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NotTaR of Television Sets : Erratic problems with older GE TVs
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1994-2007, Samuel M. Goldwasser. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this document in whole or in part is permitted if both of the following conditions are satisfied: 1. This notice is included in its entirety at the beginning. 2. There is no charge except to cover the costs of copying.
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Some Model Specific Problems
Older GE TVs used double sided circuit boards with poor-man's vias - rivets
soldered to the traces top and bottom. These have been called 'Rivlets' and
'Griplets'. Unfortunately, whoever did the design didn't realize that (1) the
the rivets did not heat adequately during soldering and (2) the expansion
coefficients of the rivets and circuit board were not qutie identical.
Thus, erratic problems are almost a certainty with these TVs. Normal logical
troubleshooting is useless. The only solution is to repair every !@#$ Griplet
on all circuit boards in the TV.
I have repaired these with a high power soldering gun used on both sides with
liberal application of solder and flux. However, I do not recommend this
shortcut unless you are willing to redo the repair every couple of years.
(From: Mr. Caldwell (jcaldwel@iquest.net).)
There are two methods of repair.
Method 1: Clean the paint from around each griplet on both sides of the
board to expose the surrounding copper pad. Apply liquid solder flux to the
cleaned copper. Solder so as to bridge the griplet to the cleaned copper.
Method 2: Do the above but desolder the griplet and place a wire through it
so that the wire extends beyond the griplet to the copper foil and solder
the wire on both sides (this was the final fix GE used in this chassis).
If done carefully Method 1 works and is reliable.
I would normally do this prior to any troubleshooting, it repairs most problems
in this chassis. While you have the board out working on it be sure to also
clean and resolder high temperature components and connections that look bad.
These griplets can be on all boards, even the tuner control board.