when to discharge?

[Distortion]

When do you need to discharge an arcade monitor?  I haven't really found any info on this and it seems a lot of people install theirs without discharging.

[SNAAAKE]

When do you need to discharge an arcade monitor?  I haven't really found any info on this and it seems a lot of people install theirs without discharging.

dude,
Discharging is not for newbies man..do you know how?

If you are just mounting the monitor,i dont see why you gotta discharge anything.

You could just mount the monitor without doin anything to it(unless I am missing something).

Thats about all I know..

[dhansen]

From what I've read, the only time you need to discharge is if you  are replacing or removing the chassis to install a cap kit.  If you are just mounting it be careful not to touch the flyback or the wire from the flyback that goes to the suction cup.

Doug

[seaner]

Simply put, you don't want to get zapped.  To get zapped, you need to come too close to a high voltage.  The voltage across the tube is exposed at the anode (suction cup) and at the cathode (neck).  Anything that is wired to these two places is a potentially dangerous area to be nosing around when the monitor hasn't been discharged.
ie. removing anode cap, removing neck board, poking around flyback.
Discharging the monitor when you arent going near the PCBs is relatively unnecessary, although it never hurts to be careful.
Discharging 20kV through no kind of load could be bad for the monitor though.. can't hurt to discharge through a hefty resistor first.

[MameFan]

Actually the tube is a huge capacitor. The graphite (black) paint on the outside of the tube, along with similar paint inside (that connects to the anode cap) causes a build up of electron charge within the tube because the glass acts as a capacitor.  In fact, it can build up a charge of up to 25,000 volts.

Also, a bare tube with no wires, sitting somewhere, can build up its own charge through the air, and be dangerous. So dont assume a tube without the anode cap is safe to touch. It could zap you good!

To discharge you must remove the charge between the inner plate and outer plate. Thus you short the anode cap to the black coating on the outside of the tube.

But you only need to do this if you are removing the red wire from the top of the tube.  if you don't touch that, you do not need to discharge.

See the other post in this group called "Oh Maaammma" about replacing chassis and tubes, I posted 4 messages detailing lots of stuff about monitors.

[Distortion]

But you only need to do this if you are removing the red wire from the top of the tube.  if you don't touch that, you do not need to discharge.

That's all I was really asking.  So if I'm restoring a cabinet and just handling the RGB cables and possibly taking the cabinet out or in, I don't need to discharge, right?  I only need to discharge if I'm replacing parts of the monitor? (the capacitor, that cable that connects to the capacitor, etc?)  What about handling the PCB of the monitor itself?  If i'm messing with any of the knobs on that, do I need to discharge.  I'm hoping to get into dedicated cab restoration, so I'm in the research stage at the moment.

[anthony691]

I WOULD discharge before doing just about ANYTHING with your monitor. There won't be a second chance man, why risk it? Those kind of voltages could throw you through a wall! It isn't the sort of stuff you mess with. Go ahead and build a tool to discharge it, but please be safe about it. BTW the graphite paint stuff on the outside is called aqua dag. So please don't be dumb on this one just discharging it caused me to piss my pants, it is as load a like a person clapping!

[MameFan]

You DON'T need to discharge any monitor UNLESS you plan on working on the board or on the tube.

If you are simply moving a monitor from one cab to another, or adjusting the purity rings, or twisting the yoke if you have a tilt to a picture/etc.. then you definitely don't need or WANT to discharge you monitor.

Only time you need to discharge your monitor is IF you plan on removing the red "anode" wire from the tube.  In fact it's safer to leave the wire on the monitor and handle it rather than removing it and then handling it, because a tube that is NOT grounded through the wire can build up a charge just by sitting in air.

Again, unless you're doing repairs on a monitor, swapping a tube, etc... do NOT disconnect the wire or discharge. But  if you do, then definitely discharge!