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Swapping CRT flybacks in 2005 vs fixing LED backlights today
Back in 2005 I was wrestling with flyback transformers on 27 inch CRTs in my garage. Had to discharge that tube with a screwdriver and jumper wire every single time or you'd get a nice shock. Now I'm swapping LED strips on a 55 inch from 2018 with a multimeter and some tweezers. Whole process takes maybe 20 minutes instead of the hour it used to take me to even get the case off those old beasts. What's the weirdest old vs new repair switch you've noticed in the last decade?
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wood.eric4mo ago
Wait, weren't you supposed to discharge CRTs through a resistor so you didn't short something out?
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the_harper4mo ago
Never thought about it holding charge that long. Makes me rethink my whole approach.
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thomas_torres4mo ago
Yeah but that's the thing, the old CRTs in some of those early 80s arcade machines had a weird setup where the chassis wasn't grounded the same way. The resistor trick works fine for a standard TV but in some of the Sega or Nintendo cabs there's a bleed-off circuit that actually holds a charge longer than you'd think. I've seen guys get zapped because they discharged it, thought it was safe, then touched the anode cap ten minutes later and it bit em again.
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