I had to replace a plasma last week. The customer said I could just take the old one. It's problem is that it gets no picture, but it does get sound. Basically the screen doesn't power on. So I took the back off tonight, cleaned it up a bit since it had a fair share of dust, and found what I think could be the issue. I have figure out how to get to the part in question. In the picture showing the whole tv, I outlined the part in question in red, and I outlined the entire area that needs to be removed in blue to get to it. It appears to be a solid piece so it's not so easy. Anyway, if anyone that is an electronics wizard can take a look and let me know what they think, I'd appreciate the input. I install, not fix, so this part is new to me.

 

You'll probably need a solder sucker tool to get the part off cleanly. Then just replace it with the identical cap. There is probably a reference notation on the board CXXX or something like that. Call the manufacturer's tech line and find out the rating and capacitance spec for the part.

The actual capacitor will probably only cost a couple dollars at most (probably can get it at radio shack), however it may not be the problem. The cap failed, but you'll have to figure out what caused the failure if wasn't just a simple cap failure.

I'd give it a try though.

 

That is more or less what I was figuring on doing. I wanted to try to get it out first and see if there are any markings on it. I have a solder sucker and have some experience with soldering (and desoldering), but it has been a while. The tv is a toshiba and I heard their tech support/customer support is awful if not non-excistent. We will see though. The fact that I got the tv for free makes me a little more willing to delve into it.

 

Actually, with a cap that big, you might even see a part number stamped on it.

If its really hard to get to, you could cut it off as high on the leg as possible and just solder the new one to the legs of the old one.

 

Hmm, I hadn't thought of doing that. It may be possible. It would still be difficult to get to. I suppose I can cut off the old one either way. If I can't get to it to solder on a new one, then go ahead and figure out how to remove the necessary parts to get to it. Thanks for the thought.

 

Whatever you do, make sure you put the jacket back on that plasma before you turn it on. Caps usually just don't fail like that. Chances are something fed it too much voltage and caused it to pop, and I bet its likely to happen again. Caps can be very messy and dangerous when they pop like that.

When you install the new cap make sure you get the polarity correct.

 

look very easy to replace. Just cut the bad capacitor out BUT LEAVE THE TWO WIRES intact. i.e. just cut out the actual red capacitor out leave as much existing wires as you can.

and then solder the new cap to the existing wires. So, you don't have to take out the panel.

But... it may be more than just a bad capacitor. You have to ask yourself what other part that is bad that caused the capacitor to blow up like that.