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(I will write this as if you were stupid, of course none of you are, but I want to communicate this to as many people as possible, with or without previous knowledge)

I learnt to repair electronics (tube TVs and VCR … don’t say anything) in my apprenticeship. Most of that job is now obsolete. Nobody buys an tube TV or let someone repair their old flatscreen. Of course electronics are interesting, but the job demand is down to nearly zero because unlearnt people can switch boards in modern electronics.
But that’s not the topic of this. The topic is: People throw away their flatscreen after 2-4 years without even opening it to see what’s wrong.
In case of modern tech screens, or well, every electronic device really usually one thing happens: In the power supply the electrolyte condensators lose capacity and the power supply won’t work any more.
So I have a Samsung flat screen as a second monitor and in January 2018 it didn’t start up but the power LED was blinking.
Won’t start up usually means “Power supply is broken” but most people won’t know that. But it’s really the only thing that will break because condensators. ;)
Anyway, you can easily google that as well and find the answer in modern search engines. Be aware, that at least one answer (the answer with the most clicks …) was wrong.
What you have to do if a piece of hardware won’t work and you don’t have warranty: Open it up. Don’t be afraid, it’s broken anyway. All you will do is maybe damage some of the plastic.
Then you will have to look for the power supply and find the condensators. These are cylindrical little guys with usually a big white line on it showing MINUS.
At the bottom I will show pictures of a broken one and one intact one.
To repair your device you literally only need a soldering iron and solder, maybe a desolder gun and/or desolder wick.

The pieces I needed to repair my screen were literally ten bucks. Euros that is, so like dollars.
Of course I learnt this for three years but it’s really easy, you can do it. Everyone can do it if bodily able.
Condensators get a bulge on top. The surface has to perfectly flat, otherwise it’s already damaged or will give up soon.
If you check and see if the parts are broken just put the values, volts and capacity, into a trusted traders website or a search engine to find a trader. I ordered my stuff from a local German electronics company of course so I can’t give you any tips there.

If you need a soldering tutorial, check YouTube. Everyone can learn to remove or replace an electronic part in maximum an hour. Again: Don’t be afraid.

A man hour is about 80 euros here, that means it’s about 92 dollars. The parts are usually 20 bucks or less. Companies charge more for the parts as well.

I also will link you my tutorial video for my device to show easy it is and the condensator pieces I mean. Enjoy, repairing stuff is fun and cheap and people throw away too much stuff which is basically perfectly fine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnV5KNla2eg

#electronics #repair #youtube #fixing #tutorial #condensators #savingmoney

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