Ballast Repair Kit for Panasonic PT-50LC13

THANKS brogers,
I tried your advice and will now be able to watch the Superbowl with this TV.
I tried my other lamp, but no luck. I was getting 75 green flashes on the power button, followed by red flashes. For every 5 red flashes the 'lamp' led would flash once. Took it to a "repair shop", who 1st told me that it was a thermal switch, but I told them to check out the ballast. They called back several hours later and told me 'Hey, it's your ballast'. For $300 in parts and $300 in labor they would replace it, or for this service kit it would be $80 and $350 for labor. I saw your thread and ordered the #LSUC0022 for $19.55 and $26 next day air and in 2 hours TV was WORKING. I also left out the fuse and power transistor and it looks like the discreet diode and resistor are beefier.

Thank again!

Yep with most rear pros today when the ballast dies most of the time it kills the supply that feeds it mainly from the SMPS. Its good they show you what to change and some time on a failed ballast all the components are not broken but may have been weakened so if you only replace the dead ones and not the weakened ones for no reason the weakened ones die later on and all that does is strain the new transistors or regulators that you have just changed.
Change the lot I say including the fuse.

Hi Guys,

Here's my problem. I replaced a the bulb (my 3rd) about 4 months ago and I am now getting random shutdowns. It sometimes happens within 5 minutes of turning the TV on. The red LED will blink and I hear the fan continue to spin. The TV will not turn back on. But if I hit the power button again, it will turn back on in about two minutes but again turn off sometime later. Do you guys think that if I replace the balast I could get a few more months out of this POS?

After replacing the lamp twice at about 18 months of use each, I came to the third replacement. After replacing just the lamp, I had the same problem as brogers so ordered the ballast kit.

After replacing the parts, I turned on the TV to see what I expected would be success. The screen lit up! Success! But after about two minutes, it went black and the rapid green and then red light started blinking again. After a rest I tried turning it on again-nothing but a blank screen.

Something must have worked for even that short period of time to get an image. I am sure the lamp is O.K. as it was a replacement and shows no sign of damage to the filament.

So, what would be the best next step? Any suggestions?

Don

Did you replace all the parts? I'm getting ready to done mine but I don't know if I should replace it all the parts...

I did replace all except item 5 (see above) due to location (and the fact that there are 3 so didn't know which one to replace). I ended up going to the "authorized" Panasonic repair location and was told that for only $300, I could order a "refurbished" ballast board with connectors and in the box ready to install. My decision at this point is to stop putting money into it and see if, with the upcoming digital television debacle, anyone will take it in trade for a new television (or for parts). This is without a doubt Panasonic's worst television they have made (or at least that I have purchased). Sorry I don't have better news.

Don

I think I'll give it a whirl.

My parts should be here in a day or so so we will see if it works for me. Wish me luck.

I hope that will be enough.

The ballast is already on the table, waiting to be fixed.

My TV does turn on, and stays on for a minute. sometimes (rarely) even a few hours. I wonder if I have the same problem that this kit fixes.

Once the TV shuts down - the power led blinks (1/sec) and the LAMP led blinks once every 5-sec.

All the parts on my ballast seem fine. Is there anything else I should be looking at while the TV back is open?

Thanks!

I just fixed mine yesterday, I think you really have to replace all of the component on the kit, because the first time I left one and didnt turn on, so I replace the one the I left out, and bingo. everything seems to work fine now.

Got the kit this weekend, installed it on Sunday, and it worked the first time I turned the unit on. However, I then moved it off the floor back onto its stand, turned it on, and it did not work, with the same old behavior.

I am going to pop it back open again, look for loose solder connections, etc. I also did not install the power transistor attached to the heatsink (why do they only provide one when there are four on the board?).

I was mistakenly shipped two repair kits, so I will attempt to replace two of the power transistors and see what happens. If anyone has any other ideas as to what the issue could be, I would be grateful for the input.

Never buying Panasonic again...

Just an update... I borrowed a much better quality soldering iron from a friend, and attempted to repair again. I knew my solder joint on the surface mount IC was not my best work, so I replaced just that component and turned the TV on, and it worked! Not to be fooled again, I very gingerly put everything back together and tested to be sure that the tv still works after each step (which caused me to get bit by the capacitor once- You should really let the unit sit for several minutes after unplugging, there is a serious risk of electric shock!).

Anyway, everything works now, and for about $25 I prevented myself from having to spend ~$1000 for a replacement. Hopefully by the time the lamp/ballast blow again, LCD's will be under $500.

The repair kit is often called an "upgrade" kit- has anyone still had problems with their ballast and bulb life after this repair?

Wow! Everyone here is so full of information it gives me hope I may get my tv running again. Just stumbled onto this site and am so relieved to know there are others out there w/similar problems yet fixing them too. I just put in a new bulb and still a black screen. (3rd bulb in 3 years) Willing to try the ballast repair kit but would like to know a reputable place to order one. Any suggestions? Any help is appreciated!

Where can you order this ballast repair kit? Can someone guide me to a location that sells this kit? Thanks!!!!

I ordered the kit (part # LSUC0022) from partstore.com. I ordered it on Saturday and it was here by Tuesday (I did 2 day shipping). My husband is right now trying to fix it. Make sure you study the diagram from brogers before you begin. My husband didn't and ended up taking the tv too far apart and messing w/things he probably shouldn't have. We'll see if he can get it all back together now. Wish us luck.

