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Author Topic: CRT health, rejuvenators, any other maintenance equipment... to buy or not?  (Read 4082 times)

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bobbyb13

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I somehow now have 4 actual arcade monitors, a few chassis and maybe a dozen old consumer TVs to play with.
There is a Sharp Image unig that needs some undiagnosed help and I have two Kortek ones that eventually will need something of course, so I am planning for the eventuality of screen maintenance.

Is trying to find a used rejuvenator a good idea to help keep these things going (as is my desire) and performing better?
What other CRT specific tools are a must have (maybe test pattern generator, oscilloscope..?)

Any brands, models, vintages, etc. to look for (or avoid?)

Any idea what fair price ranges in the US might look like?

Accessories to go with the basic stuff?

Best knowledge base on how to use them well?

Any other pertinent things that someone totally clueless like me would want to know in regard to CRT health?

Appreciate any wisdom offered!
Looking forward to learning more about them and how to work on them.

Aloha!
Bobby
Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools! I can fix it.

Zebidee

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Wish I could find a decent rejuvenator somewhere close to me, such that the shipping doesn't cost more than the unit itself.

In the meantime, I console myself with the knowledge that rejuvenators are mostly an optional piece of equipment. They can give new life to old tubes, but don't expect more than a few more years out of it. They can burn junk off your cathodes and heater, but doing so means running at a higher voltage and may damage the elements themselves.

But I still want one, they are great for diagnostics and stuff.

Here are two things I'll recommend:

ESR meter - Good for checking the health of electrolytic capacitors in-circuit, no need to desolder. These things are great for anybody that loves their CRTs and electronic equipment. Ever heard about cap kitting? Forget that, no need. You'll only ever need to change caps that are actually going/gone bad.

Flyback Test meter - also called a "rings tester", LOPT (linee output transformer) tester and FBT tester, use this meter to test your flyback transformer, other transformers and also anything else with lots of coils, like horizontal yoke (vertical yoke has too few coils). No more guesswork about whether the flyback is dead or not. The tester produces a signal that "rings" in the coils, and if all is good most of the LEDs light up. If the transformer/coil has shorts, it won't "ring" properly and only a couple of none of the LEDs will light up.

There is a "blue" Anatek brand of both ESR and flyback meters. They are based on the Bob Parker designs sold originally by Dick Smith (the company Dick Smith stopped making them long ago, and have gone broke since).

As for the original Dick Smith meters? Fortunately, I bought up a bunch of them a long, long time ago, before they went broke, and have a few of the meters in kit form, still in their factory shrink wrap.

If you want to get the original Dick Smith meters, PM me. I'll give you a reasonable price.
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bobbyb13

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Why it hadn't occurred to me that you were a prime candidate for this discussion I can't tell you!
 :lol

Absolutely would love a meter so I will shoot you a message.

I do have a few cap kits for some of my monitors here so a fresh start will be nice, but it will be cool to get a list of values for these chassis and test before replacing things- if for no other reason than some academic familiarity for the future.

I have never gone about fixing cars by just throwing every possible broken part at it so targeted replacement suits my general approach already.

CRTs still blow my mind.
Never mind the voltages and the X-rays...

The fact that somebody sorted out the math to make these things work and then could build something that could crunch the numbers so quickly as to produce an image on a screen that many times in a second still baffles me.

And magnetic deflection being the thing that is steering the beams from the guns?!

Just... wow

I'm looking forward to getting an XY kit and building a vector too so training on a raster seems like a good first step.
Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools! I can fix it.

Amra

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A good soldering iron is nice to have, one that heats up quickly and outputs enough heat to properly solder components on large ground planes.

A good multimeter can perform most basic trouble shooting on an arcade monitor. Check the B+ voltage, the heater voltage, diodes, approximate resistance values at certain areas, quick check if caps or transistors are shorted, etc etc.  Must have item right there.

A desoldering gun, vacuum powered preferably, makes a *huge* difference for removing parts. I have a Hakko FR301, and it makes repairs as well as testing (some components need to be removed or have one leg disconnected from circuit before testing) so much faster.  Probably the single largest quality of life improvement I've bought.

