There has been a large amount of chatter on Techlore about Sony convergence ic problems. Luckily Most Sony projection tv's no matter what model you have should be similar to my explanation below, Since Sony rarely fully re-engineers a tv what I am about to say will apply to most Sony projection TV's. A service manual is generally not needed to perform the repair.
WARNING! If you don't have any electronic experience this is not for you, I assume no liability for any harm that may come to you or your tv. Perform this procedure totally at your own risk. High Voltages exist in your tv and on the boards I am going to talk about, and can have high voltages on them even after the tv is unplugged.
What has happened to your tv:
What has normally happened is that the convergence output driver ic's either one or both of them has shorted. Causing your picture to be un-converged, The Symptom of your failure can take on many different looks, so one explanation of what the failure looks like will not be adequate. It will be basically one or more (red,Green,Blue) crt's are not aligned correctly, and colored shifted, and distorted picture of some kind will be seen. Auto focus will not fixit and may even make it worse. When these ic's short, they can cause one or more pico fuse to blow. Allot of people ignore this part of the repair and get themselves into trouble. Please listen to my warning, and make sure you check these fuses!
About the boards:
The two boards we will be working with are the "D" and "G" boards. They will have a big "D" or "G" stamped into them. On most models the "D" board will be to the center left of you when looking from the back. The "G" board will usually be to the left of the "D" board and standing vertically. When removing the board make a mental note of where all the plugs go. The Flyback (the big gray transformer near the back) has a fat red wire coming out of it. To remove this wire push down and twist on the distribution block side. Don't try to remove it from the flyback side, you can damage the flyback. There is a focus wire going upto the focus block as well, pull the wire straight out of the focus block side. But if you have enough room to work behind your television you can leave the red and focus wires in the tv, just flip the board over at the television after removal.
The Parts:
The parts you will need are two ic's that are referred to as STK ic's. This is in reference to the first three letters of the part number. You will also need some pico fuses. The pico fuses are little yellow fuses that look like resistors. When they blow, they will show no physical sign of failure. The amperage rating will be printed on the fuse. For example a 5 amp fuse will have the number 5000 on it. A 3.15 amp fuse will have the number 3150 on it. You will need to use an ohm meter to test these fuses.
If your set uses either STK392-110, or STK392-120, you should replace them with a higher wattage part; either the STK392-150 or STK392-180. Since this is a very prolific problem, there are allot of companies that make cheap bad ic's that can be purchased usually for around $6.00 - These replacement ic's are BAD, they will FAIL on you again. I have had allot of experience with this problem, please listen to my warning! Only get a set that is from a reputable manufacturer. If your ic part number is something other than the ones I mentioned above, ONLY use the EXACT same part number for replacement. The part number is boldly printed on the part.
The Location of the parts;
The stk ic's are on the "D" board, attached to large heat sinks, When looking from the back you can see the heat sinks but the part's themselves will be pointing away from you and hard to see without removing the board, or using a mirror to look at the part numbers. The fuses are generally located under the fins of the heat sinks. There are several of them and vary by model. On the "G" board there will be two yellow pico fuses near the connector going to "D" board. These fuses provide power to the stk ic's you must check these as well.
The Repair:
When replacing the STKs make sure you use heat sink compound on the back of the ic's before installing them. Also as a rule of thumb, screw or clamp the ic's down to their heat sinks before you solder the pins. Replace any blown pico fuses and re- install your boards. When you turn your set on it may still be out of convergence due to many factors. Try pressing the auto focus button on front of your set. If this does not work, you will need to do a convergence. Please see my article "Sony Convergence Procedure" to complete this part.
Possible Problems after the repair;
Many things can happen during your repair, the most common problem and one that even I - an experienced tech still have problems with are not plugging in all the wires. This will cause various strange problems. So if the set acts differently than It did before. First suspect that you have missed a wire. Don't assume that you got all the wires in. it is extremely easy to miss one. I have had people and techs tell me "I am sure I plugged in all the wires" but when I investigate a little further we find that wire that was hidden behind something else and once we plug it, all will be well. Another issue you need to be aware of is if you are in convergence mode and you cannot move one of the colors in either vertical or horizontal directions. Re-check you pico fuses and solder. 99% of these problems are due to either shorted pins or a missed pico fuse.
