Wayne, this was a classical High Current/High Temperature/Solder Decomposition/Fatigue issue. (Is there one word for this?). Famous failure, world wide during a couple of years with Philips Z12 TV chassis many years ago. Philips decided to solder mount the image frequency transformer by means of a number of pins in through holes on the PWB. The transformer was very warm, heavy and lots of current passed through the pins. The transformer had no screws or bolts, was just hanging in the solder joints. After some time, the solder joints looked EXACTLY like the one in my AC controller board. Those who were familiar with the technology at that time knew what to do: open the TV swing out the monster chassis, suck up the old solder around the transformer pins and redo the soldering. This had to be repeated once a year or so. Philips made a redesign and fixed a mechanical suppor which removed all mechanical force to the solder joints. All old dogs recognize this kind of issue, younger don't . AND....this type of failures exist still. The below lines are written just a few years ago: TV and Monitor Manufacturing Quality and Cold Solder Joints Low cost no-name (or unknown name) computer monitors tend to be particularly prone to bad solder connections. However, so are many models of name brand TVs including those from RCA/GE/Proscan and Sony. We'll touch on these at the end of this article. Any intermittent problems with monitors that cause random sudden changes in the picture brightness, color, size, or position are often a result of bad connections. Strategically placed bad connections can also cause parts to blow. For example, a bad connection to the SCR anode in a phase controlled power supply can result in all the current passing through the startup resistor, blowing it as well as other components. I had a TV like this - the real problem was a bad solder joint at a pin on the flyback. Thus, erratic problems, especially where they are power or deflection related, should not be ignored! Bad solder joints are very common in TVs and monitors due both to poor quality manufacturing as well as to deterioration of the solder bond after numerous thermal cycles and components running at high temperature. Without knowing anything about the circuitry, it is usually possible to cure these problems by locating all bad solder connections and cleaning and reseating internal connectors. The term 'cold solder joint' strictly refers to a solder connection that was either not heated enough during manufacturing, was cooled too quickly, or where part pins were moved before the solder had a chance to solidify. A similar situation can develop over time with thermal cycling where parts are not properly fastened and are essentially being held in by the solder alone. Both situations are most common with the pins of large components like transformers, power transistors and power resistors, and large connectors. The pins of the components have a large thermal mass and may not get hot enough during manufacturing. Also, they are relatively massive and may flex the connection due to vibration or thermal expansion and contraction. Why Can't TV Manufacturers Learn to Solder Properly? I can think of several potential reasons - all solvable but at higher manufacturing cost. 1.. Mass of large component leads (like shields) does not get adequately heated during manufacture leading to latent cold solder joints. While they may look OK, the solder never actually 'wetted' the heavy pins and therefore did not form a good mechanical or electrical bond. 2.. Thermal cycles and differential thermal coefficients of circuit boards, traces, and solder. While it is not easy to do anything about the material properties, using plated through-holes or a similar mechanical via would greatly increase the surface area of the joint and prevent the formation of cracks. 3.. Vibration. This is also directly related to the single sided circuit boards without plated through-holes to strengthen the joints. 4.. Lack of adequate mechanical support (single sided circuit boards without plated through-holes (vias). I believe that the single most significantimprovement would come about by using plated through-holes but this would add to the cost and apparently the consumer is not willing to pay more for better quality and reliability! Some designs have used rivlets - mechanical vias instead of plated ones. While this is good in principle, the execution has often been flawed where cold solder joints resulted between the rivlets and the circuit board traces due to lack of adequate process control. The Sony and RCA/GE tuner shield problem is interesting because this could have been solved years ago at essentially no additional cost as other manufacturers - and their own repair procedures - have proven. The End Inge ----- Original Message ----- From: "Thayer, Wayne - IIW" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 4:02 PM Subject: Re: [TN] NTC (It's not Friday, but this is so true!) Hi Inge! I am also someone who takes stuff to pieces. You should see the scars on my knuckles from all of the sheet metal cuts you can get on a car. Now that you've put your car back together.... Are you absolutely sure the solder joint was bad when it left the line? I mean, the rest of the joints look just fine, so what is it about that one? In all liklihood this was wave soldered. What if the real problem is that too much current is going through that joint, which is considerably smaller than the adjacent joint on the same trace? You may have only peeled back the first layer of the onion! I hate to put doubts in the mind of someone who did an excellent job getting the thing repaired, but I know you are tough! Wayne -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Steven Creswick Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 3:55 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [TN] NTC (It's not Friday, but this is so true!) Inge - wow! It's all in the hunt! Good find! Steve - You are right! That is a cool trailer! Steve C http://stevezeva.homestead.com/files/Inge_s_Car_Fun_.pdf http://stevezeva.homestead.com/files/Unusual_Trike.jpg --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 15.0 To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ----------------------------------------------------- This e-mail and any files transmitted with it may be proprietary and are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. 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