Repairing Vizio VHT 510 Sound Bar Volume Indicator LED

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Introduction

This guide will attempt to fix a common issue with the VHT 510 model. If your volume indicator has stopped working or never worked to begin with, this guide can help troubleshoot the problem.

I completed this guide in order to educate people and provide a source of information on this widely known issue.

What you need

Step 1 Sound Bar Volume Indicator LED

Repairing Vizio VHT 510 Sound Bar Volume Indicator LED, Sound Bar Volume Indicator LED: step 1, image 1 of 3

Repairing Vizio VHT 510 Sound Bar Volume Indicator LED, Sound Bar Volume Indicator LED: step 1, image 2 of 3

Repairing Vizio VHT 510 Sound Bar Volume Indicator LED, Sound Bar Volume Indicator LED: step 1, image 3 of 3

Remove the speaker grille by gently prying it from either side of the bar.
Start on one end by prying the grille until it comes free.
Do the same on the other side.
Work your way towards the center by prying gentling.
A plastic credit card can help in removing the grille. Place the sound bar face down and starting at one end, insert or slide the short side of the card between the black plastic grille frame and the short side of the sound bar shell.
Pick up the sound bar and gently push downward to begin separating the grille cover and frame from the sound bar shell.
As the two begin to come apart, it's fairly easy to move the card around and use a combination of pushing, pulling and wiggling to get the grille separated.
Remember to use extreme care so as not to damage the grille frame, grille cover or the wiring attached to the grille.

Step 2

Be sure not to pull too hard as there are cables attached to the speaker grille.

Step 3

Repairing Vizio VHT 510 Sound Bar Volume Indicator LED: step 3, image 3 of 3

Start by carefully removing the cable on the right.

Step 4

Repairing Vizio VHT 510 Sound Bar Volume Indicator LED: step 4, image 3 of 3

Disconnect the two cables attached to the grille.

Step 5

Repairing Vizio VHT 510 Sound Bar Volume Indicator LED: step 5, image 3 of 3

Remove the two screws holding the led controller in place.

Step 6

Repairing Vizio VHT 510 Sound Bar Volume Indicator LED: step 6, image 3 of 3

Pull the board out toward you to disconnect the final cable.
Pull the final cable outwards to release the board.

Step 7

On the bottom of the board you will see these two components.
The capacitor and resistor on the right are what we will focus on.
Find the leg of the capacitor and the leg of the resistor that are closest to one another.
Turn the board over and look at the solder points for those two legs.

Step 8

The solder points are extremely close and if they are in contact the leds will stop working.
With your soldering iron, heat each leg individually and attempt to make more space between the two points.
This process can take time so don't worry if the solder points come together. Just keep heating one up at a time and try to create a gap.

Step 9

Before putting your speaker back together I recommend testing it to make sure the fix worked.
Also, if you feel like the power and other indicator lights are too bright, now is a good chance to gently bend the legs of the led's upward to diffuse the light.
One final note. I did notice that disconnecting and reseating the two cables connected to the speaker grill while the speaker is powered on will sometimes get the leds to start working. I hope this helps someone.