Re: Opening AppleColor RGB, need safety tips!

[phinc@primenet.com (Peter P. Parkenpharker)]

In article <25MAR199509211104@vax2.concordia.ca>,
spector@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector) wrote:

>         Now, unless someone else out there has a monitor like this,
> I'm going to assume there's something wrong. I suspect the Red voltage
> gun has weakened with age, and playing with the R-Drive and B-Drive pots 
> on the CRT circuit board might fix this. However, before I go poking 
> inside my monitor to adjust things, I'd like to hear some safety advice. 
> If I get an _all plastic_ tool (like a color TV adjustment tool from 
> Radio Shack) will this protect me from getting zapped when turning the 
> pots? Is keeping one hand behind my back all I need do to be protected 
> (and of course avoid touching anything that carries high voltage)? I'd 
> have to adjust the tint with the back opened and the monitor's power 
> _on_, so I'm a little nervous about this. It may seem I'm being somwhat 
> paranoid here, but I hear there's enough high voltage to *kill* you 
> in there! :|

Yes, there really is a lot of voltage in there.

Rule #1- Do not ground yourself, use an isolation transformer if at all
possible.

Rule #2- See rule #1

Rule #3- avoid using metal anything, you can pick up some tweeking tools
form your nearby radio shack, or even mail order.

Inside you have a Red drive, Green drive,  and blue drive. If you are
seeing prodominantly red, try bumping up the G & B.  Be extremely
carefulwhen doing this, make any movement of the pot as minimal as
possible.

Adjusting monitors is not a fun task, you can really throw it completely
out of sync very easily.  You should try and mak the pots first (using a
magic marker or something) so you can have a reference point.  You want to
make sure the whites are white, and that the blacks are black, and that
you can't see any horizontal lines.  If white is white, and black is black
then most of the other colors will pretty much fall into place. Let the
monitor warm up for at least 20 minutes before adjusting anything.

There is a suction cap that attaches to the monitor tube, DO NOT TOUCH
THIS<<<  follow it back down to the Main Logic, see that big black thing
it is attached to, these are both HIGH VOLTAGE AREAS!  stay away from
these areas, especially since all video adjustments have to be done live
(monitor turned on) and there will be high voltage present.

If you do not have an electronics knowlege (degree is in Wood Technology)
then I would highly suggest taking it to a dealer, or some other place
where they can perform this procedure for you.  THIS IS DEFINATELY NOT A
DO IT YOURSELF PROCEDURE!!!

I have to do them, and its the one part of my job (ditch digger) that I
don't enjoy.

:-PPP

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