Lightning Strikes TV Dead...

[iws]

My elderly mother was watching her TV last week when there was a close
lightning strike and now her TV no longer works. It's a conventional CRT set
only two years old and I was wondering if there was possibly anything simple
to look for or if it's toast. I don't have access to the TV but a fairly
handy neighbor does. TIA
Ian

 

[Wolf]

I agree. Its act of nature. Power Surge Protectors are bad ass. You
can always find a good one even at a thrift store, I recommend getting
a new one if possible.

You might want to look into getting web tv and a small set if its
broken. If not Iam sure theres a repairman close but It doesnt sound
like repair material.

I hope this info helps.

-Wolf

 

[Ulrik Smed]

My elderly mother was watching her TV last week when there was a close
lightning strike and now her TV no longer works. It's a conventional
CRT set only two years old and I was wondering if there was possibly
anything simple to look for or if it's toast. I don't have access to
the TV but a fairly handy neighbor does. TIA
Ian

It's impossible to say how much damage it has suffered. It could be
everything from a few blown parts in the PSU to almost every part in the
entire set burned out. I'd say give it a chance, you may be lucky that it's
just a shorted diode and a blown fuse.

 

[Bob AZ]

My elderly mother was watching her TV last week when there was a close
lightning strike and now her TV no longer works. It's a conventional CRT set
only two years old and I was wondering if there was possibly anything simple
to look for or if it's toast. I don't have access to the TV but a fairly
handy neighbor does. TIA
Ian

Ian

An elderly Mother is worth a nice new Sony TV anytime. I am sure many
stores will deliver and setup. Where are you located?

Bob AZ

 

[iws]

My elderly mother was watching her TV last week when there was a close
lightning strike and now her TV no longer works. It's a conventional CRT
set
only two years old and I was wondering if there was possibly anything
simple
to look for or if it's toast. I don't have access to the TV but a fairly
handy neighbor does. TIA
Ian

Ian

An elderly Mother is worth a nice new Sony TV anytime. I am sure many
stores will deliver and setup. Where are you located?

Bob AZ

Well, I'm in Arizona but she's 2000 miles away in Canada. At first she was
thinking something in the 32 or 37 inch range which would mean an LCD. Now
she wonders if she might be better with a larger set i.e. something in the
42"+ range which means plasma becomes a good option. Except that it's a
bedroom set and she likes to fall asleep with the TV on so it's usually on
all night which might suggest an LCD instead. I think I'll have to get my
brother involved since he's only an hour away from her.

Ian

 

[Bob AZ]

Ian

An elderly Mother is worth a nice new Sony TV anytime. I am sure many
stores will deliver and setup. Where are you located?

Except that it's a
bedroom set and she likes to fall asleep with the TV on so it's usually on
all night which might suggest an LCD instead. I think I'll have to get my
brother involved since he's only an hour away from her.

Ian

Ian

I think you will find that some newer TVs will turn off automatically
when there are no inputs from remotes etc. Part of the setup.

If your brother will get involved that would be nice but I know your
Mother involved you because of a very good reason. She knew you would
see things through to a prompt success and have the resources and get
up to get it done. Perhaps a visit home with the TV replacement is in
order. When did you visit last year? Moms have a method to their ways.

Bob AZ

 

[ian field]

My elderly mother was watching her TV last week when there was a close
lightning strike and now her TV no longer works. It's a conventional CRT
set only two years old and I was wondering if there was possibly anything
simple to look for or if it's toast. I don't have access to the TV but a
fairly handy neighbor does. TIA
Ian

Saying that the TV no longer works isn't really telling us much, when I made
my living fixing TVs late summer brought numerous sets that the customer
said weren't working and the fault turned out to be a dead transistor in the
tuner caused by near miss lightening, we soon got into the simple routine -
if the screen is full of snow replace the RF transistor, if there is a milky
white raster replace the LO transistor.

Completely dead is an entirely different matter, the older the set the
better as modern sets have fragile microcontrollers and EEPROMs that can
stop an otherwise perfectly good set from starting up, with older sets - as
others have mentioned, pcb tracks blown away might be the only damage.

 

[Jason]

Unless it is ancient and uses valves/tubes and so more able to withstand
high dV/dt then little chance of resucitating.
Has anyone ever repaired any electronic equipment knocked out by lightning ?
I only tried twice and hopeless waste of time.

I fixed an old CB radio once. The output stage got fried, but the main
electronics seemed to be okay. The original owner was apparently using the thing
on a hill when lightning struck nearby.

-- JJ

 

[Jim Yanik]

At Tektronix,I often got lightning-zapped equipment from customers,being in
central Florida(the lightning capital of the US)and repaired them.
Usually;fuse,MOV,and switcher FET in the PS,sometimes a 3842 IC.

I also repaired a friend's TV;it had some PCB traces vaporized and a fuse
blown.

 

[Haywire1]

If it would have been an older Zenith or RCA, you might have stood a
chance. They had excellent lightning protection built-in. Many of those
sets only required an internal fuse replacement after a lightning strike.
You could try anyway - just be sure to use the correct rated fuse (voltage
and current), and if it blows immediately, seek a professional technician.
Other companies like Panasonic and Toshiba, to name a few never figured out
what a spark gap was for, or chose to make their sets more "expendable or
disposable" by saving a few cents through the omission of this part. If
it's one of those brands, carry it to the nearest dumpster. They are good
sets (dare I go that far...?) when they are working, but if they even sniff
a lightning storm 10 miles away, they will die quick and permanently (at
least beyond my resolve to change part after part after part
after.........). I should also say that anything made in the last 8 years
from ANY manufacturer has almost NO lightning survivability.

 

[Ken G.]

I just worked on a pretty recent year set . A cheap Sylvainia ( probably
Funia ) Lightning went up the cord . It fried some 15 parts . After that
test i threw it away .