Hi Paul,
During my hypothetical "spare time" I do the odd electrical appliance or electronics repair, for friends, workmates and family.
I only take on the "simpler" faults, because in this day and age, the problem of getting circuit diagrams or even spare parts, is nothing short of diabolical.
Even so called "big ticket" items like your large TV's and stereo's have little or no service support these days, even with common house-hold name brands.
Manufacturers just aren't interested in having anyone repair an appliance these days, they are built to a price and if it fails, buy a new one.
I will be working on a Philips 34" CTV tomorrow that belongs to my sister, it all of a sudden went bang, only 2 years old, at the time of purchase, it cost NZ$999.
If it is anything too serious, it will be going to the tip.
But I reckon it might have been an electrolytic capacitor in the power supply that failed (I haven't had time to open it up thus far).
Switch-mode power supplies seem to be really hard on capacitors in TV's, this will be the 3rd TV that has suffered this fate, I've had 2 where the switch-mode chip has literally blown to pieces.
People that manufacture this junk seriously need to lift their game, but then again, people buy it don't they?
