I have the worst luck. Panasonic LIFI bulb blown - Page 3

Ok – enough is enough – Paid $3,000.00 for my first Panasonic and had three bad lamps. Was part of the class action suit and received a PT-50LCX70 in January 2008 and already have bad lamp on this set! Call Panasonic and they told me I had to pay a technical to verify that the lamp is blown and if it is, then they would pay for the new lamp and labor to replace the lamp. That means that I will most likely be without a set for several weeks! Here we go again.

or will we have to go after them again ... we have reduced useage of the TV, part because the kids are going to college and part because we don't want to have to pay for replacing the next 2 bulbs while waiting for a class action to happen. This is a joke ... anyone get positive responose from Panny on what they are willing to do??

I would rather have my old POS back than this POS!! At least I could replace my own bulb there and it would have only cost me $200 or so ... now the bulbs cost $800 and need a technician to install them. CRAP

Looks like this guy was lucky in getting his LIFI set replaced.

http://consumerist.com/5334380/eecb-...e-defective-tv

Guess we can complain to the executives from Panasonic.

I've got one of these TV's too. The light unit went out after about 9 months, it was replaced under warranty, and now about 9 months later its acting up again. I contacted Panasonic, and they think its the ballast instead of the light unit. They did say if it was the light unit again, it would be covered under warranty.

Does anybody know the part # of the ballast? I checked the parts list from the Panasonic site, but nothing on that list says "ballast" - maybe its called something else?

Really a shame that these TV's give problems. When mine is working, I think it has as good a picture as any unit I've seen.

Thanks

Mine light quit at 18 months. The official warranty on the web has been updated to 5 years parts, 2 years labor. But, the Panasonic rep on the phone told me 3 years labor. My only problem was my nearest authorized service center was 80 miles away. Otherwise, Panasonic's service was fine, and it was no cost to me.

I didn't get a copy of the bill, but saw it briefly when I was signing the warranty paperwork. The bulb and labor were each listed around $150, for a total a little over $300. The techs told me they could finish the job in 2 hrs when I called ahead to arrange the service, (since I had to drive 80 miles and needed same day service to avoid a 2nd trip). It was finished when I returned to the service center less than 4 hrs later.

I asked the technician if he could "see the problem with the faulty bulb", but he said it was all inclosed in a metal case with its own power supply and you couldn't tell anything without cracking open the case. He said this would cost them the $800 core charge for the old lamp unit!

I was satisfied with the service, but I am very concerned that these units will turn out to have a much shorter life span than advertised. I am not an early adopter and do not make a habit of replacing my big ticket items on a regular basis and will be very disappointed if this tv turns out that way.

Time for me to chime in. Bought a PT56LCZ70 in December 2007. In August 2009, the LiFi lamp went out. Contacted Panasonic and they pointed me to an area authorized repair center. Took less than 2 weeks for them to get the replacement lamp and installed, all under warranty.

Guess what happened yesterday? Yep, lamp went out. I have contacted the same repair outfit and they're getting the ball rolling on replacement... sure hope that Panasonic will replace the replacement without charge.

For those of you who are trying to use your TV less to delay the lamp's death... we have our TV on no more than about 10 hours a week, usually much closer to 4 hours/wk. But even if we go with the 10 hour/wk number, this replacement lamp only lasted about 120 hours. Ridiculous.

Is anyone here aware of any third party research into repair of these failed lamp modules? My understanding is that they use RF energy to create plasma in a tuned cavity. Wouldn't pretty straight RF electrical engineering principles apply here? Kinda like repairing a radar unit or similar powerful radio transmitter.

For info purposes, the lamp module part number for this model of TV is LFS4000PA1EB.

Update: I called Panasonic and confirmed that the 2 year labor warranty on the (above) lamp has been extended to 3 years.

Additional info on my 2nd warranty call. The service outfit called me back to explain that Panasonic *would* replace my replacement lamp, but only if the power supply (that's mounted on/near the lamp module) is replaced too. Of course, that part is not covered beyond the 1 year TV warranty, so I'd have to pay for the power supply ($165) and labor on replacing the power supply ($100). I also asked what the core charge was on the lamp module, $250 (i.e. what I'd have to pay if I wanted to keep the dead lamp module).

The power supply replacement requirement is key to a couple of points for me...

* should I pay this round to get the TV fixed and then hope that the next round of failure(s) occur during the (extended) 3 year labor warranty?

* is the power supply a major contributor to or partner in the "lamp" failures? That Panasonic is insisting on the power supply replacement, coupled with the really short life of this replacement lamp, makes me wonder if they have found a problem with the power supply in addition to the lamp failures. Perhaps they want the PS replaced because they know that it is a problem and it will force more lamp replacements. I wonder if a form of "capacitor plague" in the power supply might be a problem.