More Advice?
If you have more questions about this repair, start a conversation on this board and I will help you with your question. Please include the model number of the set so my responses can be specific.
Comments
Well, using a drill press, I
Well, using a drill press, I drilled a hole to take a look inside.
The good news is (at least for all the hobbiest out there wanting to keep their STKs as cool as possible), I was right, everything is mounted on a pcb board on the metal part side, nothing is up by the bakelite. You could drill ventilation holes (only as deep as to go through the bakelite, about 1 mm) all in the bakelite side to ventilate this thing, which I plan to do.
The bad news is, for me, anyway, that there's a integral part of the bakelite that serves as a bakelite bar to hold down the hidden ends of the pins and provide them a bit more physical support (which obviously did not work in my case). So to get to the actual solder pad, I'm going to have to very carefully drill away a good little part of the bakelite case around the disconnected pad and drill out the bar.
I'm thinking this whole bakelite case serves no purpose other than physical protection and protection of someone's trade secrets. If I can take them off and run things without them, I'm going to do so... they'd stay far more cool that way, exposed to the air, instead of trapped in this bakelite tupperware type casing.
If you go drilling, I advise you use a drill press, which gives extremely fine control lowering and raising the drill, rather than like I initially did and like a bumpkin would do, with a power drill and holding the case with your fingers. It works, but don't press real hard and take your time, because you don't want the tip of your drill to plung though the hole once it breaks through and slam into the pcb board down below and start grinding away at it. With a drill press, its a trivial affair to do it right and with extreme care. With a hand held drill, and common household klutzy skills, you're probably going to screw up the first time. You can of course practice first on a burnt out STK you pulled from your unit to replace.
This tv repair has been a
This tv repair has been a nightmare from hell. I have a sony kp-65wv600 tv that has a bad convergence problem. I talked with the sales people over at tvrepairkits.com and they then shipped me out the kit and promised excellent customer support. Well the kit arrived 7 days later then promised... I then followed the instructions that were supplied by tvrepairkits.com and the convergence problem still existed. I emailed them back and forth because there's no direct person to talk to over the phone and not even on their chat screen on their site. It took them 3 days to respond to my eamils... and still the problem exists... I changed all the pico fuses (both the 3.5 and 5amps) on the D board and G board, I changed all the resistors under the heat sink, i changed the ic's (also put a genorous amount of thermal paste on) I check my soldering, I checked my cable connections and the problem still exists... I'm at my wicks end... also $150 in the repair and still no solution... Somebody please help...
send pictures of the solder
send pictures of the solder job on the ic's both sides of the D board.
also what ic's did they send you give me the stk number complete.
if i am not mistaken the kp65wv600 uses stk392-560
also send pictures of the
also send pictures of the screen with the convergence grid up.
Related Topics:
Related Topics:
at first my unit gave me the 3d effect so I bought the convergence chips from ebay, installed them, and installed 15 new resistors out of the 20 even though i assume they were fine. I then replaced all 6 pico fuses with new ones and it didnt fix the problem, then i realized the 2 pico fuses on the g board, so i replaced the one that was bad which was the top one, i turned the system on and it worked fine, turned it on about an hour later and the resistors i replaced burned, 5 of them, which is a row, (the second group of five )to be exact right under the ic chip on the left. so i replaced the 5 with 4.7 1.2w 5% resistors, then i replaced the 2 pico fuses on the g board with 5amp 125v pico, and turned the unit on and it didnt fix anything, at this point i dont know what went wrong, or what the problem is, any help would be aprecciated greatly, btw i replaced the 2 pico fuses on the g board with 5 amp 125v pico and the 6 on the main board i replaced with 3.5 should be correct, thank you
I have a projection Sony TV
I have a projection Sony TV (KP-53HS10) that just started to show a convergence issue. Image is bowed and colors show as 3D without glasses. Also, I am getting 6 Standby blinks when powering it on. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Sargons91 - you should
Sargons91 - you should almost never have fo replace any resistors on the kp series of sony sets. My guess is your soldering is bad or you bought a bad chip or two. Most if not all the chips sold on eBay are the cheaper varieties from china. When in doubt get a kit next time with the correct instructi s. You can get them from www.tvrepairkits.com and in some cases on Amazon.
ok thanks alot. this is the
ok thanks alot. this is the most recent problem, i checked all my soders, replaced the pico fuses and a few resistors and now it works perfectly on the right half of the tv but the left half is off(it seems to be that the green isnt aligned) any idea what it could be now, and i was also wondering how do you get the soder to stick to the board if the copper piece comes off. Thank you so much Ed-2
I found a website called
I found a website called tvrepairkits.com that sell kits to repair your TV. Their kits have the parts and photo instructions that take you step by step through the repair process.
