Teletest Video & Computer Test Equipment

For those of you who are new in these monitor and tv repair field and wish to buy some test pattern generator for testing purposes then i highly recommend you to check out the teletest website. The website offer a lot of products that relate to broadcast technology, testing equipment, av cable to power supply. Visit teletest website now.

Technical Bookstore

In order to upgrade your skill in electronic repair, you need to read lots of books about electronics. Practical without much knowledge from the theory will only limit yourself in understanding how electronic circuit works. Spend sometimes everyday to absorb tips from the technical books as this way can help you to become a better technician or engineer. If you used to buy books from amazon.com, there is another alternative bookstore for you to see if there is any new technical books. Check the website at www.boffinbooks.com

Internet Marketing Workshop

Just completed an internet marketing workshop for a group of peoples who wants to make US dollars on the net. It was a 2 months course and divided into 5 lessons. Most of the participants were housewife, employee, and college students. They have the passion to make money on the internet. If you have a website and wish to make money from it then i'm strongly recommend joel comm's adsense secrets ebook. If you don't have a website-don't worry because you still can make us dollars from the information provided by chris carpenter which is called GoogleCash. I have applied both method and now generating 4 figures Us dollars for me every month. It's a big amount to me because the exchange rate is Ringgit MALAYSIA 3.80 to every USD1.00. The good news is you can start the business right at the comfort of your own home. If you have the passion then proceed to buy the ebooks that i have just recommended above.

Another Marking Code For 1n4148 Signal Diode

Don't be surprise to see a different code for 1n4148 signal diode. It marked only 48 and you could not see full part number which is the 1N4148. Do not think also that it is a 48 volt diode. Not all equipments are using this different code but if you come across a diode that mark '48' then automatically you have to know it is a 1n4148 diode!

Testing Instrument for Tv and Satellite Repairer

If you are a technician or engineer that provide installation, maintenance and surveillance of terrestrial, satellite and cable TV systems then the Promax Universal Tv Explorer is suitable for you. Tv explorer is a new concept on Tv and Satellite Analyzers. For more information about this instrument, check out the Promax website here.

Electronic Repair Directories

If you want to find any websites related to electronic repair then i highly recommend you to browse thru epanorama.net. In the website you could find electronic circuits, magazines, forum, datasheet, component information and many more! Remember to bookmark the website who knows one day you might want to seek some information related to electronic repair.

Mitsubishi CT-2168PM 21" TV Flyback Problem

I rarely repair TV because most of my time been taken up by monitor repair and internet marketing. However, a computer dealer wants me to repair her TV with the complaint of arcing sound and burning smell. When i open up the TV cover I could noticed a burnt mark at the side of the flyback-see the photo above. This is an old TV and she agreed with the repair charges. I proceed to order the flyback which is an oem flyback made in China. The original flyback is no longer in the market. Before installing the flyback i scan thru the mainboard to see if there is other parts that's also defective. I found none and one thing that i noticed at the mainboard is the soldering joints (point) are still in good condition! These days the soldering joints in most of the cheap monitors are easily come out which is also a good news for us. More dry joints means more business. After installed the flyback and switch on the Tv, it worked perfectly fine.

Nikkei Electronics Asia

I just received my latest nikkei electronics magazine for the month of november. Wow! theres a lot of new information about electronics circuit and products. If you haven't subscribe to nikkei magazine then i highly suggest you to do so-it's free! In the magazine there is an advertisement about the coming event of electronics exhibition in india. Check this out at www.electronicstoday.org

Electronics Design Software

The first day i reached office after the fishing trip i found a post card in the post box. The content of the post card is about a new electronic design software by National Instrument. How they got my address i really do not know! May be i've passed some of my business name card during the visit to some of the electronics exhibitions long time ago. The software is about graphical development platform for design, control and test. You may check out the new sofware here! There is another type of electronics software you need to check it out which is the Eptsoft. These software allows users to design complex circuit schematics, measurement and component testing, microprocessors and Pic Microcontrollers and to design printed circuit boards.

