ICP250 3A00SMT datasheet or equivalent substitute? Lucky you!

If Google has ranked this page high enough for you to land here while looking for a substitute or at least the damn value of that damn resistor with marking  ICP250 3A00SMT then you're in luck.

The damn value is 0.16 Ohm at 5 watt.

A good American (i.e. documented and distributed in America) substitute is TWW5JR15E. It is not exactly equivalent, but it is definitely a good substitute. 

I know because I use it for some time.

Now, this is not going to make me serious money, but as a sign of your gratitude you can (if you wish!) order two of the above from the below button. 

(It is two because in my world buying one of anything worth less than the postage to receive it is impractical; for that matter, if you want more just drop me an email.)

ICP250 3A00SMT REPLACEMENT / SUBSTITUTE (2 PCS):

A word of caution: This is reasonably powerful as far as resistors go. It is used in power boards like YPSU-J017A, TV sustain boards and possibly other power modules in consumer electronic devices.

This resistor does not burn without a reason!

You're probably going to have to replace more parts on that board!

Sony NSX-32GT1 broken front cover leads to Samsung Google TV

I recently acquired a brand new Sony NSX-32GT1 web TV with Google TV, which is pretty much a 32'' workstation at 1080p. It's way cool!

I got it cheap because its front cover was cracked, but, oddly enough, the display behind it was intact.

I didn't make a picture of the TV while it was assembled, but got a picture of the front cover once I took it off:

After being unable to find a replacement front cover for under $250 (which of course did not make any sense) what else could I do than what I did?

Here's what I did:

This is not a Photoshop at work here.

I took a 32'' Samsung LCD with broken display (you can find those easily on Craigslist) and just moved the Sony into it.

It needed a little rework and , in all fairness, it's not complete.

For one, the Sony had only two buttons on it - the power and the remote sync button (similar to the Sync button on the Wii consoles) while the Samsung had all the standard buttons for menu, channel, volume etc.

So there was a little and simple patchwork mapping two of the original buttons - POWER and MENU - to do what the two buttons on the Sony did.

Sorry I didn't take pictures of the inside, I was just too excited doing it :-)

And second, the Sony has another panel with inputs, below the first one, as well as a side panel. Those feature another two HDMI inputs, USB inputs, LAN socket and earphones plug.

All those are currently still under the cover as frankly, I figured the main and coolest use of this TV is the built-in wireless Internet card ,so you don't really need to run a LAN cable to it.

Anyway, that's how it is.

I'll update here the Samsung model that I used for the job...as not every 32'' LCD TV will do...I tried a few others before finding this.

By the way, now the LCD is looking *directly* the open air where before it was behind the ultra-cool front cover, yet another optical surface anyway.

It's simply looks even better now, although unprotected.

I think it's cool.

A guide in style conversation

Below is an unmodified correspondence with a customer who claimed he has placed an order and received shipping instructions without a shipping address.

As conversation unfolds it turns out someone else has placed the order on his behalf and they have not received any shipping instructions at all since they haven't checked their email. In a separate conversation with that second person she explained she's in the process of moving and hasn't checked mails.

She was prompt and polite and the conversation with her is not quoted here for it is no different than many other conversations we and hopefully you have on a daily basis, regardless to the fact that it lead to an order cancellation - something that apparently both sides wanted and as such was organized and implemented without a problem or delay.

The conversation here is an illustration of the attitude of someone who has paid money and expects the world to make circles around them since THEY know they paid money. We see it every now and then and this post is, among other things, a simple reminder that a business deal has two sides and each side is entitled on its conditions on the deal.

You can also see how we would tend to respond in a similar situation because it would be in a similar way.
If a customer has a problem then we first need to know who the customer is, then what the problem is, then why did it appear and only THEN we will move on to fixing the problem.
We would not fix a problem just because someone said so or just because they're in a hurry - unless, of course, we already know them and have background of the problem.

We realize this policy won't please some people and we're OK with it. As Mr. Hamre brilliantly puts it, there are customers you wouldn't like to deal with even at gunpoint.

