wtm@neoucom.UUCP (08/16/87)
If you want to take on servicing your television on your own, the best place to look first is the company that made your set. Most companies have an address where you may order the service manual. Most seem to range in the $15 to $25 zone. Try calling one of the regional office telephone numbers in the back of your warranty book. The second route for help is Sams Photo Facts. The quality of these is quite good, and a often quite useful in figuring out older insrcutible Sony products. The best place to go is a TV repair parts vendor in your area (one that sells to TV shops). Be sure to be armed with your set's model # and serial #. Some sets, Magnavox for example, have a "chassis #" on a tag inside the set that you need to have to be sure you get the correct schematic. Some larger public libraries have Photo Facts. I've yet to find a really decent general purpose textbook about fixing televisions. The designs vary so much from year to year and company that covering everything in one book is difficult. Newer sets are often quite difficult to service since the desgin of the power supply is a closed loop system, and the failure of any one component disables the entire set-- sort of a catch 22. Fixing these sets definitely requires the manufacturer's manual to know just what may be safely bypassed in order to get the set up and running enough to trouble shoot it. When servicing sets, extreme care is necessary since there is high voltage (~200 volts) in many circuits. There is also very high voltage (many KV) present. Most sets larger than 12 inches on the screen also power themselves directly from the AC line to avoid need for a heavy power transformer-- you really should use an isolation transformer to prevent shock hazzard when working on such sets. Many parts in sets affect the radiation safety of the unit. You should always use exact replacements. The manufacturer's manual always points out which components have safety-related design. Bill (wtm@neoucom.UUCP)