Which components do I need to check following a voltage surge (lightning) on Hitachi colour TV CL32WF810AN.

Could be minor or maybe done for but here goes. Some flat panel TVs have the main power cord with one of those small transformers built into the plug end that converts 120volt ac to DC power. Output voltage should be listed on the transformer tag. You need to find someone with a voltage tester and see if the TV plug end is showing DC voltage. If not the complete power cord needs replaced. If that checks out-- the next thing is to remove the complete TV back cover and look for fuses right near the power plugs into the TV. The fuses should blow out first from a lighting surge. The problem is how much of a surge you got. It may have damaged the power supply board in the TV which may need replaced. Hope this helps

Most likely the power supply. In most models, if the lamp goes out you will still get sound. However, the power supply is not a single piece swap. I would suggest getting a voltmeter, and check the voltage where the power cord meets the power supply. Then follow the circuit pathways, checking after each component, until you find a break in power. You are getting power to that light, so some power is getting through. However, the light works on much less voltage than the rest of the television, so probably there is a capacitor or transformer that's gone out.

its seem to be a surge apparently at one time tv had gotten a voltage spike may have blown the fuse in the power supply or main board.

We can't predict which components have been damaged due to lightning. Sometimes, a fuse only, otherwise more other components might have damaged. Anyway, if fuse should blow out, surely there will be any more reason. You should find it out first, before replacing the fuse. If not, more damage can be occur. Check for any shorted components, diodes, capacitors etc: at its main power supply regulator board. Be sure that there is no other defect occurred.

In most cases, if the main power supply fails, the low voltage supply that provides enough power so the set can receive input from your remote, also lives on to signal problems, often by flashing the power LED in a pattern.

In your case, apparently the low voltage supply is also dead.

This can be caused by both supplies being damaged from a line surge caused by 'dirty' AC power, or a spike from a lightning strike somewhere in your power network.

These spikes can travel long distance so a strike need not be all that proximate to do damage.

If no fuse holder is found on the back of the set, it may be necessary to remove the back panel for access.

If you choose to do this, it is safer to leave the set unplugged overnight to allow any hazardous voltages to discharge.

Look for a separate board or an area which has larger components in it.

These will be cylindrical cases and larger block-like parts.

If there is a user-replaceable fuse in the set at all, it will most likely be in that area.

If this damage was caused by a high voltage spike replacing the fuse may be fruitless and if a replaced fuse blows again, then other circuits have been damaged and major boards will have to be replaced as well.

The cost of reviving a lightning damaged set of any kind can often exceed the cost of replacing the whole set.

Even the most primitive plug strip contains components that afford some protection against this kind of damage but the best protection can be had with a 'whole house' surge suppressor.

These cost ~$200 US and feature insurance against appliance losses up to $10,000.

They require access to the main breaker box, safety precautions and a few tools for installation.

Any TV subjected to a power surge will have problems. If you can remove the back cover, do so. Locate the glass fuse. In the best situations the fuse is clear and opened, and replacement will repair your TV. In worst cases the fuse may be blackened, and you will see that many components are burned and shattered. If this latter is true, only replacing the TV is your best bet. In many cases electronics may be connected to surge protectors, but lightning will over ride these devices and cause damage. I have seen this happen many times.Thanks for asking and show all hands of support!

Hello

There is some short circuit in the power retulator side of your TV. Never put a fuse and switch it ON, as it may damage more components in your system. A power voltage surge can damage the regulator side of your TV. There is a short [Direct short] occured inside it. Check the rectifier section first, with the help of a multimeter set to Ohms range. Measure the resistance accross the main filtler capacitor. if it seems to be very low, say less than 12 Ohms or so, resolder out the mains rectifier stalk, or diodes, whichever may used, and chck it for juction short. If shorted, replace it. Check out the switching regulator also. In most cases this regulator may get damaged due to power supply spikes. In some sets, there is a MOV [Metal oxide veristor], connected accross the main AC line, after the switching point. this component is used as a protection, and if there comes any overvoltage or voltage spikes, this veristor will get shorted, blowing off the fuse, and further damage is prevented. Check this also. This component will look like a disc capacitor, normally black or green in color. Check these, and further check most of the power regulator components, such as Zener diodes for short. Before switch on your TV. make sure you have tested all the componets in the power regulator side. OK.