And since there's no way to know upfront which is which, we take it all and when a situation develops that clarifies the case we move towards fast and easy cancellation. Just as in this case, where the cancellation was quickly and efficiently arranged with the person who actually placed the order.

So...read and make your mind....if we are not your type of vendor just do not work with us.

As hinted below Mr. Hamre is more than capable of doing the job by himself and perhaps you may want to contact him and let him do it for you.

If anything, you may have a blast learning things about yourself that your mom never told you :-)

-----
From: Jim Hamre [mailto:jim_hamre@azimuthsystems.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 9:14 AM
To: support @ coppelltvrepair . com
Subject: ADDRESS??
Importance: High

Hi-
I bought your REPAIR SERVICE for $50 on e-bay...and got my shipping instructions, etc from you.

But, you didn't supply an ADDRESS to send the unit to. Please provide it, and I will ship the power supply ASAP.

Thanks
Jim Hamre
Manager of Supply Chain and Materials
Azimuth Systems
(978) 268-9219
---


From: Coppell TV  Repair Support
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 12:52 PM
To: Jim Hamre
Subject: RE: ADDRESS??

Did you read to the end of the shipping instructions?

You see, if we put the address at the top we KNOW you won’t make it to the end.

---

From: Jim Hamre [mailto:jim_hamre@azimuthsystems.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 1:08 PM
To: Bobby Kolev
Subject: RE: ADDRESS??


Yes, wise-ass, I read to the end...want me to forward you a copy of the message so you can see for yourself?

And you STILL haven't provided me with a shipping address.

Jim Hamre
Manager of Supply Chain and Materials
Azimuth Systems
(978) 268-9219

---

From: Coppell TV  Repair Support
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 2:24 PM
To: Jim Hamre
Subject: RE: ADDRESS??

Yes, I would like to have that email forwarded please.

We send between 10 and 20 of these every day and this is the first time someone has a complaint like yours.

If it’s a problem in the system then I’d like to catch it and prevent more problems before they have happened.

Oddly enough, I can’t see an email sent to jim_hamre@azimuthsystems.com at all, so it must have been sent to a different email.

And yes, I am still not providing you with a shipping address.

I have to find what the problem was in the first place, resolve it and it will take care of the shipping address by itself.

Otherwise I’ll be patching a problem and not solving it.

You wouldn’t like us to have that approach on your board, would you?

If you don’t then please do not ask us to have it to other technical problems either.

---

From: Jim Hamre [mailto:jim_hamre@azimuthsystems.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 1:38 PM
To: Bobby Kolev
Cc: Michele Kiersey
Subject: RE: ADDRESS??


I work with Michele Kiersey, who was kind enough to procure the $50 service for me thru e-bay, as I do not have an e-bay account.

Next, e-bay sent the a message to Michele Kiersey (shyser_007)...she forwarded it to me. She must now go into e-bay to forward the message to you.

Kind of a real pain for your paying customers, wouldn't you say?

And, from my perspective, you have my money and yet refuse to even give me the address where to send the unit.

Does e-Bay know you conduct business this way?

Jim Hamre
Manager of Supply Chain and Materials
Azimuth Systems
(978) 268-9219

---
From: Bobby Kolev
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 2:58 PM
To: Jim Hamre
Subject: RE: ADDRESS??

Attached is the email that was sent to michele_k@charter.net.

You can see all the information in it such as when it was sent, where it was sent and what does it have.

Your observations for customer service are quite accurate only single-sided.

From here it looks like you would not have had these problems in the first place if:

1) You had your own eBay account
or

2) You had dealt directly with us and not through eBay and/or another party
and

3) michele_k had used a single email address for her eBay and PayPal accounts instead of michele_k@charter.net and michele_k@gmail.com


To summarize, an email with shipping instructions AND address was sent timely and to the email on file with eBay as listing promises.


The source of the problem you have was caused by factors beyond our control and at least partially under your control.

You can wise-ass me all you want.

When facts talk gods are quiet.

Not that I expect you to act a god of course.

---

"The source of the problem you have was caused by factors beyond our control and at least partially under your control."

Really? Are you friggin' serious?

That has GOT to be one of the biggest "its-not-my-fault" whines I have ever seen sent to a potential customer.

