Combine 2 Non-Working Sony TVs Into One That Works

Have you ever wondered if you could fix your two broken LCD TVs by combining them? Neither had we, but [Redion] did, and the answer is yes, it can be done.  Although it may sound like a serious kludge, the finished product actually looks quite nice from the view provided.  On the other hand, we don’t know how the internals will hold up, but it apparently works well now.

For this hack, the working internals from a  32 inch Sony LCD TV with a broken display were combined with a 40 inch Sony LCD TV that had an undamaged display but fried internals.  Although this would most likely not work for every TV out there, it’s still a pretty neat experiment. Many people would simply assume something like this would not work, and trash both TVs.  We would suggest the new TV be named “Nomad”, just avoid wearing a red shirt around it.

Keep in mind with any TV hack, taking one apart can expose you to large capacitors that may or may not be charged and can be quite dangerous (they can stay charged for a long time).  We don’t necessarily recommend duplicating anything here, but use extreme caution if attempting anything like this.

16 thoughts on “Combine 2 Non-Working Sony TVs Into One That Works

  1. Well, repairing all kind of “new” electronic stuff connected to the mains has big capacitors inside, so the warning is quite irrelevant i my opinion. It’s not a CRT TV – those can pack a punch (but, still won’t kill you, unless you have a weak heart and it’s the actual “shocking event” that kills you)
    Anyway, i did a similar project 2 years ago. Got a 32″ Samsung with broken motherboard (replacing the BGA RAM’s didn’t help) so i set it aside. Then i found a similar Samsung 32″ TV with smashed screen for 100$ – the only damage was the smashed LCD, everything else was working. I moved the intact panel, soldered the wires for the backlight (the connectors and pinout were different) and it worked. Still works to this day ;-)

  2. This is true for laptop LCD too. Most laptop LCD are made by samsung or lg so as long as the backlight and size is the same there usually interchangable. I replaced a 17″ dell laptop LCD with one from a hp

    1. “…of course we suspect a poor power supply design…”
      hahaaha yeh, right on! …

      different brand, same part (transistor MJE2001 ect), same power, same efficency, same waste heat (in watts) ………. and …. drumm roll please …..
      half the size of heatsink!
      geez!
      i wonder WHY it could have failed?!?!?!?!?!!? ******sakes! ******-*******! ********!,******-***!

  3. TVs use the same chassis (“internals”) between screen sizes for a same model line, sometimes between same models, usually it’s just a matter of adjusting the firmware to say “Ok, your screen size is X” and it takes care of the geometry. In this case, the panels were the same resolution, just different sizes so no adjustment necessary.

  4. About half year ago i got two 19″ LCD monitors for free. One of them was Samsung SyncMaster, the other one was LG Flatron.
    Samsung had problems with it’s main board, LG had broken LCD panel and the housing did not look good either but was electronically in perfect condition.
    When i first saw them, i knew they were meant to be together :P
    So i took them both apart and placed the LG’s electronics in Samsung’s housing. I even rewired Samsung’s buttons to work with LG’s electronics.
    This Samsung Flatron now have been working perfectly for months, in fact, i am writing this text using it.

  5. Not to worry. Using a simple volt meter, you can plug one lead (normally the plug which plugs into the meter) into the ground plug of any three prong outlet. Next, take the other end and touch ONE leg of every capacitor. Capacitors have two legs so touch one, then the other leg. Don’t bridge the two capacitor legs or you’ll risk frying the device.

    Additionally you can measure the stored voltage in the capacitors. I worked on an LCD’s power supply board. Turned out the 1,000 v capacitor only held a 1 volt charge, after an unknown amount of time being “broken” and powered off.

    -Oh, de-soldered broken caps, soldered in new caps and monitor is working as normal!

  6. I was given a 40 inch Bravia that wouldn’t turn on. The problem was on one of the boards and they wanted an insane amount for a replacement. After some looking around, I learned that it was a 15 cent component on the board. (reset IC) Ripped the old IC off the board and it has worked fine since.

  7. I’ve done the same with CRT TVs. There are different layouts for the pins on the screen itself, but as long as you can find a board with the same layout as an unbroken tube, it seems to work fine.

  8. I have been doing this for more than a decade. LCD monitors are even easier to fix than CRT’s, and CRT’s generally weren’t that hard depending on the manufacturer.

    If you want to publish something interesting, then how about an example “rebuild” of a failed LCD monitor – Go through the switcher, logic board, CCFL tubes, etc – A lot of people would probably like that.

  9. U have lucky, i have nearly 20 tv (samsung, lg, ang german stuff) and i tryied to combine, mainboard, and power its not problem, like all guys said, but tcon connections r different, its not that easy

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