REPORTER
The Newsletter of the Eastern Professional Electronics Association
SPRING 2016
There are no secrets to
success. It is the result of
preparation, hard work,
and learning from failure.
- Colin Powell
MAC2016 will be in Virginia Beach, VA
Ladies Auxiliary
EPEA Board
By: June Lindberg
President
Corey Brazell
Consolidated Electronics
919-821-5152
Vice President
Jeff Dougherty
NEVER ADJUST THE "V" BLOCK STOPPERS!
Intrepid TV Repair
717-233-4388
Treasurer
Bob Lindberg
Panasonic—Retired
757-425-5660
Secretary
Randy Farrow
Blue Hen TV
302-697-9681
In spite of a number of setbacks, the heart
of the Ladies Auxiliary is still beating
strong. Even though there was a low
attendance at the last convention,
everyone dug deep into their pockets and
made some really incredible donations to
our cause. This generosity enabled us to
continue supporting all of our regular
charities. We want to thank everyone
there for their support. We also have to
give a big round of applause to our
Secretary, Holly Brazell for all her hard
work collecting their money.
This year we will be back in Virginia Beach
and we plan to have a full schedule of activities. We hope to see quite a few of our
regular friends and maybe make some new
ones. Being a family friendly location, Virginia Beach Resort Hotel is a great vacation spot as well as the usual home of the
Mid-Atlantic Conference.
Immediate
Past President
Hope to see you in June at the 2016
MAC!!!
Larry Dom
AVSC Electronics
757-463-1368
EPEA Reporter Magazine
The EPEA Reporter is published by the Eastern Professional Electronics Association (formerly the Virginia Professional Electronics Association.) The statements and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of
the Eastern Professional Electronics Association. The editor takes full responsibility for typos and errors. If you would like to
contribute to The Reporter, please contact the editor at: editor@vpea.org
2
MAC Is Back!!
hopefully some solutions are reached.
Don’t forget to attend the EPEA General
Membership Meeting, Saturday, June 4,
2016 at 5 PM. This is when the election of
new officers takes place and new members
are announced. This is where you get to
take part in the governing of your
association.
by: June Lindberg
For the last two years, the annual June
convention was a joint endeavor with another
association. Now MAC is back! EPEA’s Mid
-Atlantic Conference will be at the Virginia
Beach Resort Hotel starting Wednesday,
June 1, 2016 with registration and hospitality,
and continuing thru Saturday, June 4, 2016.
Training classes will begin bright and early
Thursday morning with technical, management and appliance classes. This year we
are also including a Sealed System class.
You can go to our website, www.epea.us to
register and pay online for the MAC
convention. If you would prefer, you can
print out the registration form and mail it with
a check. Either way, be sure to register and
attend the convention.
Hotel reservations should be made directly
with Virginia Beach Resort Hotel at 757-4819000. The room rate is $109.00 if you tell
them you are with the EPEA MAC
convention.
The Trade Show will be Thursday evening.
Come and meet everyone, find out what’s
new and what is available. You never know
what you can learn from others. The EPEA
will have a table there where you can get
membership applications to join.
We are looking forward to seeing old friends
and making new ones. Hope you will be
able to attend and help us celebrate the
return of the Mid-Atlantic Conference!!
Saturday morning is the Industry
Roundtable. Bring all of your thoughts,
ideas, questions and complaints (well maybe
not ALL of your complaints). This is where a
lot of business concerns are discussed and
3
LED screen repair
Jeff Dougherty, CSR/MST
Back by popular demand, this article is reprinted from a previous Reporter issue.
Diagnosis
What I have learned to diagnose some LED TVs is you
need to check the voltage across the plus/minus of
each LED array. In the ones I have seen the LEDs are
mostly in series. In some larger units such as the Vizio
47 inch there are 2 separate supplies, one for each set
of 3 LEDs. The voltage drop across each strip should
be approximately 100vdc. If this voltage is missing on
both strips then check the voltage to ground to see if
the power supply is outputting about 160vdc.
If the power supply is working but you are missing
100vdc voltage drop then you have a problem with that
set of LED arrays most likely an open LED. It is not
uncommon to have more than one LED open.
Disassembly
You will need to disassemble the panel leaving the
boards intact. Remove the cables from the T-con to
the panel and the front panel assembly from the
cabinet. Remove the speakers and set aside.
Remove and set aside the LCD panel on a blanket
to prevent scratches. Use caution as sometimes
they are glued down. Before removing the diffuser,
mark the corner of it with a marker so you know
which direction to replace the diffusers. I recommend using plastic gloves when handling the LCD
and diffuser sheets.