All was asking was for you to simply send me the address that did not appear on the message YOUR partner, e-Bay, forwarded after taking the money.

But no, you had to cop some wussy and pious attitude: real nice customer service.

(Hey- I thought Texans took pride in not being babies. Did you move there from Vermont or New York or someplace?)


"You can wise-ass me all you want.

When facts talk gods are quiet.
Not that I expect you to act a god of course."


Sorry to have called you a wise-ass.

That would be an insult to wise-asses everywhere.

You are an asshole. I would not do business with you people with a gun to my head.

Jim Hamre

How to test DELTA DPS-336AP from LVM-37W1 Westinghouse

Power board DELTA DPS-336AP is used in Westinghouse LVM-37W1 and possibly other LCD TVs.

It looks like this:

The board is hard to find and expensive , even second hand.

Coppell TV Repair offers a repair service for it and it is somewhat affordable compared to the price of a used board (let alone availability), but before you send it in you will want to check for yourself if it really needs the repair at all.

It's actually easier than many people think. You will need a voltmeter and if you don't have one I seriously suggest going to Walmart and buying one. Seriously, it's worth.

Here's the board's main connector (click to see larger):

When connected to power, the board produces a single 5V standby voltage which goes to the pin marked "5V STB", which is the 6th pin counting backwards.
You can measure 5V between "5VSTB" and any "GND" pin on any connector.

To activate the rest of the voltages on the board (wake up the board) you will need to ground the very last pin on the connector called PSON.

This often misleads people as most power boards require active 5V in order to activate the board and when they pass the 5VSTB to PSON and nothing happens they decide the board is bad.

Well in case of this and some other boards you need to ground the active signal to tell the board to wake up.

Here this is very nicely done as you can simply use the voltmeter's negative probe to short the two pins - PSON and GND which is on its left side; this allows, at the same time, to activate the power supply and get ground for the voltmeter so you can test the other voltages as indicated on the board next to the connectors.

Good luck!

4H.V1838.401 inverter hacking for Insignia NS-LCD37 LCD TV

This is a quick post for all the poor suckers who are trying to find 4H.V1838.401/D for a reasonable price.

I know how it feels, I was one of them myself when I bought a malfunctioning Insignia NS-LCD37 for $25 and diagnosed it with band inverter.

Well, at the time of writing this there weren't any good replacements to be found, not for a decent price anyway.

You could buy the transformers on eBay for $25 per piece, but I would have needed at least two PLUS at least two FETs that I found shorted and God only knows what else. That's easily $60, not to mention the FETs weren't available anywhere either and I would have to find and use substitutes...

This was easily a bad proposition so I set out to searching a replacement rather than repairing the inverter. You don't expect to pay more than $60 for a 37'' LCD inverter anyway...at least I don't and you shouldn't either.

In fact, I paid even less since I happened to have one handy.

Only it wasn't 4H.V1838.401/D.

It was 4H.V1448.481/C1 used in the next Insignia model, NS-LCD37-09.

Which is a totally different beast altogether, but that's another story.

The point is, while not an exact match, it is widely available, cheap and does the job!
What more could you want?!

Ah, pictures...right:


Here are the two inverters next to each other:

The first problem, as you will see, is that the connectors for the CCFL wires are different sizes:

This is an easy problem if you use good cutters. Just cut in half all connectors, including the one for the common ground which is at the corner of the board:

It's really as simple as that!

The next problem you'll encounter is that the new board is slightly larger than the original and doesn't fit the borders made by the little metal plates at the two ends.
I just bent those a few times until they broke and then put tape on top to make sure they won't short:

The great news is the main cable doesn't require any changes at all, it just goes straight in:

Next, of course, you'll need to tweak a bit the metal shield (if you opt to install it at all) so that it can do some decent covering and allows for fastening with bolts. A little tweaking with pliers goes a long way:

Finally, you won't be able to use most of the fastening bolts, but you should be able to use at least three, which is more than sufficient for steady positioning.

I didn't take a picture of the working TV since it sold and went out before I could make that extra shot.

And if you wonder how did I know all that in the first place...well, that's just how I am.

Modesty comes first, of course.