Greg In The Desert

I normally haven’t been writing “year in review” type posts, but this year I thought I had made significant enough improvement to Greg In The Desert to make a few notes.

I would like to think that my actual writing has improved. I have spent quite an effort on editing and I think it shows in my posts. It’s not where I would like it to be but it is better. I have also moved to dedicated hosting using Wordpress and it has been a huge improvement over the previous systems I used. I wished I had switched sooner.

It was difficult to get back into writing posts when my dad died this summer, but I’ve started to pick up again in the last few months. I’ve been able to increase traffic and increase affiliate and google adsense income. It’s enough to cover the costs of hosting plus a little (maybe enough for a few tanks of gas). To better target subject matter, have considered breaking Greg In The Desert into at least two blogs with Greg In The Desert’s subject matter focusing Home Improvement and Automation.

I can see the potential to make real money on the internet by blogging. Whether I have the time needed to devote to it is another matter.

Here’s a top 10 list of posts by raw page views.

• Resolving The 6X Red Blinking Light Of Death On My Sony TV (with pictures)
• Costco La Crosse Technologies Weather Station WS-2810
• iPhone App 2 Of The Week: Bikini Blast
• Original Lego Space Theme Is 30 Years Old
• iPhone App Of The Week: Jaadu VNC
• Baja BE500 500 Watt Electric Scooter
• Robert Kearns, Inventor of Intermittent Wipers Dies
• 1957 Buick Super For Sale
• Albuquerque Craigslist: 1950 Fleetline, 1967 Mustang & 1973 F100
• iPhone App Of The Week: iHome Remote

I thought the fuse in my Sony rear projection TV was pretty easy to fix but now I have learned that many similar models to mine are failing due to the optical block.

According the website “Sony LCD Rear Projection TV Problems“, every model of Sony TV made between 2003 and 2007 is a subject of warranty extension or class action lawsuit. Most of the issue come from visual anomalies due to the optical block over heating. It can cost up to $1500 to repair the optical block.

Besides having information about the problems on various models, examples and what Sony may or probably won’t do about it, the site does give extensive information about the optical block and it’s various parts.

I haven’t seen anything like this on my Sony TV yet. I have a KDF-E60A20 which is specifically list as not part of the warranty recall even though people have reported issues. It annoys me to see this sort of thing going on with Sony. I already paid too much for this TV, had to replace a poorly designed fuse and now have this to look forward to.

The following is meant for informational purposes only and not meant to be an instructional guide. This information is meant to give a basic concepts on how the thermal fuse is replaced, It doesn’t cover everything thing and can vary on other TVs. If you decide to replace your own thermal fuse based on this information you do so at your OWN RISK.

A few weeks ago I was watching my Sony 60 inch rear projection TV (model KDF-E60A20) when the screen turned blank and the normally green power-on indicator started blinking red. I thought, this has to be a bad thing. My first assumption was the bulb died.

The bulb did not die, there is a whole other indicator light for a dead bulb. What was actually happening is the power-on indicator light was blinking 6 times. Some googling on this subject indicated that the thermal fuse had blown and it needed to be replaced.

Sony apparently has a service bulletin (E29102171) that covers the replacement. In order to access this information you have to be some sort of authorized service personnel. I did find a website where you could obtain the service bulletin but they wanted $12 to join the site first. Let me go on for a moment and say why I think this is a total scam. It seems the damaged thermal fuse situation is a design flaw and Sony’s replacement part is totally different from the original. This website is profiting off the situation by providing information was created by Sony. I won’t link to the site here, but if you search google for this issue you will surely find the site in question.

This is something that Sony should be fixing for free. I’m reading people are paying around $400 to get this issue repaired. I repaired mine for $17.91. The part itself was only $4.80. I ordered part 191002393 from Sony’s service site (It’s available from Amazon.com for $5.95). Here’s how I replaced mine.

First, the thermal fuse is simply a small electronics part on the end of two wires that connects to the harness in the TV. The wire comes wrapped up in a small package about the size of two dimes. Shipping costs $11.95 to ship it in a giant box full of bubble wrap. Thanks Sony for wasting resources getting this to me.

The thermal fuse is located under the lamp housing in my TV (and can be seen using the procedures for replacing the lamp in the manual). It’s a dime sized device mounted to the bottom of the TV with two wires coming out of it. It took me a while to figure out that this monstrosity is the thermal fuse considering how tiny the replacement is.

Unfortunately In order to get to the wiring harness I had to remove the rear panel of the TV. There’s about 10 screws that hold that on. Then I removed the fan housing to gain access to the original thermal fuse. I followed the wires back up to where they connected to the wiring harness. I unplugged the original fuse and plugged in the new one and ran the wires to where the original fuse is.

I did not remove the original fuse. It’s somewhat difficult to get to and doesn’t hurt to keep it on. I wrapped the new fuse wiring around the old one. There may be a actual place to mount the new fuse but i didn not see the service bulliten so I cannot say for sure. It’s important to point out here that the purpose of a thermal fuse is to shut off power in case of an over heat situation. If for some reason the lamp overheats you don’t want it to catch the TV on fire. Having the thermal fuse in close proximity to the lamp seem logical. If you happen to know exactly where the fuse should go, please leave a comment.

The preceding is meant for informational purposes only and not meant to be an instructional guide. This information is meant to give a basic concepts on how the thermal fuse is replaced, It doesn’t cover everything thing and can vary on other TVs. If you decide to replace your own thermal fuse based on this information you do so at your OWN RISK.

If you found this usefull, you can support this site by purchasing something from Amazon. How about a new Sony LCD Lamp?