Smothering electronics

I work in a salvage business wher i get to see alot of brand new electronics . This means LCD tv sets . I noticed in some of these they cover each circuit board with metal covers . Lately i have been seeing overkill on these covers . This makes the boards fully covered even the edges and only several very tiny vent holes in the top , so small you cant see in at all

Now i see most sets only cover a couple boards but they have very big holes . The rest of the boards are fully open .

This last set was so ``cover overkill`` it would overheat . I removed 3 covers and it works fine . The power supply is a separate box on the power cord . This supply is cased in a solid plastic box , take that off to find 2 layers of aluminum wrapped around it all taped on with yellow tape . Take that off and find a full layer of plastic and more yellow tape , take that off to find a full 4 sided thick aluminum heat sink all screwed together , at least the ends are open . Take the top off of that and all the small transformers are tightly wraped in more of that yellow tape . Any open spots in that heat sink had pieces of clear stiff plastic tucked in next to it ... then to top that off they squirted white silicone glue here & there down between parts .

I can see a bit of protection from dust and some RFI noise elimination protection but this particular product was clearly made for planned self death in a short time .

I see plenty of electronics of the same nature with only 1/4 or less of this ``smothering`` and they work just fine .

Reply to
Ken G.
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I think it's more of a tradeoff between RFI protection and repair cost. The cheaper the parts are, the harder it is to keep the FCC off their backs, but if they use -really- cheap parts and put tons of shielding on them, they can handle the occasional warranty claim. And of course whatever happens after the warranty expires is not their problem.

My guess as to why this happens is that LCD sets are one very expensive component wrapped with just enough support electronics to make a product. If you could make a TV with an LCD panel and one dollar worth of extra hardware, you would have the holy grail of consumer electronics.

Or maybe the TV manufacturers have a soft spot for salvage guys like yourself. :)

Reply to
stickyfox

"they work just fine" is a very subjective term in my experience.

Manufacturers don't like to spend extra money on components or engineering. The shields are there for a reason. Remove them and the different sections of the circuits can interfere with each other. They can cause problems with other equipment nearby.

*You* may not th> I see plenty of electronics of the same nature with only 1/4 or less of
Reply to
Mike Berger

I understand the need for shielding . The subject set here is overkill and i believe made to self destruct fast . 2 of these now that wont work with the shields .. or lets say COVERS in this case . After they get hot they do kooky things . With 3 covers removed they work fine . No picture noise and it does not disturb things next to it . You would have to see this one to believe it i guess .

Reply to
Ken G.

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