Component vs Board Level Repair
One way to identify a "good" shop is to ask how they complete most repairs. Experienced and skilled technicians still try to repair most products by troubleshooting down to the specific components rather than replacing entire circuit board assemblies. The trend among manufacturers is to "dumb down" troubleshooting and repair by replacing modules or large assemblies rather than individual components. There are several reasons for this, but the most significant one is that it reduces support costs and allows less skilled servicers to complete repairs. Ship enough boards and swap them until it is fixed. With the demise of thousands of repair shops, many vendors end up using techs with little experience or "national service providers" with techs who have little or no troubleshooting or basic electronics training.
The shop that you want to use is the one who will look beyond the board level for more complete solutions. I'll give an example. In the Mitsubishi sets of the last few years, that use what they call the DM module, there have been failures of capacitors in the DM power supply. It has become apparent that Mitsubishi got a bad batch of caps (from Jamicon) that failed long before expected. The stock solution from Mitsubishi is to replace the DM module. The board alone will cost several hundred dollars. Taking it apart, one often finds that the problem is simply 4-7 electrolytic capacitors that swell up and fail. A good tech will have looked for obvious problems BEFORE concluding that the set needs a new module. The result is a far less expensive repair. The repair may actually be more effective because when you get that new or rebuilt DM module from Mitsubishi, guess what kind of caps will likely be on it...that's right, Jamicon. Who knows how many of those replaced modules will be failing in a few years.
Many times these days, it is impossible to repair at the component level. For instance, common failures on many LG PDPs are Y-Sustain boards. The individual chips that typically fail are not available. Similarly, many light engines in RP and FP televisions simply do not have individual parts available. This is one of the "dirty little secrets" of the industry that manufacturers don't like to discuss. Many times this creates the habit in techs to just assume that no repairs are possible. Sometimes, if you look a little deeper, and are creative, there are more reasonable solutions. The tech that will do so is the guy you want working on your set.
Correction: Many of the IPM chips on the YSus boards have now become available. The smartest and best servicers are now considering the relative cost of the boards vs the chips and labor. In some cases it makes sense to repair the boards, in some cases the chips are close enough to the cost of the board that it does not make sense to do so. The best servicer stays up to date on this type of information and checks to find out. Some, even very good servicers, are not compfortable with the the process for changing these, as it is very difficult because of the mounting method and construction of the boards. The way servicers make these decisions is informative, however, as it tells you whether they actively seek out the latest info and make decisions that affect your repairs and costs wisely.
One way to identify a "good" shop is to ask how they complete most repairs. Experienced and skilled technicians still try to repair most products by troubleshooting down to the specific components rather than replacing entire circuit board assemblies. The trend among manufacturers is to "dumb down" troubleshooting and repair by replacing modules or large assemblies rather than individual components. There are several reasons for this, but the most significant one is that it reduces support costs and allows less skilled servicers to complete repairs. Ship enough boards and swap them until it is fixed. With the demise of thousands of repair shops, many vendors end up using techs with little experience or "national service providers" with techs who have little or no troubleshooting or basic electronics training.
The shop that you want to use is the one who will look beyond the board level for more complete solutions. I'll give an example. In the Mitsubishi sets of the last few years, that use what they call the DM module, there have been failures of capacitors in the DM power supply. It has become apparent that Mitsubishi got a bad batch of caps (from Jamicon) that failed long before expected. The stock solution from Mitsubishi is to replace the DM module. The board alone will cost several hundred dollars. Taking it apart, one often finds that the problem is simply 4-7 electrolytic capacitors that swell up and fail. A good tech will have looked for obvious problems BEFORE concluding that the set needs a new module. The result is a far less expensive repair. The repair may actually be more effective because when you get that new or rebuilt DM module from Mitsubishi, guess what kind of caps will likely be on it...that's right, Jamicon. Who knows how many of those replaced modules will be failing in a few years.
Many times these days, it is impossible to repair at the component level. For instance, common failures on many LG PDPs are Y-Sustain boards. The individual chips that typically fail are not available. Similarly, many light engines in RP and FP televisions simply do not have individual parts available. This is one of the "dirty little secrets" of the industry that manufacturers don't like to discuss. Many times this creates the habit in techs to just assume that no repairs are possible. Sometimes, if you look a little deeper, and are creative, there are more reasonable solutions. The tech that will do so is the guy you want working on your set.
Correction: Many of the IPM chips on the YSus boards have now become available. The smartest and best servicers are now considering the relative cost of the boards vs the chips and labor. In some cases it makes sense to repair the boards, in some cases the chips are close enough to the cost of the board that it does not make sense to do so. The best servicer stays up to date on this type of information and checks to find out. Some, even very good servicers, are not compfortable with the the process for changing these, as it is very difficult because of the mounting method and construction of the boards. The way servicers make these decisions is informative, however, as it tells you whether they actively seek out the latest info and make decisions that affect your repairs and costs wisely.
