Text and illustrations courtesy of Electronics Australia

Ithat you're a TV and/or computer mon-

f you're reading this, then chances are
itor repair technician - who doesn't need
to be told that horizontal output stage
faults cause more than their fair share of
headaches! Operating at high oltages,
fre!uencies and power leels, many
components in this part of the circuit are
highly stressed, and failures are not only
common but their cause is often hard to
identify"
The usual symptom of a ma#or hori-
zontal output stage fault is a serious
oerload of the $% power supply feeding
the primary winding of the line output
transformer, or &'O(T' for short )called
the &flybac*' transformer or &+,T' in
-orth .merica/" This is often accompa-
nied by a collector-to-emitter short cir-
cuit in the horizontal output transistor or
&0OT'"
)+or consistency, we'll be referring to
the line output transformer as the &'O(T'
throughout this article - -orth .merican
readers please mentally substitute &fly-
bac*' for this term!/
.ny of !uite a few possible compo-
nents could be the cause of such a failure,
the more common being one of the high-
speed rectifier diodes fed by the 'O(T's
secondary windings, including the diode
stac*)s/ which produce the e1tra-high-
tension )20T/ supply of around 34 *ilo-
olts for the final anode circuit of the
cathode ray tube" It's also possible the
0OT has failed simply from old age or
oerheating due to uneenly-
applied/solidified heatsin* compound"
.nother occasional culprit is an insula-
tion brea*down in the deflection yo*e's
horizontal winding"
0oweer the failure which serice
technicians dread is a shorted winding in
the 'O(T itself" 5nfortunately 'O(Ts
tend to be specifically designed for the
ma*e and model of the TV or monitor
they are used in, which can mean a lot of
hunting around for a replacement" In
addition they are hardly eer cheap, and
not always physically easy to replace"
In short the 'O(T is not a component
which is easy to test by substitution, and
a serice technician needs to be as cer-
tain as possible that the 'O(T really is
defectie, before trac*ing down a
replacement!
Identifying faults
6eeral techni!ues hae been deel-
oped oer the years for identifying faults
in horizontal output stages, and testing
'O(Ts in particular for the presence of
shorted winding turns"
The components in the horizontal out-
put transistor's collector circuit, includ-
ing the 'O(T's primary winding, deflec-
tion yo*e horizontal winding, and tuning
capacitors form a reasonably low loss
)high 7/ resonant circuit, especially at
low oltage leels"
8ost testing techni!ues, including the
one used in this design, are based on the
fact that nearly all serious faults in the

ACN 000 908 716

In-circuit L!T"#$T
Tester
% 7&0'
!lease read (isclai)er carefully as *e
can only guarantee +arts and not t,e
la-our content you +ro.ide/
Cat No/
0ere1s t,e design for a lo* cost2 easy to -uild and use -attery o+erated 3s,orted turns1 tester for
line-out+ut or 3fly-ac41 transfor)ers2 and ot,er 0# *ound co)+onents li4e deflection yo4e *ind-
ings and 56!5 transfor)ers/ Tests ,a.e s,o*n it ca+a-le of finding at least 807 of L!T"#$T
faults2 so it can sa.e a lot of ti)e and trou-le/ 5)all and rugged2 it1s *ell *ort, a +lace in t,e tool4-
it of anyone in.ol.ed in ser.icing T8 recei.ers2 .ideo )onitors and co)+uter +o*er su++lies/
9E$5ITE: ***/electronicsaustralia/co)/au
E-6AIL: electaus;)agna/co)/au
!<=ECT IN#<6ATIN 5>!!LIE( $?
ELECT<NIC5 A>5T<ALIA - August 1998 Issue
-y $o- !ar4er










