literally - that either I have a bad HV splitter, or my connection from the flyback to the HV splitter is bad. Which is entirely possible, since when I was trying to disconnect the old flyback from the splitter, when I pulled the wire out I just got a stripped end instead of a crimped-on connector. Oops?

I shined some light up in it to see if there was a connector jammed in there, but I didn't see anything - just looks like a small hole. Did I break something?

Oh, and Merry Christmas.

[radiotvnut]

You probably have a bad splitter. The ones I've changed on the CTC169/179 chassis would arc and have lines in the picture if the HV wires were not seated properly in the splitter. And, yes, those wires are a pain to seat correctly. An ex-TV repaiman friend of mine who recently retired from TV repair told me than when they suspected a shorted splitter, he would disconnect the flyback HV lead from the splitter and poke the wire down inside a clean bottle, etc. to prevent it from arcing to something. He would turn the set on and if it powered up, the splitter was shorted. This little trick was good for the older RCA big screens. Maybe someone will chime in and tell us if the same trick is good for this chassis. I don't see why it wouldn't be. If you change the splitter, get an original RCA. Don't buy any of those cheap generic knock-offs. They will turn around and bite you in the butt in short order. I made the mistake of using a knock off splitter in a CTC179 chassis RCA bigscreen that I wanted to sell. It worked for a few months and then that one started arcing just like the original one. I used an RCA original the next time and will never use a generic again. Actually, I probably won't be using any of them again because I've about had my fill of working on big screen TV's. I might feel different if they didn't weigh 9 tons and take up so much room.

[jfh2112]

I can dig that. This thing is huge, and a pain to move around, even with casters. Casters don't help you get it in a truck.

I had a look around at the back, and found that R14705 is blown, which leads me back to what I thought was wrong to begin with - bad splitter. Crap.

[radiotvnut]

I wouldn't feel to bad about changing a flyback that may not have been bad. Modern RCA flybacks do not hold up well at all and will die at the drop of a hat. I've seen less than 2 year old RCA's with bad flybacks. OTOH, the flybacks from the '90's and earlier seem to hold up much better, for the most part.

[rcaman]

you didnt read my post very well did you. those flybacks in those sets hold up very well. steve

[jfh2112]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

I wouldn't feel to bad about changing a flyback that may not have been bad. Modern RCA flybacks do not hold up well at all and will die at the drop of a hat. I've seen less than 2 year old RCA's with bad flybacks. OTOH, the flybacks from the '90's and earlier seem to hold up much better, for the most part.

It could have been bad. After I replaced the HOT and the flyback, the whine went away, and it sounds like it at least *attempting* to get a picture. And I got better at soldering.

The resistor wasn't blown before; I checked all that before I even ordered parts. I should have ordered all of it at once, but oh well. It blew after I replaced the HOT & flyback; that's why I think I have a bad splitter also. So now, time to order rcaman's parts list and see what happens.

[jfh2112]

Hi! Remember me?

I finally got around to ordering the parts today. Hopefully by next week I'll be able to post pics of a working TV!

Even if it doesn't work, thank all of you for your help. I really appreciate it.

[jfh2112]

OK, so no pics of a working TV.

However, I *do* get a picture now! I almost woke everyone up with my triumphant hollering when I powered on the TV after installing the HV splitter and the new resistor and saw "Unusable Signal" on the screen. Here's what I've got now:

Hooked the XBox 360 to the TV with the HDTV cable, using component connections (no HDMI on my 360). TV powers on like it should. I still have a red light on the logic board. The picture is stable in the middle, but towards the edges you can see horizontal lines flickering across the entire width of the picture. In the corners is especially bad; there's some image "tearing". The flickering occurs even if there is no video source. The picture also appears somewhat "washed out", like the whites are too white, the blacks aren't black enough, and everything else is kind of "meh".

I'd take a picture, but I'm not sure it'd come out; I can try if anyone wants to try to get a look at it.

EDIT: Got some pictures and an update.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34685865@N04/3223166502/

I ran the TV for about an hour this morning getting pictures, and suddenly the lines just went away. I immediately became suspicious and unplugged the TV, because I'm pretty sure it's about to go out again. I pulled out the module on the left side and tore it down and gave it a look, but nothing jumps out at me as far as anything wrong. I put it all back together & plugged it in to confirm I still have a red status light.

[rcaman]

looks like you did not insert the highvoltage wire into the splitter good enough. as far as the blurry pix. clean the lenses and mirror. steve

[jfh2112]

Originally Posted by rcaman

looks like you did not insert the highvoltage wire into the splitter good enough. as far as the blurry pix. clean the lenses and mirror. steve

You were right - I restripped the HV wire and reconnected it to the splitter. I still get the red light on the 'logic' board* when I connect power. <part about lockups redacted - turns out it was the 360 and not the TV that was locking up >

BTW, I cleaned the lenses & the mirror - holy crap. Major improvement in picture quality. Thanks for that tip.

Where can I find a service manual for this beast?

*That board actually contains the cable & antenna tuners and the CableCARD slot. I just don't know what else to call it, since I don't have a svc manual or anything.

[jfh2112]

Originally Posted by rcaman

R14718 is a 120k @ 1/4 W, part # 260880. R14719 is part # 175046, no value given. R14705 is part # 238958, a 27K 1/2 W. Splitter is 258512


you will need all these to get it back up and running splitter is under the picture tubes in the middle. order your parts from tritronics.
r14705 is a 30k ohm resistor. good luck steve

OK, so like a cheapskate idiot, I didn't order replacements for R14718 and R14719. I really should have listened to you. <kicking self>

R14718 is reading 30K, and R14719 (a 30K, ironically) is reading 6.5K.

On the plus side, I know now how to read resistor bands. Of course, that doesn't make the TV work...

Tritronics doesn't have the 30K resistors in stock; they're listed as NLA. Where's another good parts source? Mouser has *tons* of resistors, but I'm not sure about exactly what to get. Any advice?