The red suction cap just fell off!!!!

[lettuce]

I have just been cleaning out my almost complete Jamma cabinet and have just noticed that the red suction cab on the monitor isnt attached to the back of the monitor!!! How is this possible, i dont remember knocking it at all, and if i didnt notice knocking it surely it would have made some sort of noise that would of grabbed my attention!??. Do these things come away themselves???, how do i put it back together, is my monitor now scrap?? HELP!!

[SirPoonga]

BE VERY CAREFULL!!!
That suction cup covers the anode.  You don't want to just stick it back on.
Read the discharging FAQ in the monitor forum.  You will want to discharge your monitor before putting that back on for safety reasons.

[lettuce]

just read the FAQ, with the suction cap off, i know i need to attach an alligator clip to the earch wire around the mnitor and to a flat head screw driver, do i place the flat head screw driver over the hole that the cap and clip was covering?? or stick it in the hole?

[SirPoonga]

I haven't discharged a monitor yet, will move thread to monitor forum and see what answers you get...

[ChadTower]

Put everything down, walk away, and stay alive.  Seriously, you have a lot of reading to do before you should try what you're describing.

[lettuce]

My dad just did it, earth the screw driver and placed it over the hole,  no flash or cracking noise, clipped the suction pad back on (awkward flipping clips), turned the monitor on made the famliar static noise, but i dont have my arcadeVGA card hocked up so didnt see anything on the screen, apart from when we turned the monitor off and had green flash that does into the centre of the screen and disappeared! So hopeful its all ok. Still dont understand how it came of, wouldnt you really need to jank it for it to come off?? Maybe it wasnt on correctly to start of with, but it was working fine the other week when i tried it!

[SirPoonga]

Chad, this better not become "See, he can do it, so can you" 

[ChadTower]

Nah, he has a raster monitor, different process.  Clearly he was poking around back there without knowing what he was doing, you're smarter than that.

[shawnzilla]

Yes, please be very very very careful!

[Thenasty]

Lettuce are you still there ?
Come in Lettuce, are you still there ?
Dammmm, I think we lost him.
Lettuce are you still there ?

 

[lettuce]

Yeah im still here, i knew that if theres one think u dont touch on a TV/Monitor its the suction cap!. I swear i did not knock it of, i would have noticed surley

[ChadTower]

It's not a suction cup.

[MonitorGuru]

> "My dad just did it, earth the screw driver and placed it over the hole,  no flash or cracking noise,"


REREAD THE DISCHARGING / MONITOR FAQ.  EARTH HAS *NOTHING* TO DO WITH DISCHARGING A TUBE

If you didn't get a shock reconnecting the anode wire consider yourself DANG lucky.


It seems with monitors either people don't read at all, read things that arn't there (those that think you need to discharge if you are just removing the entire monitor) or assume things that make no sense.


I've said it in other threads, and the Discharging FAQ, but here goes again:

EARTH GROUND has NOTHING to do with a monitor tube.  NOTHING.

Just like the battery in your car CANNOT be shorted by connecting either terminal to a wire stuck in the earth, the same thing goes for a CRT.

You must short the inside of the tube to the outside of the tube. Nothing more, nothing less. This will discharge it.

[lettuce]

> "My dad just did it, earth the screw driver and placed it over the hole,

[MonitorGuru]

The wire across the tube IS the ground wire, but has NOTHING to do with EARTH.  Stating Earth fully implies EARTH GROUND in AC terms.  Stating Ground implies the "other end" of a DC connection, where in this case, the anode is one end, and the ground wire on the outside of the tube is the other.


It fell off because it was probably tugged on at some point allowing at least one of the pins to slip, while the other hung on until it was shaken again (even by playing).  Lucky it didn't come off while it was playing as 30,000 volts could have been sent to numerous places within the monitor / cabinet.

Before reattaching always spread out the pins as wide as possible (and check for any metal failure from bending) so that it will clip securely. It should be hard, but not difficult to clip in.  Put one end in, holding the grey cup at an angle and use the still frame-grounded screwdriver to gently press the other side in while you press the cap on.

[ChadTower]

And do it with one hand, keeping your spare hand in your pants pocket, so you don't absent mindedly create a path to ground across your heart.

[lettuce]

Ok u got me worried so i double check that it was on securely, so i popped it off again, and made sure the pins were spread far apart then placed it back on again,  the bronze washer type thing that has the pins going through it is sitting flat against the anode hole now, and doesnt want to seem to come off if i wiggle it, moisted the suction cap slightly and pressed it back on. So hopefully that wont come off every again. Just got me worried now that if its come of once it may do the same again, but i have been moving the cabinet around a bit, from the garage to the garden to work on and back to the garage again, so maybe that could of course it to come lose

[ChadTower]

He's trolling now.

[lettuce]

What the hells trolling??

[mamerocks87]

Discharging a monitor isn't that big of a deal guys, I know of people who wont even take a monitor out of a cab w/out discharging it. You can touch the monitor when its charged....Its not that easy to give yourself the big shock.

[Crazy Cooter]

lol.

"Touching the monitor" is one thing.  Licking the anode cap is another.

Deshrouded monitors are as safe as tesla coils.  Completely safe if you know what you're doing, but if you don't you could end up in the ER (if you're lucky).

[Apollo]

Not sure why everyone is freaking out about touching the flyback suction cup. As long as the power is off you can pretty much take them on and off all day without any problem. There is way too much freaking out about tubes and high voltage on this forum, usually from people who don't know any better (no offense to anyone as I know you are only trying to keep people safe).

[dabone]

You can remove them all day on newer monitors, most of the old ones hold a charge.

For me, I use some speaker wire wrapped around a awl, I wrap the loose end around the grounding strap around the tube then stick the end of the awl under the cap, (or in the empty hole if I'm putting the cap back in.)


Btw, it does really suck to be carrying old bare tubes and accidently touching the anonde hole and getting a nasty shock, even thought the tubes only, (No chassis) have been sitting around for months not connected to anything.

Later,
dabone

[ChadTower]

Not sure why everyone is freaking out about touching the flyback suction cup. As long as the power is off you can pretty much take them on and off all day without any problem. There is way too much freaking out about tubes and high voltage on this forum, usually from people who don't know any better (no offense to anyone as I know you are only trying to keep people safe).

Uhm, he moistened it and then connected it to a 30,000 volt capacitor.

FOR THE LAST ---smurfing--- TIME, IT IS NOT A SUCTION CUP.  THERE IS NO SUCTION.

It is a rubber, electrically resistant hood that covers the HV anode. 

Old tubes not only hold a charge for an extended period of time, but they also self recharge frequently after having been discharged.  It is best practice, if you are going to remove the anode, to discharge before removing it and discharge before replacing it.