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NotTaR of Television Sets : Comments on lightning damage            
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Comments on lightning damage

Unfortunately, lightning or similar surge related damage can happen to any equipment that is plugged into ANYTHING - AC line, antenna, cable, phone. Symptoms can be almost anything but often run along the lines of the following:

"I just recently bought a new JVC TV, about 5 months ago to be exact. A few weeks ago it got hit by lightning. Not directly though. I am trying to figure out why it will not power up now. I traced as far as I could into the power and it seems to be getting 120 all the way to some sort of parts. I know at least that it is going past the fuse, and the fuse did not even blow. But when I press the on switch still nothing happens. The switch is good, as is the wiring leading to the mainboard. From there I don't know. Does anyone know of any VERY common things to go when hit by lightning? I really don't know much about TV repair, but I feel like trying to fix it myself. I just have no idea where to look now. It is getting power, but I don't know where exactly it is stopping. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated."

(From: Brian Frank" (jambfrank@erols.com).)

When I was in trade school the instructor who taught the TV/VCR. repair course also had a fixit place on the side. This man knew everything about TVs, he could almost tell you what was wrong with a set by just smelling it. Once I brought a set to class that had been struck indirectly as well, the instructor told me the best thing to do was to tie a rope around it an use it as an anchor for a boat. He further went on to explain that a set struck in any way usually has so many problems that it is not worth getting in to. The one time he did try to fix a particularly expensive set it took him and two other employees three weeks to get it going. And he said there were still some problems.

As for tips on actually fixing it you might want to ask around for junkers and cannibalize them into one set.


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