Re: GS Monitor keeps getting brighter

On Aug 13, 3:18 pm, "Michael J. Mahon" <mjma...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Alex Freed wrote:

Thank you for your advice; I will try it out.

About 5 minutes after I posted my original question, I received a
response via email:

Your filter capacitors are cooked.  Any tv repairman can replace these.

Call me an "elitist" or whatever, but "tv repairman" is a key word here..
If you don't *know* how to do it, you probably should not try because
there is a very high voltage inside the TV that actually *killed* quite
a few people trying to fix something without full understanding of the
dangers.

As an erstwhile "TV repairman" myself, I don't know of anyone who
received anything more than a startling shock from a TV or monitor,
but that doesn't mean that someone hasn't managed to do it!  ;-)

The greatest danger apart from the mains side of the power supply
is that someone with a tool in their hands receives a shock and
jerks the tool into the neck of the CRT, causing it to implode--
flying glass and all that...

Since the demise of vacuum tube TVs, there just isn't enough stored
energy anywhere in a monitor to really hurt someone, unless they
are 1) *very* unlucky, or 2) using a pacemaker.  The greatest danger
is from what a person does after being startled by a strong shock.

It's always a good idea to read up on a procedure before attempting it,
but back in the "bad old days", virtually every TV repairman was self-
taught, and getting a few shocks was the way you learned.  ;-)

Sounds familiar :-) I think I've gotten all the shocks you can get
from electronic equipment servicing. The nastiest one I can 'laugh' at
now came from the filter capacitors on a very large stereo amplifier,
and yes, I've copped the HT voltage from an unplugged monitor before.
The best rule is, dont' muck about inside something that's plugged in,
especially in countries that don't have mains power switches. Over
here I simply turn off the mains power - leaving the cord connected to
the earth makes me feel safer ;-)

My worst experience comes from helping a friend replace a hard drive
in an older AT style PC. The shoddy assemblers had put the switch
assembly together without including the rubber sheaths over the spade
connectors. Trust me, you do not want to be a part of the conductive
path between an active pin and the ground :-(

Matt
.

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