4
Testing
Now you need to determine which strip has the defective LED. If your panel will light briefly you may be
able to see the defective LED before the backlights
go out. In the case of the Vizios, if one set of 3 strips
are OK the 3 good backlights strips will light briefly.
In the Proscan PLDED3996 model the backlights will
strobe and you can see the defective one(s). Where
you have an open LED the entire strip that is in series will not light. You will have to remove the strip
and test on a variac. Plug an old AC cord with bare
wires on the one end into the variac and the bare
wires across the LED terminal at the end of one strip,
usually labeled + and -. SLOWLY turn up the AC
voltage until the LEDs light. As soon as they light,
stop increasing the voltage or you will damage more
LEDs on the strip. Mark the defective LED(s). If they
still don’t light you will have to remove the lens and
do a diode test on each one. The good LEDs should
light on the diode test.
Repair
Remove the plastic lens over the LED and place the strip on
a preheater.
Set the bottom at 500° F and the hot air the same. Use a
dental pick to move the LED when the solder is molten. It is
important to note the bottom of many of these LEDs will have
a solder pad larger than the other. I have found the polarity is
different on some of these. Use your diode test to determine
polarity and place the replacement diode in the correct polarity on the strip.
Install the LED strip and turn the unit on.
Please join us at the MAC convention June 1at—4th for live
training and repair techniques. I have done 32 inch Proscans,
47 inch Visio and a 55 inch Samsung with success. The process can take 1-2 hours.
Special thanks to Neil Leipziger for his assistance in some of
these testing procedures.
5
6
EPEA is for You
Lightning
By: Bob Lindberg
By: Corey Brazell
The dictionary says that a lightning rod is: A sharppointed metallic conductor used to protect buildings
from lightning by carrying an electric current
harmlessly to ground. In past years, while installing
antennas I have seen homes that had sharp
pointed conductors about a foot high, mounted on
the Peaks of the roof tops. These conductors were
connected to thick braided copper wire cabling
running along the roof line, down the side of the
house finally connected to a metal rod pounded
into the ground! I often wondered why these
sharp-pointed conductors and the thick braided
copper wire wasn’t insulated from the house.
This time of year is always exciting for me. The
conference is getting closer, I get to see old
friends, meet new ones, learn new things, and
remember things I had long forgotten. Probably
only to forget them again.
Every year is new again—new classes, new
instructors, new products, new troubleshooting
methods. Even if the theory of the product is
familiar, there is always a new trick or two to
help speed up the process, or to help ensure a
quality repair or diagnosis. Attending the
conference is truly a wise investment.
In past years, when TV antennas were installed
they were typically grounded. Back then we used a
thin aluminum wire that was wrapped and twisted
around the antenna mast, then usually using the
same standoffs that we used for the 300 Ohm twin
lead, we would run this wire down the roof over the
eve and down the side of the house. Near the point
where the 300 Ohm twin lead would enter the
house we would install a lightning arrestor, their
tooth washers would pierce both sides of the 300
Ohm twin lead. The ground wire would be attached
to this lightning arrestor then continue down and
connect to a 3 foot copper rod that was pounded
into the ground. I often wondered why aluminum,
surely copper is a better conductor. Maybe
because it wouldn’t rust after all in wasn’t coated. I
often wondered if this thin aluminum wire would be
capable of carrying a bolt of lightning to ground.
That said, on more than one occasion I came
across a customer that took a hit to find the
lightning arrestor literally blown off the side of the
house.
What about the other times of the year? The
EPEA has that covered, too. Have you been to
our website lately? Have you checked out the
training information we have available? Have
you been to E-Net and looked at the Tech-toTech forum, where our members are ready to
help with any question you may have with
troubleshooting, finding a part, etc.
This year, we are excited to team up with
TheProSquad so that our members can have
access to their resources as well. TheProSquad
offers support forums for technical assistance
and parts, a service center locator map for
consumers, and a unique servicer-to-servicer
parts system called Boiled Frog Parts. They
have discrete components, boards, and even
some vintage parts available. And, since you
are buying from other servicers there is a level
of trust that is not available from some other
places.
Wait a minute:
I have a question for you: should an outside
antenna mounted on your roof be grounded? Do
you really want to have something above your roof
line at ground potential? Isn’t that the definition of a
lightning rod?
The EPEA offers value all year long to our
members. We also offer networking to a group
of service centers that you know and that you
trust. We are here to help in whatever you may
need, or whatever advice will help you and your
business.
I never had to replace a tuner because of a
lightning strike! I wonder why?
