Must I discharge my monitor?

[Magnet_Eye]

Hey guys, I have my new D9100 on the way for my cab, and need to remove the arcade monitor in there. Should I discharge it just to remove it from the cab or not?

thanks.

[MameFan]

No. Not unless you're repairing it.  See this thread posted today by someone else with about the same question: http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=6610

[paigeoliver]

You don't have to. And if it has been sitting, then it probably won't have a charge anymore anyway.

Now with that said. Discharge it anyway. It really isn't hard to do. And doing so eliminates the possibility that some curious person/cat/child will somehow end up taking the charge the painful way.

I just use a flathead screwdriver with a wire wrapped around it (taped actually). The other end of the wire I just wrap around some place on the monitor frame.

Put one hand in your pocket and use the other hand to slide the tip of the screwdriver underneath the rubber cup on the tube until it touches the center part. (Obviously be holding onto the plastic handle of the screwdriver and not the metal part).

It will make a zap sound if it had a charge. But if it has been sitting it will be silent because there wasn't much charge in the first place.

Better safe than sorry.

[MameFan]

> "Now with that said. Discharge it anyway"

Sorry, nope!

If you discharge it and remove the anode cap, the bare tube will accumulate it's own charge just sitting there in the open air and therefore become a danger by itself for the next person who uses their fingers to reattach the anode cap.  It's the fact that the anode cap is on AND the rest of the electronics are doing their job, when it's turned off, the anode wire is grounded in any working set, preventing the tube from gathering a charge in open air.

Unless the monitor is known to not be working (and even then, unless you are going to work on it) there is absolutely NO need to discharge it, and doing so (and leaving it uncapped) is where the real danger is.


How many TV's and computer monitors are "swapped out" each year?  Do people discharge those?  No.  If it's working there is no need to, and if it's not working, only do so if you're going to be working on it.    

There are enough other parts that are dangerous (eg the fragile tube) that if some child got near and did the wrong thing, many more bad things would happen.  You shouldn't ever have an open frame monitor, working or not, assembled or not, anywhere near a child in the first place.  Sharp metal, thin glass, risk of implosion from a simple bump on the back.

[paigeoliver]

Hee hee. I never said to remove the anode cap. I just said discharge it. Leave the cap on.

I just do this for my own piece of mind. I used to move around a lot of monitors without discharging them, and I was always scared to death I was going to get shocked somehow.

[Magnet_Eye]

i removed the monitor today. I did NOT discharge it. no problems. All is well.

thanks.

 

[paigeoliver]

By the way, what are you doing with the old monitor? Did it work? How badly is it burned in? A few of my games have terrible monitors, so I could use a few replacement ones.

[Magnet_Eye]

i am going to put it up on eBay. Not bad burn. It wasn't working. Just black. I think it needs a cap kit ($5), or possibly some soldering fixed. I didn't look into it. Just ripped it out of my cab to put in my new vga monitor.

if you are interested in it, email me.

[paigeoliver]

Never mind. Fixer upper monitors I already have, or at least they aren't worth the cost of shipping to me. Also, if the neck doesn't light up, then it probably needs more than a cap kit.

[Impostor]

On the topic of discharging the monitor, how long must the monitor sit before it's completely discharged by itself?  I have a 29" monitor inside an Capcom Impress cabinet.

Impostor

[paigeoliver]

That is an iffy thing. I never hear a zap on any monitor that has been sitting for more than a day or two. But never assume that a monitor or tube doesn't have a residual charge.