Do LCD TVs ever go BANG?

[Ari]

I have an old 17 inch Samsung in the corner of the kitchen. Not sure how old but it has no digital receiver so I have to run a Digibox to pick anything up. I only ever use it to watch the news of an evening whilst cooking dinner.

Because both Digibox and TV are old, I switch them off at the socket when not in use.

Tonight I flicked the two socket switches (double socket) and turned them on. both came on then 10 seconds later a loud SNAP (which scared the life out of me!) and both off. There was a strong smell, weirdly just like the smell a cap gun made when I was a child.

I suspected it must be the double socket for both to have gone off. It later dawned on me that the fuse for the kitchen circuit had tripped.

For now I've left the circuit tripped, I'm unwilling to switch it back on in case there is a problem with the house wiring. I also don't want to try plugging the TV back in elsewhere if it's potentially got a fairly explosive fault!

So not sure what to do now really, other than ask, do old LCD TVs ever go bang?

[frisbee]

Capacitors can fail and start passing current which causes things to go bang and magic smoke to appear. The power supply in the TV will have a few decent sized capacitors.

Recapping is fairly standard on vintage radios, computer etc.

[Oakey]

That's exactly how my Samsujg monitor died. One if the caps will have blown and probably some other stuff. You can probably find a replacement board in Ebay if you can be bothered to fix it

[Ari]

That's reassuring, thank you. I don't care about the TV, it's very old and cheap to replace. My concern was whether there was a problem with the house wiring.

Trouble is I don't want to reset the circuit breaker in case there is a problem with the house wiring and it burns to the ground with me in it overnight, which would be inconvenient, and I don't want to try plugging the TV back in in case it explodes again, showering me in molten... whatever the hell is in televisions.

So not sure what to do for the best...

[anonymous-user]

Unplug both TV and digibox, the fact the breaker tripped protected the wiring. If you reset the trip and it goes again then something else may have been damaged but I doubt it will trip again.

I've had this sort of thing happen and everything was fine.

[Ari]

I unplugged both straight away. Guess I'll have to be brave and turn it back on.

[Jamessd]

Ari said:

I unplugged both straight away. Guess I'll have to be brave and turn it back on.

If we don’t hear back from you we’ll know what’s happened!

[buggalugs]

As above it’ll be some caps failed it was super common a few years back due to poor quality supplies. They’re pretty easy to replace if you fancy a go. Any that have swelled on the top or just popped completely should be replaced.

[Ari]

Well I've removed the TV and reset the breaker - no inferno or explosions yet..!