Help us to help you. Please visit our website at
www.epea.us and join the EPEA. While you are
at it, go ahead and register for the MAC2016
conference. It will pay for itself in no time.
This discussion to be continued nightly at
the hospitality suite – MAC is BACK 2016
convention.
This is an investment you can’t afford to lose.
7
Chilly News
By: June Lindberg
A long time ago, in a land far, far away (Chicago to be exact), most homes had this clever invention called a refrigerator (which my parents still called an ice box). They took up
a lot of room in the kitchen, kept your milk and kool-ade
cool, made your jello jiggly, and only made ice cubes if you
remembered to fill the trays. Wow, has that changed. Now
days, the lowly refrigerator is a VERY important member of
the family, and if it goes on the blink you can’t call for an
ambulance. You call a repair man. You want that repair
man to be close by, fast and well trained.
With the complexity of today’s smart appliances, and the demand for trained appliance
technicians growing every day, now may be the time for electronic servicers to add or increase their technicians’ knowledge of appliance repair. To assist in this transition, National Service Alliance (NSA) and Asurion are jointly sponsoring a Sealed System Repair class
at EPEA’s MAC 2016 convention. This will be a two day class held on Thursday, June 2
and Friday, June 3, 2016. This class will cover
EPA CFC refrigerant handling and recovery,
refrigeration theory and troubleshooting and
brazing and replacement of sealed system
components. This training could cost up to
$500.00, but if you register for the MAC convention, there is no extra charge for this class.
The CFC certification exam is done online.
There is a $100.00 charge for this certification
and you will need to bring your own laptop.
Because this will be hands-on training, the class size must be limited. Please sign up as
soon as possible at the following:
www.regonline.com/builder/site/?eventid=1827195
NSA and Asurion had a previous class totally booked in two weeks, so if you are interested in attending this class, register now.
8
Remember when….
Back then we really needed to know basic
electronics and vacuum tube theory. Do you
remember Ohms Law? (E=I X R) How about ELI
the ICE man? Do you remember how hot the
5U4 would run?
Some of my random memories of service centers past.
By Bob Lindberg
I remember when RCA sent out information
about failures of their AC switches and line
radiation capacitors. Pulling our sales records
we made service calls on sets that needed to be
updated. We made enough extra money to buy
our first oscilloscope. It was a B & K of course.
Remember all the waveforms that we needed to
know in repairing TV sets? Saw tooth, cash
register, 3.58 burst just to name a few. We
could now see audio and video – remember?
Back then television manufacturers relied on
distributors to sell their products. As a self
servicing dealer we serviced what we sold. Your
television manufacture’s distributor and your
floor planning company became your best
friends. Our service trucks had our company
name and phone number painted on the sides,
the truck assigned to me had “Here comes Bob”
painted on the front. There was no price
gouging like there is today. When a customer
purchased a set from your company, you did
your best to keep that customer, by treating
them with honesty, respect and trust.
Back then there was Howard Sams Photo facts.
No matter what the product they were always
laid out the same way, which made it easier to
follow the schematic.
Back then it wasn’t unusual for us to make a
service call even when the customer wasn’t
home at the time of the call. The back door was
always open, and there would be a signed blank
check setting on top of the TV. I remember
nstalling antennas without the customer being
home.
Remember handwritten NARDA forms?
Back then we also did antenna work. I used to
be able to install a 3 foot tripod, mount a SC82
Winegard antenna on a 10 foot mast and run
coax to a single wall outlet in about an hour and
a half. That left time for me to make 4 or 5 other
service calls that day. If you want a real workout
try climbing a 50 foot tower and change a rotor
that had a Winegard CW 98 mounted above the
rotor (BY YOURSELF).
Back then our thought process was that when
repairing a television set, if you found a problem
you always ordered TWO replacement parts.
Because once you found a problem you would
see it again! In the case of 6GH8s that turned
out to be buying 25 at a time.
Back then, most color televisions were in big
wooden cabinets. I remember one very
paranoid customer who actually bolted his
cabinet to the floor. Before our service tech
could move the set away from the wall to take
the back off the set he had to go down into the
basement with a wrench and remove the nuts
from the bolts holding the TV to the floor. Too
bad it wasn’t a Quasar.
Back then we purchased most of our vacuum
tubes and some generic parts from parts distributors. Ours was a company called Stolz Wicks
out of Elgin. If you called an order in by 10:00
AM you would have that order delivered by 3:00
PM. Their salesman would stop by at least once
a week to service our needs. Sylvania and GE
where the main manufactures of replacement
tubes.
I hope you all enjoyed a trip down memory lane.
I wish you all happy days.
9
Did you know, many TV boards can be repaired to component level?