Photos of Kelong Fishing Trip

These are the photos that i've taken during my fishing trip at kelong. Now you know how this kelong's look like. Photo-1, photo-2
Photo-3 Yours truly at the kelong
Photo-4 Fellowship with friends and their sons (sitting on my right is Andrew Tan-Malaysian Idol 2004 Finalist)
Photo-5 Lunch time at kelong
Photo-6 Night fishing
Photo-7 Our humble catch
Photo-8 Even youngster also like fishing

Singaporean love this place because it took them only 2 hours to drive to kelong. As for us in Kuala Lumpur to reach kelong it took nearly 6 hours. Though we could not get any big fish, overall it was a very enjoyable trip-good food, relaxing, nice scenery, sea breeze, fun and the most important one is have the time to fellowship with each other.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

Sorry for not posting any electronic repair tips today cos i'm busy preparing a fishing trip to kelong. It is a 3 days 2 nights trip and the location is in the east of Malaysia. I will be fishing all day long with my friends and i will come back to you with photos of my catch! From the photo, i'm going to show you how this kelong looks like. Have a good day to all of you my friend!

Tv Flyback Transformer

Yesterday's post was about the internal view of monitor flyback and today we have the tv flyback transformer internal view. Tv flyback generally do not have internal capacitor in it. It consist of only the winding, high voltage diode and voltage divider. From the photo, the voltage divider consist of focus and screen voltage pot. This divider have to be slot in before the epoxy is pour into the casing. The divider ohm's range is between 10 to 100 megaohm. Monitor divider have a higher value which is between 200 to 500 megaohm. Tv's divider seldom spoilt due to the voltage tapped from the center winding of the flyback.

Monitor Flyback Transformer

This is the internal view of a 17 " monitor flyback transformer without the epoxy . It consist of 3 film type capacitor and a bleeder resistor. The 2 small capacitors at the right side of the internal view is for the dynamic focus purposes. The value is around 0.5 to 1 nanofarad. If this capacitance value changed it will affect the focus which mean no matter how hard you adjust the focus thru the two focus knob at the flyback you will never get a sharp picture. The bleeder resistor have two functions-first is to discharge the internal capacitor and the second functions is to act as a complete circuit for feedback purposes. Again it depends on the design of the flyback. Some flyback do not have this resistor. If you refurbish this flyback and accidentally removed the resistor connection, it will cause the monitor to have high voltage shutdown. Next is the internal capacitor which is located at the top left of the photo. If this capacitor have an open reading it will cause either shutdown or have tic-tic sound. The capacitance value is somewhere between 2.7nf to 6nf and again it depends on the manufacturer of the flyback.

Digital Meter- Is it necessary?

I met quite a number of technicians who works in the electronic troubleshooting line do not have digital meter. It was a surprised to me as digital meter can help us to measure voltage, current and resistance more accurately compare to analog meter. They are still using the old ways (using analog meter) to troubleshoot electronic circuit. There is no way one meter can accurately measure all kind of electronic components. For example, esr meter is for checking electrolytic capacitor and low ohms resistor, digital capacitance meter is to measure the value of any capacitor, coil tester is for checking coils and inductor for any shorted winding. Though they can troubleshoot electronics problem, the amount of time they spent are more compare to those who have more testing equipment. I still can remembered those days i use analog meter to check resistor, until one fine day where a monitor sent in for repair complaint of small vertical height-it's about 4 inches in height. I've checked all resistors nearby verticle ic with my analog meter and found all to be good. When i recheck again the resistors with digital meter-i found a resistor value changed from 1.2 ohm to 1.8 ohm which analog meter were hard to differentiate. From that day onwards i told myself that checking resistor i have to use digital meter. Not only you must have a digital meter but a good digital meter. Get a digital meter that can last and robust and i can assure you that you won't regret of the decision that you have made. Visit Fluke's website for more information on digital meters.

Esr meter- Which one?

