First, let me apologize for asking for help on my very first post...
I have been following the EEVBlog for many years, and I occasionally read the forums.
I guess it's just that I am not the social type. I almost never post anything on the Internet.
Hell, I don't even have a FaceBook account...
Now to business:
I own an almost 8 years old Philips LCD TV.
The TV still works, but a few month ago it started emitting strange sharp clicking sounds, just after being powered on.
At the beginning, those clicking sounds used to stop after a couple of minutes.
Over the last month, the clicking sounds began lasting longer and longer.
It now takes about 10 minutes for them to stop.
I traced the problem to a failing LCD backlight transformer on the main PSU board.
The clicking sound seems to be high voltage discharge withing the transformer itself.
There are no real external evidence of failure on the part itself, except for a small crack in the epoxy coating, but I am pretty sure that it is the transformer that failed.
(There are no signs of arcing on the board, and I already replaced all the HV capacitors in the CCFL circuit. There are no other parts on the HV side.)
Now, the problem is that I cannot find this PSU board or the transformer for sale anywhere.
I am not a repair professional (I design Embedded stuff), so I am not sure where to go for TV parts. (I mean parts that DigiKey, Mouser, RS etc' don't carry)
I've looked online, but no one seems to have this PSU in stock anymore, except a few websites in eastern Europe, but those are either not in English, or won't ship internationally.
I also contacted the official Philips repair service here in Israel, but they claim that they do not have this part, and also that they won't sell me a PSU board anyway, unless I send the TV to them for (an overpriced) repair...
Anyway, I am sure this forum has a few TV repair pros.
If there is anyone who knows where I can get this PSU (or just the transformer), I would like to know.
Also, if you come across a similar PSU, or one that has this transformer, I would gladly buy it from you.
Any help would be appreciated.
I know that the TV is 8 years old, and I should probably just replace it, but it seems so stupid to throw it in a landfill just because of a single failed part, that would take me 10 minutes to replace...
This set was a rather high-end model at the time, and it's picture is still respectable even by today's standards, so I see no real value 'upgrading'.
Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer to try and make it work for a few more years, if possible.
Thanks.
Technical Details:
TV model: Philips 47PFL8404H/12
PSU: DPS-298CP-2 (P/N 2722 171 00701, made by DELTA)
Transformer Marking: MP-130B (02) / IH-DP8049