horizontal output stage will greatly
increase the losses in the 'O(T's
primary circuit" That is, they lower
the 7"
9e chose the principle of &ring'
testing as the basis for this instru-
ment because it's easy to implement
with relatiely simple circuitry and
common components, and produces
predictable results with no need for
calibration"
&:ing' testing gets its name from
the fact that when a fast pulse is
applied to the primary winding of
the 'O(T, the total inductance and
capacitance in the circuit will produce an
electrical &ring' - a decaying .% oltage
which can hae a duration of a dozen or
more cycles before it reaches a low
alue" It's the electrical e!uialent of tap-
ping an empty glass; in each case, an
energy impulse generates damped oscil-
lations"
9aeform &.' in +ig"< shows the 0OT
collector oltage waeform in a typical
fault-free TV )a =eneral 2lectric
T%>?'< in this case/, in response to a
pulse from this tester" 0oweer if the
losses in the horizontal output circuit are
increased, the amplitude of the &ringing'
waeform will decay much more !uic*-
ly" 9aeform &,' shows the effect of a
shorted rectifier diode on one 'O(T sec-
ondary winding of the same TV, but note
that a shorted 'O(T winding or seeral
other faults would hae a similar effect"
. collector-emitter short in the 0OT
or a shorted tuning capacitor will result
in no ringing at all, indicating a really
ma#or fault"
6o to do an initial chec* of a horizon-
tal output stage, with this tester, you first
ma*e sure the TV or monitor is de-ener-
gised)!/" Then you simply switch the
tester on, connect the ground lead to the
chassis and the &0OT %ollector' lead to
the horizontal output transistor's collec-
tor" One '2$ will illuminate for each
&ring' cycle aboe about <4@ of the ini-
tial pulse alue, and in general if four or
more '2$s are glowing, the horizontal
output stage is OA"
9e'll tal* more about using the tester
later, after the circuit description" +or the
moment though, it's worth mentioning
that because the tester uses a low-oltage
testing pulse, it is suitable for testing
'O(Ts &in circuit' - i"e", without haing
to disconnect the yo*e or other connec-
tions"
Circuit descri+tion
.t first glance the circuit in +ig"3
might loo* a bit complicated, but it real-
ly consists of three !uite simple sections"
These are the low fre!uency pulse gener-
ator, the ring amplitude comparator and
the '2$ bar-graph display" 9e'll now
loo* at these in turn"
<" The low fre!uency pulse genera-
torB Voltage comparator I%<a is set up as
a low fre!uency oscillator, whose output
on pin C is normally pulled up to essen-
tially the positie supply rail by :> and
:C" $ue to the time constants produced
by %3, :D and :4/$<, pin C pulses
down to ground potential for about
3ms eery <EEms, and it's during
these low-going 3ms pulses that
each ring test occurs"
9hen I%< pin C drops low, 7< is
drien into saturation by its base
current flowing in :C, and its col-
lector oltage #umps to the F>V
supply, which ma*es two things
happen" +irst, %> in collaboration
with :<> sends a positie pulse of
about 4us duration to the reset pins
of four-bit shift registers I%3a and
I%3b, which dries all their outputs
to a low state - switching off all the
'2$s, in readiness for a new ring test"
.t the same time, about 3Em. flows
through :G, driing $3 into a low
impedance state and dropping about
>4EmV across it" The oltage step across
$3 is coupled ia %? to the test leads and
the 'O(T primary winding, causing this
circuit to &ring' a bit below its natural res-
onant fre!uency due to the presence of
%? )which functions as the resonating
capacitor when testing an 'O(T on its
own/"
3" The ring amplitude comparatorB
The &ringing' waeform is coupled by %D
to the inerting input of comparator
I%<b, which is $% biased to about
FDHEmV by the #unction of :<< and :<3"
$? is constantly forward-biased by about
<m. flowing through :<E, and its entire
oltage drop of about >EEmV is applied
to I%<b's non-inerting input as a refer-
ence oltage, ia :<?" :<D produces a
small amount of positie feedbac*
around I%<b, ensuring that its output
switches cleanly between its low and
high oltage leels"
The result of all this is that an inerted
and s!uared-up ersion of the ringing
waeform appears at the output of I%<b,
Text and illustrations courtesy of Electronics Australia
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#ig/&: T,e circuit is si)+le2 -ut elegant/ IC& s,o*s clearly ,o* )any rings are su++orted -y t,e inductor under test/
#Ig/1: <inging *a.efor)s fro) 3good1 Cto+D and
3s,orted *inding1 line out+ut transfor)ers2 in
res+onse to t,e tester1s +ulse/


