Electronics 2000

Afternoon, everyone!

I'm in the process of repairing a television that blew a couple of capacitors a few weeks back. The new capacitors are in and everything was working fine, except that I plugged a 12-way wire to board connector into the wrong header - there are two headers sat right next to each other designated "PL801" and "PL802". I believe my logic at the time was "01 comes before 02" and... well, apparently such isn't the case. It seems like PL801 is supposed to be unoccupied.

Here's the headers:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/443 ... 281%29.jpg

And here's what I did to the Housing as a result:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/443 ... 282%29.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/443 ... 283%29.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/443 ... 284%29.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/443 ... 285%29.jpg

I need some help finding a couple more of these housings, but beyond a google search which helped me identify it as a "wire to board" housing and a search on Amazon and eBay, I'm a bit stumped.

Any help is very much appreciated!

- Craig

You can probably replace them with different types of plugs and sockets, though it will involve a bit of work.
Can you let us know what the pitch of the headers are?
Regards,
Relayer

Hey, Relayer.

I'm not too sure if my soldering skill is good enough to put a fresh header on the power board - I can just about replace capacitors, and occasionally seem to screw that up as well. I'm not too sure how to check pitch, is that the width of the connector?

Cheers,
Craig

Hey Craig,
Pitch is the distance between each pin of the connectors.

The only other way to bypass the burned connector (and this will be crude), is to hard wire each wire directly to the PCB.
You can leave the sockets in place on the PCB if you like, you can solder the wires to the solder side directly.
Unfortunately this will be permanent, so if you ever need to remove the main board from the TV, it will be a tad awkward. Especially if you do solder the wires directly and find you still have a fault with the telly, it will make it just much harder to troubleshoot the fault/s.
I'd say by the amount of carbonization on the connector shows that excessive current has passed through, therefore expect burned PCB tracks and destroyed components. Even components that show no visible signs of damage.
If I were in your shoes, I would check the main board thoroughly: visually and via measurements to determine shorts before I'd even attempt to replace the connectors or hard wiring them.
I'd hate for you to do all that work only to find that too many components have been destroyed in the process of mis-connection.
Please let me know how you get on.
Good luck.
Regards,
Relayer

Thanks for the reply, Relayer!

I've not attempted to switch the unit back on since noticing the damage, but would it be worth wrapping the two pins that have came away in electrical tape (I've got some Super 88 handy), then putting those two in by hand with some tweezers? I'd then clean up the rest of the connector with a scalpel and just connect that part as usual.

I wouldn't even know where to start in an inspection and measurement of a damaged PCB, but at least then I could have the connection back in place to see if the TV is still able to operate.

...I can't even remember if it was PL801 or PL802 that caused the damage, as I was too concerned with disconnecting the power and the connector at the time. I'm hoping it was PL801 that did it, but I'm not entirely sure.

MINERAL-115 wrote:Thanks for the reply, Relayer!

You're welcome.

MINERAL-115 wrote:I've not attempted to switch the unit back on since noticing the damage, but would it be worth wrapping the two pins that have came away in electrical tape (I've got some Super 88 handy), then putting those two in by hand with some tweezers? I'd then clean up the rest of the connector with a scalpel and just connect that part as usual.

That is probably the easiest way to do it.

MINERAL-115 wrote:I wouldn't even know where to start in an inspection and measurement of a damaged PCB, but at least then I could have the connection back in place to see if the TV is still able to operate.

No, I wouldn't try reconnecting and powering up the TV, as there's a good chance you'll blow other components.

MINERAL-115 wrote:...I can't even remember if it was PL801 or PL802 that caused the damage, as I was too concerned with disconnecting the power and the connector at the time. I'm hoping it was PL801 that did it, but I'm not entirely sure.

Due to you turning off the power to the telly ASAP, this may have saved other components down the line from being destroyed.
By this I mean, that some components take time for them to be damaged. While the TV was going at power up to when you switched off may have been just a second or two. In this short period of time, some parts will tolerate incorrect voltage or reversed voltage polarities. But in time it will exceed their tolerance and either go open circuit, short circuit or explode.

You really need to do a visual inspection, starting from the connectors that you accidentally reversed the plugs on. You need to follow each track to a component/s. Flip the board over and have a close look at the part/s. If the track ends to one side of the part and you've had a look at it, go to other track branches from the connectors. This can end up being time consuming and tedious, but at least when you're satisfied you've checked as best as possible, you can get a 10 foot broom stick and turn on the telly with it.
Please keep me posted.
Regards,
Relayer