Hello,

Power surges or nearby lightning strikes can destroy electronic equipment. However, most of the time, damage is minimal or at least easily repaired. With a direct hit, you may not recognize what is left of it!Ideally, electronic equipment should be unplugged (both AC line and phone line!) during electrical storms if possible. Modern TVs, VCRs, microwave ovens, and even stereo equipment is particularly susceptible to lightning and surge damage because some parts of the circuitry are always alive and therefore have a connection to the AC line. Telephones, modems, and faxes are directly connected to the phone lines. Better designs include filtering and surge suppression components built in. With a near-miss, the only thing that may happen is for the internal fuse to blow or for the microcontroller to go bonkers and just require power cycling. There is no possible protection against a direct strike. However, devices with power switches that totally break the line connection are more robust since it takes much more voltage to jump the gap in the switch than to fry electronic parts. Monitors and TVs may also have their CRTs magnetized due to the electromagnetic fields associated with a lightning strike - similar but on a smaller scale to the EMP of a nuclear detonation.
Was the TV operating or on standby at the time? If it was switched off using an actual power switch (not a logic pushbutton or the remote control), then either a component in front of the switch has blown, the surge was enough to jump the gap between the switch contacts, or it was just a coincidence (yeh, right).
If the TV was operating or on standby or has no actual power switch, then a number of parts could be fried.
TVs usually have their own internal surge protection devices like MOVs (Metal Oxide Varistors) after the fuse. So it is possible that all that is wrong is that the line fuse has blown. Remove the cover (unplug it first!) and start at the line cord. If you find a blown fuse, remove it and measure across the in-board side of fuse holder and the other (should be the neutral) side of the line. The ohmmeter reading should be fairly high - well certainly not less than 100 ohms - in at least one direction. You may need to unplug the degaussing coil to get a reasonable reading as its resistance may be 25 or 30 ohms. If the reading is really low, there are other problems. If the resistance checks out, replace the fuse and try powering the TV. There will be 3 possibilities:

1. It will work fine, problem solved.
2. It will immediately blow the fuse. This means there is at least one component shorted - possibilities include an MOV, line rectifiers, main filter cap, regulator transistor, horizontal output transistor, etc. You will need to check with your ohmmeter for shorted semiconductors. Remove any that are suspect and see of the fuse now survives (use the series light bulb to cut your losses
3. It will not work properly or appear dead. This could mean there are open fusable resistors other defective parts in the power supply or elsewhere. In this case further testing will be required and at some point you may need the schematic

hope this helpout......

Hello,

Power surges or nearby lightning strikes can destroy electronic equipment. However, most of the time, damage is minimal or at least easily repaired. With a direct hit, you may not recognize what is left of it!

Ideally, electronic equipment should be unplugged (both AC line and phone line!) during electrical storms if possible. Modern TVs, VCRs, microwave ovens, and even stereo equipment is particularly susceptible to lightning and surge damage because some parts of the circuitry are always alive and therefore have a connection to the AC line. Telephones, modems, and faxes are directly connected to the phone lines. Better designs include filtering and surge suppression components built in. With a near-miss, the only thing that may happen is for the internal fuse to blow or for the microcontroller to go bonkers and just require power cycling. There is no possible protection against a direct strike. However, devices with power switches that totally break the line connection are more robust since it takes much more voltage to jump the gap in the switch than to fry electronic parts. Monitors and TVs may also have their CRTs magnetized due to the electromagnetic fields associated with a lightning strike - similar but on a smaller scale to the EMP of a nuclear detonation.

Was the TV operating or on standby at the time? If it was switched off using an actual power switch (not a logic pushbutton or the remote control), then either a component in front of the switch has blown, the surge was enough to jump the gap between the switch contacts, or it was just a coincidence (yeh, right).