until the ringing amplitude has decayed
down to about <4@ of its initial alue"
This s!uare wae is connected straight to
the cloc* inputs of shift registers I%3a
and I%3b"
?" The '2$ bargraph displayB I%3
consists of a pair of identical four-bit
serial-in/parallel-out shift registers, con-
nected to form a single eight-bit unit,
with each output driing one '2$ in the
&bargraph' display ia resistors :<C to
:3D" The serial data input of the first
stage )pin <4/ is permanently connected
to the positie supply, or logic <"
ne )easure)ent
+or the first 4us after the commence-
ment of a new 3ms measuring pulse,
both shift registers are reset to zeroes on
all outputs, as described earlier" .t the
same time the initial positie pulse
applied to the 'O(T dries I%<b's out-
put, connected to both shift registers'
cloc* inputs, to a low )logic E/ leel -
unless the test leads are shorted"
If the 'O(T primary circuit is OA, it
will ring during the ne1t seeral hundred
microseconds" +or each ring aboe about
<4@ of its initial alue, it will cause a
high-going pulse to be applied to the
shift register cloc* inputs, resulting in
the logic < on I%3 pin <4 being moed
one shift register stage further along" It
doesn't matter if the 'O(T rings more
than eight times - all '2$s will still
remain illuminated"
6o the oerall result is that one '2$
illuminates for each 'O(T ring cycle
aboe <4@ of the initial leel, and this
condition remains until the start of the
ne1t 3ms measuring pulse" (hew!
>sage G li)itations
In order to assess the usefulness of this
design, we gae seeral prototype
'O(T/+,T testers to technician friends
to ealuate for many months, then as*ed
for their comments and thoughts on how
to put the tester to best use"
The first response is from 'arry 6abo,
an e1perienced monitor technician in
Ottawa, %anada who also suggested the
front panel layoutB
One of the first things I do to chec* out
a monitor is connect the tester between
the 0OT collector and ground" If no or
only a few '2$s light, I chec* the 0OT,
damper diodes and tuning caps for
shorts using a $88" If these are OA, I
chec* for an open fusible resistor in the
circuit feeding ,F to the 'O(T, and for
shorts/lea*age in diodes on the 'O(T
secondaries" I also chec* the bypass
capacitor on the $% supply to the 'O(T
primary for e1cessie 26:"
If these chec* OA, I ring the horizontal
yo*e with its connector unplugged" It will
normally ring seen times on its own" If
the yo*e rings OA, I unsolder all but the
'O(T primary winding and ground pins,
and ring the primary" If the primary still
rings low with eerything else discon-
nected, the 'O(T is probably defectie"
8ost 'O(Ts on their own will ring GF
times, but some ring only four or fie,
een when they are perfectly normal" 6o
it is prudent to confirm the diagnosis by
ringing an identical *nown-good 'O(T,
if at all possible"
6ometimes an 'O(T is defectie, but
still rings normally with the tester, e"g"
due to lea*age or arcing that only occurs
at full operating oltage" The problem
will sometimes be manifest by heay
loading of the ,F supply, spurious ring-
ing and/or reduced oltages on the 0OT
Text and illustrations courtesy of Electronics Australia
!age A
#ig/A: >se t,is !C$ o.erlay and t,e facing +,oto as a guide in asse)-ling t,e
tester/
<esistors
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Ca+acitors
C1 100u# 16"&'89
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C&2A2'27 0/0@7u# 6%T
C@ 0/01u# 6%T
C6 100+# disc cera)ic
5e)iconductors
(12&2A 1N91@ " 1N@1@8 silicon
diode
IC1 L6A9A dual co)+arator
IC& @01' " 6C1@01' " C(@01'
dual @--it s,ift register
LE(12&2A <ectangular red LE(
LE(@2' <ectangular yello* LE(
LE(62728 <ectangular green LE(
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6iscellaneous
!C$2 HA11A7 '1 x 76))I s)all C>$AD
+lastic case2 1A0 x 68 x @1)) C(5E 0-
&8'ADI front +anelI -attery ,older for @ x
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+us, on"offI one (I!8 IC soc4et2 one
(I!16I @ x ta++ed s+acersI scre*s2
nuts and *as,ers Csee 5cre* siJe and
allocation guideDI 1 x red2 1 x -lac4 @))
-anana soc4etsI test leads *it, @))
-anana +lugsI dou-le-sided ad,esi.e
ta+eI *ire2 !C$ +ins2 solder and instruc-
tions/
!arts List