A test pattern generator is extremely valuable, but there are a couple mistakes one can make here.  For example, don't consider it 'saving money' to buy a 20-30 dollar vintage TPG on ebay, because with shipping more than likely you will spend around 50 bucks, and when you do get it, it will likely be old and in need of repair/restoration, whether sticking buttons or old caps.  After you purchase those items, pay shipping, and do all the work to get it working nice, you could have just bought a craftymech tpg for 90, and its the size of a small multimeter, easily put away in a box of test gear, while those vintage TPG's likely take up half a table.

An oscilloscope is pretty valuable when getting deeper into repairs. Most manuals will have a picture list of o-scope screens showing what the signal should look like at various parts, which helps narrow down the area with the difficulty a lot faster.

A good CRT Tester can be hard to find, they are certainly useful, but a good one is going to cost you a pretty penny.  There are certain brands and models that are recommended over others.  For example, most people say the B&K 467 and above are good choices.  They are useful when trying to check the quality of a tube, how much life is left, what level of emissions it puts out, if there are shorts, etc. But, rejuvenation is a mixed bag. Its one of those things where some people say if you need to rejuv the tube, it probably should be replaced, as even if you're successful, there's no guarantee you will get much life after.  The response is that if you're thinking to replace it, then risking a rejuv is acceptable, and its possible you could get years of use after.  Some say that if you don't have a compatible tube to replace it with, don't rejuv.  But the risk is up to you.

I'd recommend an ESR and Ring tester, but someone already mentioned them. :)

« Last Edit: May 05, 2021, 05:22:17 am by Amra »
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bobbyb13

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Thank you both for really helpful responses.   :cheers:

I had been on the fence about buying one of Craftymech's TPG units.
Obviously it is nonsense to not own one for what I hope to be doing so I will get one when I can.
Thankfully I already have a really nice Fluke meter (although I understand only a fraction of its functions) and just upgraded to a fancier soldering iron too- so at least I'm on my way.

I figured a rejuvenator was a more advanced/esoteric item as it was, so probably a far down the road investment (if ever?)
I'll dig into desoldering units more also.  Does look a lot better than using copper braid!

Aloha!
Bobby

Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools! I can fix it.

Zebidee

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This might sound weird, but Ergonomics! For my Lab I'm currently shopping for an adjustable-height desk and a new chair (probably a stool).

After doing lots of GreenAntz dev work, and then making lots of them, I started getting sciatica pain (the nerve that runs down from lower back/hip/leg) because my desk is too low and the gas lift in my chair is dead. Pain sucks, especially because it slows you down and makes you hobble about like an old man.

Yes I know that I'm old already but still very much in denial, thank you very much  :oldman

PS - I may also splurge on getting a tiled floor for the Lab as it is currently raw concrete, which generates a lot of dust.

I don't know if any of that has much to do with rejuvenators though ;-)
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nitrogen_widget

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no idea what he's saying, but he apparently made his own rejuvenator.



bobbyb13

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no idea what he's saying, but he apparently made his own rejuvenator.



I need to have one of my Philipino buddies who knows Tagalog (I think that is the dialect he is speaking!) watch this with me and tell me what is going on
 :lol
Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools! I can fix it.

Zebidee

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Whatever a bomba is, I think I want!

That electronic repair shop looks like many I've seen in Asia! Isolation transformers? Nah. Love listening to that guy say "SPDT", I could put that on repeat. Fun video to watch, far from boring! I feel like I understand a lot more than I actually do. Seriously, its the bomba.
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MKFan4Life

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The video makes me realize how much I take for granted sitting here at my dining table with iced tea and several lamps lighting the heck outta the one chassis I am working on. Got 80's music streaming from the Roku on iHeartRadio and just knocked the temp down another degree on the thermostat, since the Pace is getting it slightly too hot on my little face while I tinker.

And yes, I like the BOOMBA, too. He's gonna rule one day with that PUSHBUTTON. Hope he advances as a tech somewhere and has a great future.

Maybe we should coin the word BOOMBA (or bomba) whenever we refer to a rejuvenator in the future.
 ;D

snappleman

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I had my dad visiting and he comes into my studio where I work and have a tiny shop-ish area in the corner with a CRT splayed open, he told me how he used to repair them with lightbulbs in the 70s, the more of the story he told me the more I wondered how he didn't kill himself with that ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---.