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Cathode Ray Tube Safety Issues

arcadecontrols.com

17 pointsmntmn10 comments

I remember our old console CRT TV when I was a kid was starting to go. All the colours were getting fuzzy. My dad and cousin had the back off and were adjusting parts of the CRT tube using screwdrivers wrapped in electrical type while wearing gloves.

My dad was a EE and cousin a CompSci. I think even then as a kid, I realize how incredibly dangerous this was. It really didn't seem worth it. They did get the colours sorted out and it lasted like 8 or 9 months before it started going again and my dad gave up on it. Seems like an incredible amount of disk to to take to squeeze out a little more use.

Get this: There were people who worked on televisions every day back then. My dad owned a TV repair shop until I was about 10 (when he went back to school to get a degree in engineering). He showed me how to discharge a CRT and capacitors when I was about that old.

Yup, my dad fixed ship's radar at work and then did TV repairs for neighbours sometimes on the weekend. UK, 625/405 dual standard monochrome teles and early colour teles. On the back room table. Hand in back pocket when going near what we called the EHT...

It's not that risky, it's like driving down the highway. Your dad was an EE, he was in no significant danger, he was just taking precautions like the way you buckle seat belts when you get in a car. Probably just adjusting trimpots, it's rather simple.

I repaired an awful lot of TV's as a student - for fun and beer, not money - and somehow managed to survive. The Philips K9 chassis was a favourite, an example of how to design (analog) hardware for ease of maintenance and debugging. Just pop off the back, open the circuit board doors and the whole of its innards were available for debugging.

No, it is not that dangerous provided you know which bits to be careful with. It can look dangerous though, especially in those cases where the HT line starts producing corona discharges ranging from bluish clouds to fat streaming sparks (the more the merrier).

Yes, as long as people are aware of the dangers, it's no problem.

I took a bunch of electronics repair courses, which were largely focused on radios and CRT TVs. Only one person managed to hurt himself, he fell asleep with the open TV in front of him, and his forehead hit the high-voltage lines (~20kV IIRC) on the back of the CRT. I've never seen anyone wake up and jump from his chair so fast. Needless to say, he never fell asleep in that class again.

I used an Atari computer to generate test patterns, color ramps, etc... to tune old TV sets up for date money. Back then, doing that was a consistent business. Sets degraded in months.

It's not dangerous if you know what you are doing. I learned by working in the local repair shop.

In 1982 a new color console TV cost more than a decent used car. Well worth repairing.

The best part of CRTs: phosphorescence effects and vector monitors.

When any other kind of monitor tries to imitate what vector games look like or how things looked on old television sets, they really can't do it justice.

Stella (Atari 2600 emulator) has had a phosphorescence effect emulation as an option for quite some time, but it isn't the same. The differences in intensity in ghost images that fade can not be trivially reproduced.

Interesting coincidence: I just got my first LCD monitor this week.

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