TV Repairs; is it past it?

li'l_p

I have a TV which I got through a friend, known faulty. It's a Techwood make, quite bulky but modern design. She said that I could have it, and I said I would get someone to look at it and see if it would be worth repairing. It powers up, you can hear the sound but then after a few minutes it powers off.

A repair guy I phoned came out yesterday and took the back off. He had a flick round with his torch and said that it looked like someone has already had the back off as the screws were loose (doesn;t mean anything as we have taken backs off stereos before now but never understood what we were doing and just left it!!!). He didn't say whether he could see any repairs had been done and basically put the back on and went.

I am at a loss as to whether I should get a second opionion. Can anyone advise what the problem is likely to be and whether I should pursue it or is it likely that it will be a costly repair? Seems such a waste to just send it to landfill.

ckerrd

Did he not even bother giving you a quote?

I had a simialr problem which cost about 100 quid to repair. Can't recall what it was exactly but not an uncommon fault. It was a Bush (rebadged as a Mitsubishi - wouldn't have bought it if I had known)

Sad to say the thing died again a year later so I got a new tv.

Worth asking for a quote though.

li'l_p

It was free call out but he didn't even seem to indicate whether it was worth trying to attempt a repair. I didn't want to push him - he was a bit odd.

ckerrd

Try someone else would be my advice.

PROFESSIONAL_LANDLORD

It's a Techwood make,


It's probably not worth it ! might be if it was a DECENT NAME like panasonic Hitachi Sony etc, a lot of these cheaper imports are unreliable, and you could be wasting your money,




Ex T.V engineer

auroraB_2

I have a Techwood TV (42") which is on the blink. It has a separate tuner box which operates for a few hours then switches itself off. TV engineer has told me on the phone that it is a common fault with this make. That it is the video board that needs replacing. quoted £250-£350. Is it worth getting other quotes or am I better off getting a new tv?

vikingaero

My local TV repair bloke charges £25 up front because so many people were leaving TVs with him and finding that it wasn't worth repairing. So he spent ages checking them out for no gain and having to dispose of them too.

HugoSP

It's probably a dry solder joint on the PSU. When it heats up the contact breaks and then you're left with no power at all.

If you can find it (be careful there are cpacitors in there) and resolder it you've got yourself a decent TV for nothing.

I had the same problem on a TV handed down from my dad. We took the back off and tuned it on. We also turned the light out and you could clearly see it sparking, so we knew exactly which joint it was.

We repaired it and it went on for another 7 years or so! I can't remember why we got rid of it, probably the tube.

Look on www.freecycle.org for free TVs being offered in your area. The CRT ones are fast being replaced at the moment. We gave a 5 year old TV away to our friends recently as it was worth very little, even though it was a top spec at the time of manufacture. They had to get a remote for it as we had lost it, but that only cost them around £12 via th net.

startrekker

£99 gets you a brand new 28 inch tv delivered. Have a look at THIS thread from HDUK

wolfehouse

our local charity shop had a huge collection of all sizes of good model tvs- sony, hitachi etc. for £15 each. people are abandoning perfectly good sets now and replacing with lcd or plasma tvs. there are lots and lots to be had at very cheap prices if you don't mind the 'used' lottery- probably cheaper than asking someone to look at a broken one though.