I used to fix CRT TVs with a flashlight and a prayer

Back in the early 2000s, I had a shop in Columbus that was half CRT repairs. No service manuals for half of them, so I'd shine a flashlight through the vents to spot bulging caps or cold solder joints. Usually guessed right about 70% of the time. Now I just plug a scope in and check waveforms. Saves time but I miss the thrill of the blind fix. Anyone else ditch the old guesswork for proper tools?

2 comments

2 Comments

max4724d ago

70 percent? You must have had a guardian angel watching over your shop. I worked at a repair place in Akron back then and we barely hit 50 percent on guesses. Got so bad we kept a stack of sacrificial flybacks in the corner for when we fried something. Now I just use a multimeter and an ESR meter for caps. No more praying, just cursing at bad traces.

wren_jackson4d ago

Funny you mention that. I used to think the old guesswork was part of the craft, you know, like a gut feeling thing. I was real proud of my flashlight method, thought it made me some kind of wizard. But then I had a run of bad luck where I guessed wrong on a bunch of power supplies and fried a few boards that were actually fixable with the right tools. That was the moment that changed my mind. Now I keep a cheap oscilloscope on the bench and an ESR meter in my bag, and yeah it takes some of the romance out of it but my success rate is way better. Maybe the real skill is knowing when to guess and when to just measure properly.