I have questions from fellow repair friends and students asking on which esr meter is the best? My answer to them- what's your budget? Cheap and expensive esr meter definitely have some differences in term of spec. Generally the basic spec of esr meter is it must have the capabilities to measure esr ohm down to 0.01 ohm ,test frequencies of 100Khz, in-circuit check, and polarity free. At my workshop, i'm using the dick smith and capanalyzer 88A esr meter. Both meters have help me a lot in solving tough dog problem. I don't have the cap wizard perhaps the blog readers can give some comment on this esr meter. Besides this, Tenma and B&k precision also have their own version of esr meter. Recently Peakelec.co.uk the famous test equipment company have launched a new esr meter (model esr60). If you compare the spec with other esr meter you found that it can check the capacitance as well! If you already owned one then it is not necessary to get another one-again it depends on your budget and your choice-some tech like to buy a lot of new meters. However if you are new in this field and would like to buy esr meter then i will recommend the dick smith esr meter. If you have the budget you can straight away to buy the expensive one.

Basic Electronic Components

No matter how good you are in electronics, somehow you might forget on certain things such as the formula, the functions of certain type of electronic circuit and application. If you need to refresh your memory on electronics then i highly recommend Scot's Electronic Website. It covers subject from power supply, datasheet, frequencies and up to amplifier! It is good to brush up your electronic knowledge to keep yourself up to date and it can help you in electronic repairs. Click here now to Scot's Electronic homepage!

Electronics Exhibition- Should You Go?

Most of the time the exhibitions held in my country was about computers and semiconductor manufacturing. Since my line is on electronic repairing i wish that my country will held electronics exhibition every year. Exhibitions keep you update on what's the latest products and trend in the current market. The last electronics exhibition that i went was two years ago in Bangkok Thailand. The electronics exhibition there were truly repairer friendly. Why? The exhibitor's promote something that is relevant to the electronic repair industries which is the testing equipment, semiconductor parts and electronic repair books. When i look at all those electronic books i wish that i buy them all but unfortunately all the books is in Thai's language which i don't understand. From the book's cover i can see that it have many different types of electronic equipment. I browse thru a monitor repairing book and i saw some pictures about modification of electronic circuit in the monitor. I heard from one of my repair friends that Thai's electronic repairer are very good in modification of electronic circuit. They can even modify a Tv flyback to suit in any kind of monitors. Wow!
After the exhibition i went to their electronic spare parts center and to my surprised the area that it covers was truly big. They have big complexes specially for electronics related items. I bought some electronic parts there and it was quite cheap and original. Along the streets you could see a lot of electronic repairers doing the repair work. They set up a small table beside the street and they do not have shop! I could see them repair Vcd, radio cassette, combo, tv, handphone and even do rewinding of coil! Well, electronics exhibition and visiting the electronic parts area was an eye opening for me. On Nov 22-25 there is an electronics exhibition held in China. If you want to go there for a visit then please log on to www.chinaelec.com.cn

Searching Test Equipment In Ebay

For those of you who would like to get some used sencore test equipment, you may check out the price at ebay. Browse around the site to look for other brands and type of test equipment. You will be amazed that some of the test equipment you haven't seen before. Personally i've never buy anything from ebay before but i had tried to bid for an insulation tester. I give up because other's bidder bid very high price for the tester. I would prefer to buy a new one if the bidding's price is too high. Visit now the ebay's testing equipment site.

The HOT's are finally opened!

Paul suggested to open up the HOT and see what's inside the component.Well finally i managed to break open both transistors and taken the picture for you to differentiate. For your information, the original one which is at the left side of the picture was difficult to open even with a hammer. Please forgive me as some of the transistor's legs has missing. It's been totally sealed and that's why it is called solid state semiconductor! As for the non original part which is located at the right side was easily open and the material that covered the metal disintegrated into pieces once i applied the force on it. Different quality different prices! In the next few days i will be showing you pictures of flyback transformer without the epoxy. You will be able to see what is actually inside the flyback transformer. Have a good day!

