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I came across a 52" Zenith DLP television that someone discarded, it is in excellent shape and shows no sign of abuse. When I plug it in I get a flashing green light on the front panel, at the power led, but not the temp or bulb led's. The fans cycle on and off for about a minute, and I can hear a clicking noise which I assume is coming from the light ballast. a component on the light ballast board flashes light a couple of times (it's marked epcos and I can see an 8 but not the rest of the numbers on it) and then the tv turns off. I pulled the bulb and it seems to be fine (I thought the filament was broken at first, but it's just soldered where it meets the bulb tip) and I pulled the light ballast out to check for broken connections; but everything seems to be okay visually. It did get hot on one of the copper coils (sorry, I'm no electrician or computer parts whiz) but not on the other one, so I don't know what that means. How can I check and see if the light ballast is working properly? I'd love to repair this tv! It's huge!

I pulled out the lamp housing and hooked it back up to the ballast outside of the tv, bypassing the safety panel switch. the lamp tries to fire, and pulses in tandem with the epcos barrel. the lamp is flickering, so I'm assuming it should still be operational? limiting my problem to either ballast, power supply, or cabling. the fans come on with no problem... so that should narrow it down further?

It's amazing, this is exactly my story! I would really appreciate some opinions before I go wasting money on parts.

I found a 52SZ8R-TB model which had been dumped in the garbage room of my apartment.

I plugged it in whilst it was in the garbage room and it booted up, showing the 'no input signal' display.

I was pleased with this, so I lugged it up to my apartment. When I plugged it in again, and every time I've tried to start it since, it failed.

The power light flashes green as it tries to boot up. I hear a few clicks and what to me sounds like a capacitor charging up. The lamp tries to fire up, as I can see it flickering, but it always fails. It tries 2 or 3 times, then the power light goes back to red.

The lamp and temperature LEDS stay blank.

I've checked the fans and they seem to work fine.

The TV is in great condition and very clean.

I took off all the back panels and looked inside and I can't see any obvious issues.

I removed the lamp, and put it back in. It looks fine visually.

So from my research, I've determined it's likely a faulty ballast or lamp. I know the lamp CAN work, as it did work the first time, but I have also read that a faulty lamp can start to boot but fail.

So which do you think it is? Ballast or lamp? Lamp seems an easy fix... but I don't want to waste $150 on a lamp to find I still have a problem...

OP, how did you fare with your TV? any advice? Thanks!

Hello mightyboy.
It very probable that the ballast is the one that malfunctioning, you see when you hear a clicking noise when you try and turn on your tv that means that there is irregular current going trough the ballast causing the circuit to brake, the board gets discharged and then it try’s again (cycles again & again).
How ever you’re going to have to buy a new lamp in the near future, apart from the ballast another explanation for the flickering could be that the mercury gas inside of the lamp is running out, so why not buy both. The prices of the lamps have gone down considerable in the last years, I think their 120 & a ballast goes for 55.
So imagining, you could get a new working tv for under 200 bucks.
Good luck.

Hello again mightyboy.
I did a quick search on DM and found a few for 55 bucks, here is the link.
http://www.discount-merchant.com/Search ... th+ballast
just remember, you have to get the part number off the actual ballast to get the correct one.
As for replacing its fairly simple. The ballast is located near the lamp housing; it’s a simple as taking a few screws out & disconnecting the cables.
Good luck.

SUCCESS! :D

I got my replacement lamp today. It was 'barely used' from ebay. I got it for AUD$94 delivered. It came from the US in a few days.

I pulled out my old lamp, visually it looked as if it were brand new, so I was a little worried at that point.

Anyway, I swapped the lamps over, fired the TV up and it booted up first time! I was excited to see the lamp stay lit! I've switched it off and on about 5 times so far today and it's not had any trouble yet. Here's hoping it stays that way!

The picture is reasonable... I think I need to tweak the settings a bit.

The sound is a little crackly sometimes... just in the background... you can hear it sounds a little rough, but not always. I've seen a few people mention this... what does it mean?

The picture seems a tiny bit wonky... I mean.. it reminds me of the keystone setting on a video projector... the left side cuves in very slightly. I can only see this when a TV show is showing in pillar box mode. Also, the top of the picture has a tiny bit of a droop to it as well. Again, I can only notice this when viewing the tv guide, which has straight horizontal lines. I'm not too worried :)

Thanks for your help guys!

Picked up a TV from the garbage... did a few hours research... spent $94... spent 15 minutes swapping globes... and now I have a nice 52" TV :D

Cheers!

Hi, maybe you can help me too! I have a Zenith Z52DC2D and need to replace the bulb. I bought a replacement bulb but I can't seem to get the panel off to even start :( I took out the two screws that seem to be holding it in place but the panel seems to be "locked" or something. There is a sticker on the panel that says "Warning: this cover is provided with an interlock to reduce the risk of excessive ultraviolet radiation. Do not defeat its purpose or attempt to service without removing cover completely." Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks! :)