My TV went again today so decided to look at the main power board (after discharging the capacitors) and found these dodgy looking joints does anyone think this will be the cause of my tv not powering up any longer, here are the pics...

Picture 1:

Picture 2:

Picture 3:

Picture 4

TV started switching on and off and then I got someone out to it who sprayed something on the boards and now after a week of running fine it no longer powers up - Just looking for a heads up to see if anyone here thinks they look dodgy joints.

Thanks

That soldering is from someone previously trying to solve your problem and looking for dry joints.

That soldering is from someone previously trying to solve your problem and looking for dry joints.

No they did not touch the boards with a soldering gun as they didn't take the board out just sprayed it with some stuff. I thought the same its like a 5 year old has been let loose with a soldering iron, but this is the first time this board has been removed from the tv and we have had it since new.

No they did not touch the boards with a soldering gun as they didn't take the board out just sprayed it with some stuff. I thought the same its like a 5 year old has been let loose with a soldering iron, but this is the first time this board has been removed from the tv and we have had it since new.

It didn't leave the factory like that. It sure looks like it has been repaired. Where did you buy it from?

It didn't leave the factory like that. It sure looks like it has been repaired. Where did you buy it from?

Your worrying me now it was bought from new at Curry's just 20 months ago, I hope it never left the factory like this, are they dry joints they certainly dont look right, its like it has been over heating. Any advice as if you guys feel this is not dry joints and a manufacturing defect then I will try my best to pursue this under the sale of goods act.

Thanks again.

Those joints are *terrible*. I'd try resoldering and see if it fixes it.

I would think that the guy who sprayed the board actually used a soldering iron as the spray doesn't cure the fault - it only points you in the direction where the fault is. There are mini gas soldering irons and you may not have noticed him using one.

Your worrying me now it was bought from new at Curry's just 20 months ago, I hope it never left the factory like this, are they dry joints they certainly dont look right, its like it has been over heating. Any advice as if you guys feel this is not dry joints and a manufacturing defect then I will try my best to pursue this under the sale of goods act.

Thanks again.

The reason I asked you where you bought it from is because it looks like a remanufactured board

I deffinetly know he never used a soldering gun as I watched him with his spray something to do with de-greasing, Why would this be a remanufactured board when it was bought new, I still have the receipt from April 2009 which is worrying.

Could some fault cause a boartd to do this, I just cant get over it. And I know someone mentioned re-soldering but now want to try and persue this with Philips surley they should know if it was a "re-packaged" item but then I got it new from curry`s.

Nothings simple with me :S

Those blobs are not self caused by the tv.

If you're 100% sure that the engineer didn't do them then get in touch with Currys.

This was the TV when working

Those blobs are not self caused by the tv.

If you're 100% sure that the engineer didn't do them then get in touch with Currys.

Thanks John, I am 150% certain that nobody has soldered anything on this TV, I doubt curry's will tell me anything how could something be sold like this from new. I thought that they may have been caused by heat and be dry joints.

I dont know anything about soldering but knew when I first saw them that it looked out of place.

Lets not forget that this TV has been mounted above a hot fireplace, and this is why the TV failed in the first place.

Lets not forget that this TV has been mounted above a hot fireplace, and this is why the TV failed in the first place.

Hi Mannyo, Would this cause a board to do this though its only above a standard gas fire but I tell you something its not going on again when I get all this sorted out.

Rest assured - your fire didn't do that!

Lets not forget that this TV has been mounted above a hot fireplace, and this is why the TV failed in the first place.

The melting point of the lead-free solders used in everything these days is typically over 200^oC. Even the old 'outlawed' lead-tin alloys are around 180^oC. If temperatures were getting that high there'd be more than a few joints failing The thermal cycling from being above a fireplace is not going to cause a good, unstressed solder joint to turn into what we see here, but it certainly would cause a crap one to fail. It's also just as likely that dried-out dodgy capacitors are part of the issue - it may be worth doing a search over at http://www.badcaps.net to see if there's any info about this specific model or if you recognise any makes of caps on the boards that are known to be suspect.

