Re: GS Monitor keeps getting brighter

["Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com>]

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.  ;-)

Reminds me of the electricians strategy of working with one hand in
your pocket (to avoid taking a shock through the chest).  ;-)

-michael

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