Lightning strike- Can my new flat screen be fixed.
 

During a lightning storm the house got hit and sparks flew out of an electrical outlet that my new 40” Sony was plugged into. The outlet still works fine, no other visible damage to the house but the TV is not working. It will not turn on anymore. Does anyone think that if I pull it apart I might find an easy repair. I’m not a tech geek and it would have to be something readily visible that looks burned up and can be replaced easily. So, can this be fixed, would you even bother with it, or should I try it out as a surfboard.

It's dead.

Homeowners might cover depending on deductible.

It's already broken. So no harm/foul to take it apart and see if you can fix it. If you cannot, send it to the e-recycle.

Maybe you will get lucky and it is just the power supply portion that has failed. More likely there are several things damaged and the cost to repair it will exceed the cost to replace it.

angela

Depending on how new it is the availability of system pull parts will vary.

New parts will almost surely be too expensive to make fixing it worthwhile.

Do a search for the manual / schematic.

If it's got a protection fuse you may get off easy.

If not I doubt I'd bother.

What she said.

If you DO decide to open it up and see what you can do, look for the obvious: burned solder joints, popped capacitors, etc. When items such as this take an electrical spike like that, it can be as simple as a single circuit getting blown, or as bad as a whole lot of internals getting fried. If you're not wanting to upgrade (go bigger), 40" TVs are really pretty cheap these days...like, cheaper than your homeowner's insurance deductible, probably.

Just scored a 50" Samsung plasma from Costco for $700 out the door.

As has been said, most likely cost more to fix than it is worth... and I am a tech.

For prevention of this happening again, may I suggest:

https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.6080...4&pid=15.1&P=0

Going forward, one thing to consider is a whole-house surge protector. They usually cost about $75-$200 and are attached to the main electrical panel.

Many times there is a fuse on the board thats only accessible when you take the back panel off. Maybe you'll get lucky!!

SmileWavy

A power conditioner would be even better.

Here's my .02:
If sparks were flying from the outlet, I doubt a surge protector would have helped, but they're good to have for anything besides a direct hit.

I don't think Homeowners insurance would pay for that because, its an act of God, but you can check anyways.

If your house was a direct hit from lightening, I think that TV is completely fried.

When our house was hit by lightning (in Hawaii no less), homeowners covered replacement of virtually the entire house wiring, and all the blown components. I got rid of all CFLs immediately.

My edit ;)

Depends on the policy.

Lightning strikes are very common around here. I've had several friends, houses no more than a few doors away, who got hit and anything that got fried got replaced by insurance.

Electronics are the least of the worries. Every year in our community a house will catch fire or burn down completely during "the season".

we had a Sony 40" that got fried by lightning a few years back, it was still covered by the Costco warranty (the Sony warranty had expired, gotta love Costco/AMEX warranty extension). They sent a tech out, he declared it dead, and we got a check that covered a new Samsung 46".

My guess would be dead....

Was it plugged into a surge protector? We were struck by lighting and the power strip had a 25K $ policy for lighting protection. 2 TVs, Amp, VCR, Telephones and some other stuff was all covered and we got a check for $2300. It was fast and easy.

Open it up and take a look. You should be able to tell of something is blown. I got a new main board for an FG 46" for 100 bucks, good as new. As already mentioned, could be a simple fuse...

There doesn't seem to be any other damage to house wiring or appliances, and the deductible turns out to be higher than the price of the TV. Looks like I'll do a little exploration given some of the info I've gotten here and hope there's a fuse or something easy to fix.

Thanks for all the advice, I appreciate it.

How new is new? Did you buy with your Amex? Visa? Many credit cards have damage coverage included as a benefit.

Amex bought my wife a new iPad when hers fell off the treadmill while she was running.

Also... some TVs do have replaceable fuses inside.

Its almost a year old. Bought it for myself last christmas. Debit card. I'm taking it apart and have found a small burn mark. I will post pix as I get them organized. It doesn't look catastrophic, but I think its beyond my expertise.

It's only resting.

Let the dead lie,,,

Don't even bother trying to fix it.. Lightning strikes and surges like that are funny creatures... No telling how much latent damage there is in components that might still be operational..You could find a blown line fuse, fix it, get it running and it could die in a week.

Nothing worse than trying to fix electronic systems that have been hit and grounding systems are no guarantee. I'm still dealing with latent failures on a couple of my systems that were struck almost a year ago.. One, a direct hit, the other nearby, ground surges.

Look to see if your home owners covers it, that's what it's for. Time to get a bigger set!

Well there was no magic fuse, and the tracks are contained to a small area but I feel it would be futile for me to even attempt resuscitation with my limited knowledge.

I might however, just for the heck of it, while I have the board out, see if I can find a replacement; you never know, stranger things have saved me money.

I've included a few cloudy pix, taken with an el cheapo camera.

The light blue diode is on top of the board and looks like the top edge of the protective coating burned up.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1405634285.jpg


Just below it on the TV case itself is the telltale burn mark.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1405634370.jpg


On the backside of the board is a bit of scorching, circled in red.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1405634471.jpg

And that's all I know. LOL

On to the next adventure.

Thanks for all the advice.

It's pining for the fiords!

Did you use your am ex ? They will cover it

Try and get the part number off it and buy a replacement for like ... $1 and have a go!

Unless one of the free replacement options works, of course.

Norwegian Blues are like that...stoic yet sentimental.

That looks like a ceramic capacitor from the blurry photo. Easy to source and cheap. Pick up a $10 soldering iron and some solder wick and you have yourself a project!

I took the lazy route. I called Sony parts and they had the board for $107 free shipping. If it doesn't work they guarantee I can return the part. I spoke with the parts guy, we took a couple numbers off of the board. The entire conversation took 5 minutes. Its due the 23rd, so in 6 days I shall return and report back. Besides the time it took me to report here, this has taken all of 20 minutes. You gotta love FedEx, the internet, and the PP forums.

Our 47" Phillips went out a week or so after our house or somewhere nearby was hit by lightning. It was on a surge protector and a $17 board inside the TV was what was damaged. It was harder getting the thing face down on the floor without gravity taking it over for me than doing the actual work.

The Wii power adapter and the HDMI port on the media center PC's video card were the only other things affected.

A guy named Franklin, invented the lightning rod. If strikes are a regular occurrence......maybe get one. Just sayin'....

Well look what showed up today.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1406151262.jpg


5 minutes to install, with the obligatory sacrificial screw left over.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1406151323.jpg



And two of my favorite people are back on the big screen!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1406151421.jpg


Thanks Pelican.

Awesome!

I love this forum! SmileWavy