Also, are those joints by any chance on wires connecting boards together? In this day and age it is sadly possible that it might indeed have left the factory like that - the boards are 99% automatically assembled, and the few hand connections that need to be made to finish it off will be stuffed on by some untrained production-line worker in a hurry. Those that fail initial testing will then be 'fixed' by some semi-trained reworker. In a hurry. If it passes testing then, it's in a box and out the door...

Where the dodgy solder is on the other side of the board it connects to 2 square transformers with copper coils on them. Surely that would not have been allowed to leave the factory like that.

It looks that bad I don't think re-soldering would do any good, I have also noticed some other joints with slight cracks around the edges.

I am taking the board into the TV shop tomorrow to see what they say.

The 1st, 2nd and 4th photo look like dry joints to me, the other looks like excessive solder blobbing over a small pad.

The board is a mix of SMT and old style components, but the joints you highlight look a different colour to the other through board solder joints, so I would suspect this is a return/repair job.

Currys do have form for passing off equipment they have had returned/repaired as new.

Lets not forget that this TV has been mounted above a hot fireplace, and this is why the TV failed in the first place.

There is no way being above a fire place caused that.

Lead free solder is hard enough to melt with the older irons, never mind passive heat.

The casing would have melted or charred well before the solder melted.

IMHO that is one of the worst soldering jobs I've ever seen. Far too much solder and it looks like they heated the solder instead of the joint.

I'd be amazed if that was anything but a very poor hand repair. As to where it was done, that is another question.

The 1st, 2nd and 4th photo look like dry joints to me, the other looks like excessive solder blobbing over a small pad.

I would suspect this is a return/repair job.

Currys do have form for passing off equipment they have had returned/repaired as new.

I cant get over it to be honest how such a poor job be done then re sold, surley they would of thought it would cause problems further down the line.

IMHO that is one of the worst soldering jobs I've ever seen. Far too much solder and it looks like they heated the solder instead of the joint.

I'd be amazed if that was anything but a very poor hand repair. As to where it was done, that is another question.

It is very poor and those joints screamed at me they looked so out of place - as to where it was done all I can say is I bought it new from curry's in April 2009. If they did repair it and resold it would they have a record of such a repair? The reason is I want to pursue this as I think its a bit naughty - Ok doing a "good" repair fine but such a poor job is just asking for the unit to fail again.

Just worried that this board may have damaged other things now if its been arking high current voltages to other parts of the TV.

Thanks again everyone - Will keep you posted.

Currys do have form for passing off equipment they have had returned/repaired as new.

Jut as well I checked the whole thread, as this was EXACTLY what I was going to put! Not just Currys either, but generally when stuff is returned to the factory, repaired and sold 'as new', the boxes are sealed with tape that says so. I suspect this is just done on the honesty principle, though! Hell, the soldering on the PCB I made for my GCSE electronics project was better than that!

Hell, the soldering on the PCB I made for my GCSE electronics project was better than that!

I Know its awful I don't know if you get these joints re soldered or try and persue this but doubt I will get nowhere - Does anyone know if currys will have a record that this has been repaired by them previous to me buying it.

***RESULT*** I phoned Philips and they have agreed to pick up the TV and repair it as under warranty conditions so I am just awaiting contact from the engineer to pick up the TV. What a relief as this was stressing me out, Will keep you posted.

***RESULT*** I phoned Philips and they have agreed to pick up the TV and repair it as under warranty conditions so I am just awaiting contact from the engineer to pick up the TV. What a relief as this was stressing me out, Will keep you posted.

And they have done this as the problem first occured in the first year of the warranty.

If the problem is recurring from inside the warranty to outside of the year the are obliged to fix this problem as it would be classified as warranty work.

TV was picked up this afternoon - they say I will get it back in a week...wonder what they will think when they have seen those solder joints. Just hope they can fix it as it was a great TV when working.