Sanyo Plasma TV ( Model PDP42XS1)

I used to work with a Steve Butler in the old Telecom radio communications section. Just wondering if you're him? :-) There's a fair chance you can hire a service manual from High Country Service Data; see

Cheers Bob

Chances are the micro itself is a custom part and is not available to ANYONE - including an authorized repair shop. The usual repair process involves using the service manual - if you can get it - to determine which circuit board has a fault and replacing the entire board. Cost could be $400 to $1200 for the board depending on which board it is. They don't make it easy or cost effective to do most repairs.

Forget about service manual. Serously, you may be able to get wiring diagram if that. No component-level repairs on plasma, just board swapping.

Most likely you will have to replace Y-sys, Z-sys and control board as a kit.

Rudolf Where are you physically?

why not pull it apart, and try and figure out what has died. ISTR they have a fair bit of power electronics in them, that would be a good start.

If they were in NZ, they could simply take it back from whence it came, and demand a repair/replacement/refund, under the Consumer Guarantees Act - 15 months is NOT an acceptable lifetime for a TV set, regardless of what the warranty says. Besides, if it dies after 15 months, the problem is most likely manufacturing and/or design.

Cheers Terry

I am in Perth,

Bob .......a different Steve Butler im afraid, HCSD dont have a SM , no support as Rudolph mentions

Have to see which board it is and price a replacement i suppose

thanks for your help guys,

Steve

I wish this would be a single occurence.... I have lots of plasmas just out of warranty. Sometimes repairs are quite expensive. For example, new power supply board for HITACHI 50" plasma is $1300 trade.

As long as consumers will insist on buying cheap stuff, they will get crap quality. You get what you pay for. And then all this junk just ends up in landfill.

I do warranty for a few companies and I am unstructed not to accept DVD players in for warranty repairs! They are being swapped over in the shop and faulty ones will eventually make their way to our landfills.

Lost of people do not want to fix their older equipment, because new ones are so cheap, it makes repairs not economical. Electronic companies have to go with that and make their stuff as cheap as possible, cutting all corners they possibly can. It is not fault of the manufacturers, but of consumers for trading quality for price. So, what are you complaining about? You wanted to get cheap stuff in teh first place ad expect it to work forever?

(Sorry, had to vent)

Rudolf

I would start with Sanyo but perhaps get some info from consumer affairs first (Department of Consumer and Employment Protection)to see what exactly your position is.

As Terry said 15months is not an acceptable expected lifetime for such a product. Sanyo should repair or replace it for you.

Alan

-- Sell your surplus electronic components at

Have contacted head honcho at Sanyo and it looks as if they will cover it as long as it is not consumer error, if it is faulty workmanship/design then OK One of their "Approved service agents is coming out to have a look

Steve

Alan wrote:

Well written, Rudolph!! Unfortunately the consumers have no idea how many corners were cut so that they could have this marvellous technology so cheap.

Bob

hear hear. years ago when I was a videogame tech, I made a small fortune (not really, but it felt that way at the time) fixing smps. They were very cheap, and the most common fault (80-90%) was the input rectifier - Ifsm was about 30A, and they had a 1R series inrush limiting resistor. I fixed several hundred, for a flat fee of $35. All I did was replace the (usually gone) fuse, and stick in a much bigger bridge. $5 parts, typically 5 minutes to repair.

On a related note, I bought a 10A plug board while in China last year, for my lap top etc. The nz/aussie plug kept falling out of the wall sockets, and I erroneously assumed that the wall sockets there were s**te. When I got back to NZ I had the same problem. The cause? The prongs were 0.8mm THINNER than a standard plug, thereby saving material hence cost.

So I chopped the plug off to replace it with a tap-on, and discovered the 10A mains cables had perhaps 5 strands of fine Cu, and a lot of insulation. 10A? more like 1A.

So much of this cheap crap is exactly that, but it *looks* like actual things. Caveat Emptor.

Cheers Terry

I was talking to some chinese people and theye all were saying that stuff made in China for China is pretty good quality, comparing to exports. Why? Apparently, because consumers all over the world demand "cheap stuff", not "quality stuff".

An interesting experience I had some time back -- I needed a small philips-head scredriver. I used to do a lot of video cameras and those "made in china" scredrivers that you can buy everywhere for a few dollars did not last more than 1-2 cameras. So, I wanted to get a good quality one and was prepared to pay for it. I COULD NOT FIND one that was not made in China!!!

It tok me about 2 weeks to find a supplier here who had German made ones. Cost me about $15 for a single scredriver and I still use it.

Whats does it tell me? It is the consumers who drive the quality down.

Yo can buy a TV now for $199. After warranty is gne, it will be thrown away and then what? You will go and get another one for $199. Why not to spend $400 in the first place and get a unit that will last for years?

Just my 2.2c, (inc. 10% GST) Rudolf

You can check the price of electronic gear (including TVs) and get a broad range of prices for the same product. Most people will choose the cheapest price.

The reason why consumers don't spend $400 is that they usually have no way of knowing whether that $400 product is any better than the $199 product. And, in many cases, the $400 product is just a rip-off.