Also to comment about removing the high voltage wires on a Sony. I was able to repair my Sony without removing these wires and don't recommend removing them.
I gave up on solving my Sony
I gave up on solving my Sony TV (KP-53HS10) convergence issue myself. Yes, I know how to solder but did not want to mess my TV up. I hired a TV tech guy and for $250 he upgraded the stk392-20 chips and checked all the other components of the circuitry. He also cleaned the projectors. My TV works just as new and the HD looks just as good as many of the $1500 LED TVs out there. Yes, I do not have 3D, but it was worth the price. Considering that the self-repair kit costs ~$100, I am happy.
I have an old Sony with a
I have an old Sony with a convergence issue, classic 3D appearence with bowing at the top and bottom of the screen. The funny thing is it isn't like that all the time, most of the time its perfect. Then for no good reason it will go bad for a while. Still a convergence issue? I have what I need to replace the stk's and picos, do you think that is the problem?
Sargon,
Sargon,
I am having a similar issue except I did not change resistors only chips and pico fuses on both boards. I plugged tv in and was working for a minute looked good, than the resistors on the right side began to smoke. I unplugged and am wondering where I went wrong? Did you get yours back to normal after changing resistors?
If your resistors smoked you
If your resistors smoked you likely had a solder bridge. Practicing your soldering before this repair is key. This is why sites like] www.TvRepairKits.com sell complete kits with instructions and support. One of their included guides is how to learn to solder. Its easy - but takes practice
I did get the kit from
I did get the kit from tvrepairkits. Practicing soldering is where I may have gone wrong and I should have used the solder sucker instead of desoldering braid. Braid seem to smear solder around. Do you think I did damage to ic chips? I am going to clean up solder work and give it another go. I am sure the resistors are fried I guess I will have to change those. By the end of this project I should have practiced plenty of soldering work to bad it will be at the cost of a sweet tv.
Yes you do need to clean up
Yes you do need to clean up any solder splatter. You likely had a solder bridge, but the good news is that the IC chips are pretty durable. Make sure if you remove the IC chips by using a desoldering iron. You can find desoldering irons at Radio Shack for about $12. If you have additional questions regarding your kit you can contact tv repair kits help desk and they can assist you there as well.
After replacing both STK IC's
After replacing both STK IC's and one pico fuse on the G board on my Sony KP-53HS30, i am able to adjust convergence from service menu, but am not able to save changes made. When Flash Focus is pressed I get "Error G Lo Level S1" on screen. Any ideas what is wrong?
I've replaced IC's & one Pico
I've replaced IC's & one Pico on a Sony KP46Wt510 and the convergence issue was fixed for a couple weeks with no issues. Now, after the set is on for around 45 mins, a little different type of convergence problem is visible. If I turn the tv off for a few minutes and turn back on, the problem is gone. Are Pico fuses ok to check with a fluke meter, with out desoldering one leg and isolating the circuit? Any other suggestions?
ic's are overheating, you don
ic's are overheating, you don't have good heat conduction from the ic's to the heat sink or you did not use new heat sink compound on the back of the ic's or you have a bad solder connection on one of the ic's. Other issues can cause this too but this is the most common.
I had Convergence problem
I had Convergence problem some 2 Years back and was able to fix it with the help of this useful forum. Now again I have having distorted dark picture like 3d without glasses. Can you please suggest me the probable cause. Thanks
Hi Thnaks, for this brilliant
Hi Thnaks, for this brilliant article, i am having a convergence problem on toshiba LCD tv model 40BV702B, can someone please advice on which board migh be cauisng it. thanks
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