Comparison of BU2508DF Photo

Two days ago i posted about the fake BU2508DF in the market. Today at my office i'm able to find the original and the fake bu2508df transistor and have taken picture for you to see. From the picture, the left side is the original one and this newer version do not have the word Philipines endorsed on the HOT. In later post i will insert more interesting picture about electronics for you to enjoy!

TV And Monitor Repair Forum

As I mentioned before in my previous post that if someone wants to excel in their field they have to upgrade themselves by going to repair forums. There is many repair forums on the net, some charge every months and some are totally free. One of the active free repair forums is the monitor-repair.com. You can find many newbies and professional TV and Monitor repairer posting their questions and answers there. Who knows may be your solution to your problems can be answered by the members in the repair forum. Go check it out for yourself how valuable this tv and monitor repair forum is.

Fake BU2508DF Horizontal Output Transistor

Some years back i had an experienced about purchasing a fake horizontal output transistor (HOT). The HOT number was Bu2508df and the price was below the market price. I do not know that it was a fake HOT until i tested the HOT on monitors. Some monitors worked perfectly fine but others causes power blink. When i replaced with another HOT (original) the monitor worked ok! I then compared the original and the fake HOT and found that the original one the surface are more shining, heavier and have a short horizontal line across the top center part of the HOT. While the fake HOT have a dim marking and without the horizontal line. Both have the word Philippines endorsed on the HOT. The moral of the story here is that if you found some component's price are far below the market price then you have to be careful of buying a fake components.

Consumer Electronic Equipment Repair

Sam Goldwasser the well known professional electronic repair writer had just updated one of his electronic repair article which is the Troubleshooting and Repair of Consumer Electronic Equipment. Make sure you check out his website to see what's the new information he added to benefit all the electronic repairer.

Audio and Video Spare Parts Website

While surfing the Anatek Corporation website i saw a banner about audio and video repairing and spare parts website. The company AudioLabGa.com from USA offers quite a wide range of audio spare parts. They sell monitor and TV spare parts as well especially on the transistors and the video ic. The most interesting part about this website is that they have a download page for many STK ic data sheets. If you found any part number that you want in their list you may order it online. Visit AudioLabGa.com now for more information.

Non Polarized (Bipolar) Electrolytic Capacitor

Non Bipolar Electrolytic Capacitor look exactly the same as electrolytic capacitor except that it don't have the polarity(positive and negative sign)-it can be connected either way in a circuit. The size of this capacitor is bigger than the polarized electrolytic capacitor. For example, a 3.3 uf 50 volt non polarized electrolytic capacitor have the same size as 2200uf 25 volt polarized electrolytic capacitor. As for the replacement you cannot replace with a 3.3 uf 50 volt polarized electrolytic capacitor. It will usually blow in less than few minutes. This type of capacitor is not easily found in the electronic store as most of the electronic shop sell only the polarized electrolytic capacitor. I usually take the non-polarized electrolytic capacitor from the monitor scrap board. For those of you who could not buy or locate this type of capacitor, i have a tips for you. You may use metallised polyester capacitor as a replacement. What does this metallised capacitor look like? Search from the google search engine and many capacitor photos will show up. I had replaced the non-polarized electrolytic capacitor with the metallised capacitor in monitors and all of them worked perfectly fine!

Understanding Switch Mode Power Supplies by Sencore

If you are new or would like to know more about troubleshooting power supplies then i highly recommend this short report by Sencore about Understanding Switch Mode Power Supplies. Carefully study all the tips and explanation in the pdf report. The diagrams are well drawn and is one of my favorite article. By the way Sencore is a company that design and sell testing equipment for the repair industries. Feel free to browse thru the sencore website and see what are the equipments that suit your industry.

Thank You For Your Support

Thanks a lot for the kind words and encouragement from the emails that i received after informing about my electronic repair blog. I will do my best to update you all about electronic repair and will continue to write electronic repair articles every week and hope that you will drop by my blog to see if there is any new post. I will write blog everyday except when I'm on holiday. Thank you again for visiting my blog!