collector, or e1cessiely high 20T result-
ing in 0V shut-down"
,ecause this tester uses impulses of
only >4EmV to minimize the forward
biasing of semiconductors, such defects
will not be reflected in the ring count"
5nder these circumstances, I chec* for
measurable lea*age resistance between
the 20T cap and the other 'O(T pins" It
should be unmeasurable, otherwise the
'O(T is defectie"
If I hae gone through the aboe tests
and hae these symptoms and a normal
ring count on the tester, the diagnosis
can usually be confirmed only by substi-
tuting a *nown-good identical 'O(T, or
by testing with a chopper similar to the
one described in 6am =oldwasser's
2lectronics :epair +.7, located on
the Internet at httpB//www"repairfa!"org/
sam/flytest"htm"
6omething else I do when testing a
'O(T is to supply it with a reduced ,F
to enable scoping the 0OT and measur-
ing 20T )in situations where the monitor
goes into 0V shutdown/" To reduce the
,F, I use two light bulbs in series, one
end to ,F supply, centre-tap to 'O(T ,F
connection, other end to ground" One
bulb is >E watts, the other is <EE, so I can
reerse the end leads and increase or
decrease the ,F alue used in testing"
.t the outset, when I hae power sup-
ply cycling but hae confirmed there are
no shorts from 0OT-% to ground, I sub-
stitute a dummy load )>E9 bulb/ for the
'O(T where the ,F enters, to see if the
power supply wor*s with the 'O(T out
of the e!uation"
Oerall, the 'O(T tester can identify
about GE@ of 'O(T failures" 9hen try-
ing to sole a puzzle, if someone offers
information that is right GE@ of the time,
it's a lot better than haing to guess
<EE@ of the time, especially if the ante is
the price of a 'O(T and wasted, alu-
able time"
8ichael %aplan does general electron-
ic sericing in Ottawa, and added the fol-
lowing useful points in relation to TVsB
It's pretty straightforward to use, with
the usual precautions of ensuring that
the under-test unit power is off and any
caps are discharged"
9hen testing an 'O(T in circuit, it
might be necessary to disconnect some of
the 'O(T terminals, and/or yo*e plugs
that could load it down and upset the
readings" The tester will often not detect
bad 0V diodes in integrated split-diode
'O(T units, nor shorts/arcing that is
oltage dependent - but then no other
passie tester does either"
I hae found it useful for chec*ing TV
deflection yo*es, both horizontal and
ertical" . good yo*e lights at least fie
and typically the full eight '2$s"
0oweer, many yo*es hae built-in par-
allel or series damping resistors, and
these must be temporarily disconnected"
Otherwise the reading will be low, een
though the winding itself is fine"
The tester can be used for chec*ing
high-7 transformers such as those used
in 68(6's" 0oweer, my e1perience has
shown that it will not proide more than
a two or three '2$ indication for good
TV horizontal drie transformers" It can
be used for these, howeer - to indicate
shorts )no '2$s lit/" On the other hand
the 26: 8eter )$ic* 6mith catalog num-
ber A-C3ED/ can do much the same with
these low resistance transformers"
9ayne 6cicluna serices TVs in
6ydney, and is the technician who tal*ed
me into deeloping the tester in the first
place" 0ere are his hintsB
If you'e already chec*ed for the more
obious lea*y and shorted semiconduc-
tors and capacitors etc", and are still get-
ting a low reading on the tester, there are
some other traps to aoid"
Iou need to get a good connection with
the test leads, because contact resistance
can cause a low reading" The same
applies to defectie solder #oints in the
horizontal output stage, especially on the
'O(T itself and 0OT" In fact connecting
the tester with clip leads, fle1ing the
board and wiggling components is a
good way to show up bad solder #oints in
this area"
,ody conductiity can also cause a
lower than normal reading if you're
touching the test leads and your s*in is
damp" 'ow readings can also be caused
by haing the test leads reersed, i"e",
connecting '0OT %ollector' to chassis,
and by faults in an e1ternal oltage
tripler"
0o* to -uild it
,efore soldering anything to the print-
ed circuit board, hold it up to a bright
light and e1amine the copper side care-
fully for fine trac* brea*s and especially
whis*ers or bridges - particularly where
trac*s pass close to component solder
pads"
:eferring to the board oerlay in +ig"?,
begin installing the components, starting
with the resistors and diodes and wor*-
ing your way up to the tall ones including
the four (%, pins for &=-$', &0OT' and
&F>V' terminal connections- but leaing
Text and illustrations courtesy of Electronics Australia
!age @
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<esistor Colour Codes
!rinted Circuit $oard to 5+acers
@ x 5cre* 6A x 6)) CJinc +latedD
#ront !anel to 5+acers
@ x 5cre* Countersun4 6A x 6)) C$l4D
#ront !anel To Case
@ x 5cre* Countersun4 No@ x 6)) C$l4D
5cre* 5iJe and Allocation
Fuide
8alue IEC Code EIA Code
100+# 100+ 101%
0/01u# 10n 10A%
0/0@7u# @7n @7A%
Ca+acitor Codes
T,e asse)-led !C$2 *,ic, su++orts
.irtually all of t,e circuitry/



