Every body wants a Service Manual    But do YOU need one?

"I need the Service Manual." I get that in Email after Email. I read it in posting after posting. But is it true? Hopefully after you read this article , you will be able to decide for yourself. But for the majority of TV owners the answer will be no. For most of us the term "Service Manual", gives the idea that what's inside will tell us how to service it. Plus we have the memory of the Chiltons auto manuals we bought in our days of youth. But that's not the case in this age of digital circuits and design engineers who cannot speak English. I will walk you beyond the impressive cover page and dig into the pages beyond.
We sell Service Menu Data but NOT the Service Manual.
One of the first sections in many Service Manuals is the Owners Manual. Yes the same one you received with the set, out of the box. Now not all brands include this, but many do. Did you read yours when you first bought the set?? The bad part about it is, they usually print it sideways with smaller print.
Owners Manual
Disassembly
 The next section for many brands is Disassembly. Normally they show the back coming off and count the screws holding it on. Perhaps there are some DYI's that needs this information. Sometimes this is helpful when removing a projo screen, but most of the time they still don't mention that little tab in the corner, or that last hidden screw.
Then comes the section most of our customers are really interested in, the service menu and setup instructions. In here you usually find all the adjustments for the set. At least the ones the engineers want us to know about. That's right sometimes there are a few secret ones not listed. Recently I had a Toshiba with an unusual symptom. The problem turned out to be an unlisted menu setting. Now before you think this is the road to the perfect picture, look at the nomenclature. Do you understand all of it? They don't put a glossary in the back to explain it all. They expect you to know their abbreviations. Each brand has their own.
Service Menu Data
We do sell this!
Service Menu
Board Schematic
Then starts the meat and potato's of the repair industry. The Board Layouts and Schematics. Can you read the schematics? Not all of the parts have voltages listed. And of the ones that do, when should it be what's printed on the page? In these days of digital circuitry, when you change settings with the remote, many of these will change. But which ones?
Finally comes the Parts Listing. Here you will find the part numbers for all the parts in your set. Well .. most of the time. Since the manual was printed there are always changes in part numbers. Some of them are corrected when you try to order the part, but others are for a different chassis altogether. If you were to order the latter you will get the wrong part! We receive notice of corrections daily for service manuals.
Parts




copyright © 2008 Roy Moon