Learned all kinds of new things about the inside of a tv but...it works! Aside from taking the tv COMPLETELY apart when it wasn't necessary, then realizing he was messing with the wrong circuit board, learning how to solder on a circuit board (had to look that up online to fix the wrong board and the correct one) and finally checking with broger's diagram numerous times (thank you), our marriage and the tv survived the 5 hours of snarling. However, if inexperienced soldering, tv repair novices like us can do it, most people can too. Let's hope it lasts for a while now!

Wanted to send out a big "Thank You" to this forum. It took me about 45 minutes to replace the components after reviewing the content here. What is the the part that fails most here? I did replace all the components in the kit expect the transistor (as Non of mine tested bad and why replace only 1). My fuse F1301 good, diode D1315 good, R1305 good, Q1306-1309 Good.

D1301 replaced but condition unknown suspect this to be the $.70 fix. I could not read the writing on the one removed, make sure you look at the circuit board so you install correctly!

C1330 replaced but condition unknown

I'd like to know what you have all found so I can put together a spares kit in case this happens again in the future.

My Panasonic stopped working today, with the classic blinking green led, followed by endlessly blinking red led, accompanied by the lamp led every five seconds. I iniitally thought the lamp had burned out, but upon inspection, the lamp looks ok to the naked eye.

I'm assuming this means it's probably a ballast issue, but I decided to test the lamp with an ohm meter. Unfortunately, the lamp seems to be an open circuit. Is this normal? Is it some kind of arc lamp, or does infinite resistance mean that it is a lamp problem after all?

Thanks,
Jerry

Jerry -

Probably your lamp is bad. Your lamp is a HID unit (gas gap), so there is no filament to measure whether the bulb is burned out or not by a test meter.

If you can tell us the flash sequence of the lamp LED, we might be able to give you a better description of the problem.

Thanks to brogers!

I followed suggestions and ordered the repair kit directly from Panasonic, it was less than $30.
I installed the parts (it's been a bazillion years since I soldered anything) and it started right up!As others did, I left out the part (00011) since can't tell if one was bad, or if so, which one.

Kudos to you all for this forum and the input.

What is so sad, are people who are letting this fine TV go for peanuts. If they only knew that a low-cost solution was available for their problem.

Check out eBay Item #160264625807. No affiliation.

Tomwil,

Thanks for the reply. The led flash is the standard "bulb or ballast is bad" sequence. For the power LED, about two minutes of green flashing, than red flashing, about once a second. Every five flashes of the power LED, the lamp LED flashes.

I ended up getting the ballast kit (since it's so cheap) and soldered the new parts on, except for the transistor. Same symptoms. When that didn't work, I sent the bulb back for a warranty replacement. I'd bought it four or five months ago and the web site said it has a year warranty. Kudos to the vendor, Bluestar International, for not giving me any hassle about the replacement. Right now I'm waiting for them to send me a new bulb and we'll see if that fixes it.

-Jerry

I think my tv just started doing this. Get nothing but green light flashing and then back to red. No bulb or temp light at all. Can hear faint hum like something is trying to start. Could that be the ballast?

anyone?

My PT-40LC12 is doing the same thing, but only occasionally. After a few restarts, the bulb finally ignites and the TV works.

First thing to make sure, is that you have a good bulb. If the bulb is bad or will not ignite, it will go through the blinking sequence you describe.

If the bulb is good, then the ballast is probably bad. You should hear some clicking, like a spark trying to ignite the bulb. There is a ballast repair kit available, described on this thread.

If that doesn't solve it, then the next item of failure is the power supply itself.


As a side note, I compared the components used in the PT-50LC13 ballast, and seems to be similar to the ones on the PT-40LC12 ballast. Therefore, I also ordered the LSUC0022 kit, and will replace the components on my PT-40LC12 ballast when my TV finally doesn't light up. My ballast is buried inside the TV, whereas the PT-50LC13 ballast is more exposed and easier to get to. When I finally do this, I will try to document like brogers did.

my bulb is blown so Ill start with the replacement first. Anyone know of a good place to buy the bulbs?

The OEM Panasonic TY-LA1000 still seems to be around $300.

This is so disheartening. Last week I had posted instructions on how to use the Panasonic ballast repair kit #LSUC0022 to repair the Panasonic PT-40LC12 and PT-45LC12 TVs. The AVS Forum crash of 8/11/08 erased all of that.

It will probably be awhile before I attempt to repost those instructions again. I want to be very sure the AVS Forum upgrade of 8/2/08 is really stable.

Thanks again, brogers, for helping me repair my TV and saving me the cost of a new flatscreen!

So here's the follow-up on my problem. If you recall, I had the classic symptoms of a failed bulb, four months after having replaced the last one. I thought maybe the bulb wasn't the problem because to the eye, it looked intact, not at all like previous times the bulb had blown and looked shattered.

I ended up getting the ballast kit and replacing most of the components (except the pesky transistor). That didn't help. So I then returned the bulb for a warranty replacement. The bulb was a bare bulb, without the enclosure, which I had purchased from bluestar-online.com. They were pretty nice about not giving me a hassle about replacement (although it took a while for their warehouse to actually do it).

I got the new bulb, replaced it, and voila, the tv worked again! That was Thursday last week. We've been using the tv pretty heavily because of the Olympics, and the tv's been working fine. Turned it off last night. This morning, we turned it on and it's back to the blinking red led!!!! I looked at the bulb and it _looks_ ok.

I don't know what to do -- is it likely that there's something in the power supply that's frying the bulbs without shattering them? Or am I getting bad bulbs? What should I do??? The local repair shop said it would be a minimum of $600 to fix if it was something like the ballast. That's almost half the price of a new LCD tv.

Please, does anyone have any advice on how I should proceed?

Thanks,
-Jerry