electronic repair

[Ken Juul]

Not necessarily boat related.  I'm a tinkerer, a neighbor gave me a 5 year old LG flat screen that suddenly stopped working.  Another neighbor, who is much better at electronic repairs than I suggested it was probably just a bad capacitor.  Took the main board out and nothing looked a miss.  Turned to Google in search of a new board.  Instead I found this tip.  Many electronic boards/components fail because the heating/cooling cycles crack the solder joints. Most are microscopic, not visible to the eye. It was suggested that I put the board on a piece of cardboard and bake it in an electric oven at 385, which is slightly over the temp most solders flow.  In for 10 minutes, air cool.  When cool to the touch, reinstall.  Voila, it works again.  Tip might be useful for other electronics, as long as the board is removable from the case and any attached plastic fairings.

[lazybone]

Does it do anything when you try to power it up?

[KWKloeber]

It was suggested that I put the board on a piece of cardboard and bake it in an electric oven at 385, which is slightly over the temp most solders flow. 

I can attest that it can work if it's a solder trace issue. I bought a high-end $1600 laptop (I suppose it's boat related because I used it aboard.)  The high-end, well-known vid chip that the laptop manufacturer used was a lemon -- heated up so bad that the fan couldn't cool the motherboard, and within 6 months it cooked the solder connections at the vid chip (thank you, chip manufacturer.) 

Fix #1 was for the laptop mfgr. to replace the motherboard under recall.  Same failure within next 6 months. No more warranty replacements (thank you, laptop mfgr.) 

Fix #2 was for a service shop to do the EZ-Bake Oven fix.  It worked (then failed again - 4 months).  Did that routine twice.  Not the shop's problem, they did the best they could -- but couldn't overcome the heat, even after said laptop mfgr rewrote the BIOS to constantly run the fan at high speed, which zeroed-out the battery life (thank you again, laptop mfgr.) 

So fast forward to class-action lawsuit on behalf of who bought the models with said vid chip (used by 3 different laptop manufacturers.) 

Fast forward again to Mr. Judge approving a settlement with graciously awarded screwed consumers a $400 (retail), throw-away, laptop with 1/3 the processor and 1/2 the features of the original $1600 machine.  And the attorneys walking away with $16 mil (thank you all for you help, laptop mfgr, chip mfgr, judge, and attorneys.)

Oh yeah, the motherboard in the throw-away replacement laptop also failed, from the same issue - video chip overheating and cooking the solder traces (thank you again laptop mfgr, Mr judge, and attorneys.)

So, the take-aways?
(1) Oftentimes the EZ-Bake Oven fix will work, at least temporarily -- but the board may fail once again.
(2) Use your imagination on the other one.

kk
(stepping off the soapbox)