I couldn't find anything online about this, so that meant I was going to write this blog post when I fixed it to help others out. I called the Samsung settlement line and they said this high pitched noise was not one of the symptoms of a blown capictor.
I took the back panel off and there was a popped capacitor, right next to an inductor, some transistors and a heat sink. The capacitor is presumably used in an LC circuit before as part of a SMPS (switched mode power supply). Initially, I tried hot gluing the inductor to quiet the oscillations down, because it didn't look too blown. The sound changed in pitch, but remained.
The next day I replaced the capacitor and the sound went away. I used my multimeter and the capacitor was measuring 0 farad. I tested some known good ones, so I was using the multimeter it correctly. I didn't have the right size capacitor handy, so I replaced the 2200uF 10v capacitor with a 220uF 50v capacitor. It's not tuned to the right frequency (I think it's allowing the square root of 10 (3.16) higher frequencies than the initial design), but the sound went away entirely, so I'm happy.
I called the samsung line back and told them it was a blown cap and they said I'm still not eligible for anything because it wasn't exhibiting any of the known symptoms. I dont know if it is worth pursuing, but it's annoying that there is a class action lawsuit to fix this issue, yet Samsung says I'm not covered.
The Fix
So in short, the fix (what you probably came here for) is to remove the back panel, look for a popped capacitor (the top will be lifted and there will be residue on it). This capacitor will probably be in the position my screwdriver is pointing to, then replace the capacitor with one of the same size. I only used a solder iron, solder, and a replacement capacitor. You will probably want a 2200uF 10v (or greater) capacitor, which you can find thator something similar at RadioShack.
Let me know if you are having the same issue or if this helped. Just curious how widespread this is.
I have a Magnavox but had a similar issue. There were 2 blown capacitors. No high pitched whine - the TV just straight up didn't work. Wouldn't power on at all. Soldering in 2 new capacitors fixed it, though we couldn't find them at Radio Shack - we had to order them online.
ReplyDeleteAt least for my TV, it's widespread enough that we even saw a capacitor kit you could order from somebody that was trying to make a business out of this.
Hi Alex,
ReplyDeleteThank for taking the time to write this! My 42" LCD Samsung started doing this about 2 days ago. The TV is about 4 years old now, maybe 5.
I have a solder gun in the garage and a Radio Shack up the road so I will be attempting to locate a failed capacitor and replace it this weekend.
Thanks!
what is the model of the TV you fixed??
ReplyDeleteThe model is lnt3242hx.
DeleteHi Alex - I have the same issue with my LNT3253H, power supply BN44-00192A. The high pitched sound is coming from the area in your picture, but I see no obvious blown caps. I ordered this kit from Amazon and am hoping it will contain what I need to swap out...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Samsung-CAPACITOR-Replacement-Temperature-Capacitors/dp/B008RYWHY8/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8
thanks for taking the time for this blog....having the same issue on a tv for my sons room (v32f390fex) tv is approx 6 weeks old
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this, will try it on a Samsung TV I found discarded. I guess it was discarded because of the whine it's making. There is a capacitor slightly convex on top but no residue on it.
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