If the TV was operating or on standby or has no actual power switch, then a number of parts could be fried.

TVs usually have their own internal surge protection devices like MOVs (Metal Oxide Varistors) after the fuse. So it is possible that all that is wrong is that the line fuse has blown. Remove the cover (unplug it first!) and start at the line cord. If you find a blown fuse, remove it and measure across the in-board side of fuse holder and the other (should be the neutral) side of the line. The ohmmeter reading should be fairly high - well certainly not less than 100 ohms - in at least one direction. You may need to unplug the degaussing coil to get a reasonable reading as its resistance may be 25 or 30 ohms. If the reading is really low, there are other problems. If the resistance checks out, replace the fuse and try powering the TV. There will be 3 possibilities:

It will work fine, problem solved.

It will immediately blow the fuse. This means there is at least one component shorted - possibilities include an MOV, line rectifiers, main filter cap, regulator transistor, horizontal output transistor, etc. You will need to check with your ohmmeter for shorted semiconductors. Remove any that are suspect and see of the fuse now survives (use the series light bulb to cut your losses - see the section.

It will not work properly or appear dead. This could mean there are open fusable resistors other defective parts in the power supply or elsewhere. In this case further testing will be required and at some point you may need the schematic.

Hiya,

When you say that your fridge/ white goods appliance was damaged by high voltage, we need to exactly what the voltage source was that did the deed.

If you are talking about a bigger voltage input source, from the mains suupply, then it is likely you would have had a fuse within the plug that would have blown. This should be the first thing you will check regardless of the voltage.

If however, you are telling me that your house took an in-direct or worse still a direct whack from a lightning strike, then my dear friend you have quite possibly a totally deceased appliance. For a start, such a strike could melt your plug and possibly socket. The fuse inside the plug wouldnt be a relevant factor here; because if the lightning made it from the sky to the ground, I am sure it can cross a 40mm gap within a plug. Then the lightning surge would simply travel up the power cord, knock out your gas pump, stepdown transformer and any lights or motors within the appliance. The cost of changing every part here is not worth it. You would be better off claiming on insurance or simply buying new.

there are a few ways you can investigate what has caused this, and possibly cure the fault, unless it is a lightning strike of course that is responsibe.

The first thing to do here is dismantle the mains electricity plug that is attached to the fridge. Check the small fuse inside this to see if it is functioning. You can do this in many ways. The best I find is to get a multimeter or the appropriate tester and perform a continuity test. See this link below

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuity_test

If the fuse is broken, then change it and repeat the test; YOU MUST replace the fuse with what the original one from the manufacturer was.

If the fuse is working, then your fault is elsewhere and you will need to perform the above tests on various components relevant to your fridge.

The worst case scenarioo is the lightning strike; and in order to identify this, you will need to do one or two simple things.

Firstly, head to your main consumer unit (fusebox) and check that all of the fuses are in the "closed" or "on" position. Open fuses indicate a power surge or a short circuuit somewhere on your supply, but relevant to your fridge. RCD circuit breakers all narrow down the searching to one localised area. You should also do this test for identification of original fault.. The same for when you as above check your main fuses.

If the fuses on the consumer unit are "open", then either replace them if you have to, or you simply either push them back in or move them to the "closed" position. Also check that the consumer unit is not damaged in any way, as you would expect from having too much electricity put through it. Fire damage, warping, blackening, discoluration, bent or broken components are all good indicators of this.

Another test you may have to do, is simply look around your house. Has anything else been effected. If it has, then it is likely that it was a lightning strike or something equally as damaging, if no, then it could simply have been a power surge that only really effected your fridge. Even so, is any of your other electronic and white goods items behaving oddly? TV menu keeps appearing or going into standby? Is the lights on your DVD player behaving erratic or does discs keep being ejected at atrange times? What about your computer or laptop; do these strangely start playing up? If so, then either the lightning strike is to blame or you have had a powersurge.

Once you have done theseinvestigations please let me know the outcome and if it is negative, Iwill gladly advise you further.

I look forward to hearing from you soon and hopethis is the fixya for you;

Yours sincerely

Oz