With the price of non-projection LCD flat panels steadily coming down, the $265 basic repair cost I'm faced with is a fair percentage of the price of a new TV. If you include the 250 bucks necessary to keep the dead lamp module, that's a decent new LCD TV.

Talked it over with my wife, who does more TV watching than me, and she agreed we'll look for a new TV (obviously not a Panasonic) and I can attempt a fix or at least perform some discovery on the dead Panasonic.

If by "ballast" Panasonic meant the power supply that they are insisting needs replacing on mine, then the part number (assuming your TV is a PT-xxLCX or PT-xxLCZ series) is: LSXK0303

I've taken my unit apart and done a little discover, but haven't been enlightened yet. I acquired a copy of a service training guide... basically a collection of powerpoint style slides. A section covering lamp troubleshooting said that the LSXK0303 power supply (for the lamp module) was supposed to put out 26VDC. I measured 25.7. Interestingly, the lamp module has a label that says it wants "28VDC 270W". Current-wise, that runs nearly 10 Amps.

I should back up and describe something about the symptoms of this failure.

1. The TV can power up and work, but just for about 2 or 3 minutes, then the lamp shuts down and the green LED flashes for a while until the red LED begins flashing 2x then pause. On subsequent restarts, it runs less than a minute before shutting down.

2. Throughout that, the lamp module has not even become warm to the touch (be *very* cautious about touching it!).

3. After the original lamp failed, it flat wouldn't restart, period. That implies something different about this lamp's failure mode.

4. During lamp warmup, running and shutdown, the power supply output measured 25.7VDC without noticeable change or instability.

5. The label on the lamp indicates it needs 28VDC at 270W (9.6A?)

6. Entering a service mode, the diagnostic display showed the last faults "SOS" codes as "L02". I guess the "L" is for lamp, anyone know what the "02" might tell me?

My parents bought the lc13 in 2003. There first bulb lasted for apprx 3 years...however, after it died, they let it sit until 2007 because they were on a very tight income and just used their little tv. When I called Panasonic and got them a new bulb in April 2007, it went out about 5 months later. Again, my parents let it sit until now because they didn't have money for a new lamp. My brother finally bought them a new lamp this Christmas. I had gone online to get the lamp info for him and found out about the lawsuit that had been filed. My Mom called Panasonic and they told her that it expired in 07 and that all they were willing to do is give her 15% a new tv. Panasonic never sent out a letter to my parents about the lamps; my parents should be entitled to something. Does anyone know if there is a way to get Panasonic to pay for the new lamp? Does anyone have a copy of the settlement information? The website tvsettlement.com or whatever is no longer a valid site. Thank you.

Crissy

could you send me a copy of those documents to my email....I having same issues and trouble.....and would like to service this myself bigruss94@gmail.com

Hi, could you please help me and send those documents to my email? it's kuros@gmx.com
Thank you!

can you send me these documents since my lamp popped tonight.

I worked Panasonic over the last few weeks and was able to get them to agree to repurchase the tv at 25% of its retail value. I got lucky with my last bulb in 2009, it actually lasted several years but no longer under 5 yr warranty. They want $450 to replace the bulb. I passed up the rebate in 2007. This may be my last chance to get any money, but I will be very happy to not own a Panasonic tv anymore!

I have the same problem (finally) - it worked surprisingly fine for 4 years then out of the blue. I too have the PT-50LCX70 replacement TV in lieu of earlier model. Cant recall whether my replacement was on '08 or '09.
Now I get the blinking green power light does not turn solid - nothing comes on screen, then auto shutoff.

So what are the fixing options - is it the bulb? Are replacement bulbs available, is there a manual available. Checked the panasonic site - the manual out there has no instructions on bulb replacement. Also warranty on bulb: Parts- Original LIFI™ lamp unit - 5 years, Labor - Original LIFI™ lamp unit - 3 years. I might be out on both.

Is it worth fixing?

I am out of TV - need something, not exactly in mood to buy a new one right now,

Thanks
Sam
Edited by TigerSB - 5/3/13 at 11:39am

Spoke to Panasonic, the TV is out of the 5 Yr warranty and the technology is out of support - so that is that- TV to be trashed.
End of long ardous journey - started 9 years ago - superbowl 2004. (Yes it did last 9 years - several bulbs + the big replacement)

Panasonic offered me $300 compenstation (some paper work etc to be done). I am taking that.

So very suddenly I am in market for a new TV - any ideas?

Sam
Edited by TigerSB - 5/3/13 at 2:09pm