In this day, it is even more important to learn how to easily make money off your repairs! Wouldn’t it be
nice to change one part and charge the customer according versus ordering a board from a distributor?
Realistically, if you can get a rebuilt board for $100, wouldn’t it be more practical to rebuild it yourself and
pocket that $100? EPEA has provided you with an email list and discussion board for this purpose.
I have learned how to replace LED strips, Program Eeproms and replace HDMI chips from talking with
other Association members. There are many resources EPEA provides if you know where to look. If
there is enough interest, I am sure we can schedule a break-out session at our 2016 Convention in Virginia Beach to educate attendees the benefits of EPEA membership. Think about it, simply 2 repairs can
pay for your convention trip. One repair over the year can pay for your EPEA membership.
Members may have noticed recent email to the tech-to-tech mailing list. This list is there for EPEA members to post when they are stuck on a repair, need help cross-referencing a part or need a training manual. The email to send questions to is techtotech@vpea.org. Please be sure to include as much information as possible and sign your post with your name, company name and location.
Jeff Dougherty, MST, CSR Membership chair, Vice-President EPEA.
GROUND ISN'T GROUND THE WORLD AROUND!
Mid Atlantic Conference 2016
June 1-4, 2016
Virginia Beach Resort Hotel and Conference Center
2800 Shore Dr, Virginia Beach VA 23451
757-481-9000
Register for the convention online at:
www.epea.us
10
Convention Time
By: Jeff Dougherty, MST, CSR membership chair, VicePresident, EPEA.
I have been an EPEA member since 2002 and
have met some of the most outstanding people in
this industry in those 14 years. I have not missed a
convention since my fist one in 2002.
The reason is the people were so friendly and acceptable. This association has been good to me
and I appreciate all that I have learned from members at training conventions as well as the Board
members.
Many of these people are no longer participating in
EPEA as many of them have retired from the industry and simply are not as active. The reason I write
all this is an attempt to encourage other members
to come forward and participate on a committee or
sit on the Board. I know firsthand how much time it
takes to run a shop, even more so if you’re a oneman shop but you do find time to serve. It has really
been my honor to serve on this board with some of
the most outstanding people in the industry that are
facing the same issues I do each day. I serve on
the Board as my way to give back to this Association the many years of assistance they have given
me.
owners is they can’t afford to go. If you have never
been to a convention, you don’t know what you are
missing. Not only do I glean knowledge from the
trainers, but I also gain from after-hours discussions with other shop owners and techs. Consider it
an investment in the future of your business.
I hope to see a lot of first timers at this convention
June 1-4, 2016 as well as many more familiar faces. Please remember to thank your trainers after
each session for their time and hard work preparing
for the class.
I have learned over the years from going to conventions, in order to be successful, you must change
with the times. As TV repairs have dwindled in warranty and out, I have started to do appliance repair.
I have created a new fictitious name Intrepid Professional Services. Repairing appliances has really
helped fill the gap of service calls that we were having thus helping the bottom line. Anyone looking to
get their feet wet in appliances should come to our
convention.
One of the benefits that EPEA provides is the annual Mid-Atlantic Conference held in Virginia Beach
this year. We have one of the lowest hotel rates
and registration fees at any industry convention.
This year there will be appliance and management
classes as well as consumer electronics. Our hope
is to also have tech-to-tech training which goes really well. There is nothing like having other technicians share their knowledge and expertise with other technicians. Attendance is very important to
show the trainers we have a strong following which
is what they look at when they schedule training.
Join us. Contact any member or
board member, or go to our website
at www.epea.us
One of the biggest reason I hear from other shop
11
EPEA
PO Box 2956
Virginia Beach, VA 23450-2956
Our Web Address History
As you may or may not have noticed yet, our web
address has changed slightly to www.epea.us. Keen
observers will notice that is a little different than what it
used to be. Why? Glad you asked.
This association went by the initials VPEA back when our
first website was created. Our web address was
www.vpea.org. After several years, we changed to a regional association and our initials changed to EPEA.
However, those initials seemed to be a lot more common
than our old ones, and the only domain we could register
was www.epea.ws. We are not dummies (well…), and
knew that the .ws would stump everyone. We placed a
request for something better for whenever it would be
released by whatever entity was holding it. Finally, the
domain www.epea.us became available and we
immediately grabbed it.
It has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?
Contact Us
Do you have something you
would like to submit for our
newsletter or website? Do
you have training material
you would like for EPEA
members to have access to?
If so, please email
webmaster@vpea.org
Or, you can mail us at:
EPEA
PO Box 2956
Virginia Beach, VA 23450