the '2$s off the board for now" Ta*e
care with the orientation of the polarised
components, including the I% soc*ets"
9ith eerything but the '2$s installed
on the (%,, once again illuminate it
from the top, and chec* for and correct
any solder bridges or other problems"
-ow turn your attention to the front
panel, mounting the banana soc*ets and
the power switch in their respectie
holes"
.ttach the tapped spacers to the cor-
ners of the board using plain ?mm
screws, and solder long component lead
offcuts to the &=-$', &0OT %ollector'
and &F' solder pads, followed by the bat-
tery snap's blac* wire to the &-' pad"
Then, without soldering them, po*e the
leads of all the '2$s through their
respectie holes in the board" 8a*e sure
the coloured '2$s are in their correct
places, and that all the )long/ anode and
)short/ cathode leads are correctly orient-
ed as shown in +ig"?"
5sing blac* countersun* ?mm screws,
attach the front panel to the board assem-
bly and place the whole thing face-down
on a soft flat surface" 8anoeure all of
the '2$s into their cutouts in the front
panel, and push each '2$ down slightly
to ensure its face is leel with the front of
the panel" In the unli*ely eent that a
'2$ won't fit, use a small file or similar
to remoe the e1cess powder coating
inside the hole"
-ow solder all the '2$s into place,
then connect the test lead soc*ets and the
closest terminal of the power switch to
their respectie wires from the board,
and finally the red battery snap wire to
the free switch contact ):ef" to +ig"D"
wiring diagram/"
6nip off the battery holder's (%,
mounting pins, then install four &...'
cells into it" %onnect the battery snap to
the terminals, and switch the unit on" If
eerything's OA then the bottom red )&<'/
'2$ will illuminate, and shorting the
test leads will cause it to go off"
.n effectie way to test the unit is to
connect the test leads to the primary
winding of a *nown good 'O(T out of
circuit, which should bring all eight
'2$s on" Then thread a loop of solder
around the ferrite core of the 'O(T
)simulating a single shorted turn/, and
the '2$ count should drop to <-? as the
loop is closed"
If eerything's OA, use double-sided
Text and illustrations courtesy of Electronics Australia
!age '
#ig/@: 5,o*s ,o* t,e -attery sna+ C+ositi.e leadD is *ired t,roug, t,e s*itc, to
t,e +rinted circuit -oard/ Note2 as t,e co)+onent o.erlay s,o*n is .ie*ed fro)
t,e co++er side of t,e !C$2 *iring ter)inations for t,e !o*er and 0ot
Collector"FN( s,ould -e )ade to t,e !C$ +ins on t,e co)+onent side of t,e
-oard/








Asse)-ly
Note
ACN 000 908 716
CN< Lane Co.e G 9aterloo <oads
Nort, <yde N59 &11A
!0: C0&D Clnt 61&D 99A7 A&00 #ax: C0&D 9888 A6A1
Text and illustrations courtesy of Electronics Australia (ic4 5)it, Electronics K HA87A8-A
adhesie tape to stic* the battery holder
into the bottom of the case, with the cells
aligned in a &north-south' direction for
easiest access" .ll that remains to be
done now is to screw the front panel into
place and try out your tester on some
'O(Ts and their associated circuitry"
+inally, our sincere than*s to 'arry
6abo, 8ichael %aplan and 9ayne
6cicluna for their assistance in complet-
ing this pro#ect" 9e couldn't hae done it
without you!
Case
$attery ,older
!C$
#ront +anel
6Ax6))
Countersun4
scre*
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ta+e
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#ig/': 5,o*s ,o* t,e !C$ *it, LE(s is )ounted to t,e front
+anel using 19)) ,ex ta++ed s+acers/ T,e -attery ,older is
fixed to t,e -otto) of t,e case -y t*o +ieces of dou-le-siJed
ta+e/
9inding a Test %oil
In order for constructors to test the unit once assembled we hae proided details
and parts to construct a simple transformer coil which enables the circuit to ring all
'G' '2$s"
(lease refer to the following for coil details"
<"5sing the balun core proided, wind around D4 turns )tightly wound/ through
the two centre holes as shown in the accompanied photo"
3"Once completed trim lead length to appro1imately 4Emm and clean the enamel
from each lead end so that a positie connection can be made"
?"-ow test the coil, the unit should display and ring all 'G' '2$s" ,y simply feed-
ing through an additional winding and shorting the ends will reduce the rings to
either < or 3 '2$s giing a good indication that the unit is wor*ing correctly"
(arts 6upplied
< 1 ,alun core ): 4DDE/
< 1 2namel copper wire )?E,J6 or E"34mm dia 1 3 metres/