Is repairing a CRT worth the effort/risk ?

Azra113

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My CRT TV image is all blurry now. I really like this TV but don't know anything about TV repair and I was wondering if any of you guys have any experience with this.
 

Lagduf

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I’m not knowledgeable in CRT repair but I’m just going to say it’s probably not worth it unless it’s a desirable model.
 

Hattori Hanzo

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Get another one it's probably not worth it for a consumer CRT. Stay away from a repair because you can kill yourself with the high voltage if you don't know what you're doing.
 

terry.330

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you can kill yourself with the high voltage if you don't know what you're doing.
If that was true then every goober in the CRT FB group would be dead.

Discharging a tube is pretty easy and if you don't power it on for awhile they dissipate the charge by themselves.

The real risk is necking it or breaking a component.

If it's just a common consumer model then I'd say no, just keep an eye on FB marketplace or CL for a replacement. People still give them away or sell them cheap fairly often.

At this point I'd just buy a Retortink or similar product. It's not the same but it's so much more convenient.
 

Hattori Hanzo

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If that was true then every goober in the CRT FB group would be dead.
You didn't quote the rest, it's not worth it for a consumer TV. Peeps who don't have a clue about repairing CRTs should just pass.
Wish more Facebook users wouldn't know about high voltage.
 

RAZO

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There are these slider things around the neck that turn 360 degrees. Had a similar issue with a Wega I purchased. The Wega had like 6 of them I think. Picture looked out of focus and blurry. I think they need to be adjusted after awhile. It's a pain in the ass because you have to do it while the TV is on and you have to reach behind the TV.
 

Fygee

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My advice is if you've never done it before, get a local professional to do it. Bonus if they're cool enough to show you how while they do the work.
 

norton9478

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There are these slider things around the neck that turn 360 degrees. Had a similar issue with a Wega I purchased. The Wega had like 6 of them I think. Picture looked out of focus and blurry. I think they need to be adjusted after awhile. It's a pain in the ass because you have to do it while the TV is on and you have to reach behind the TV.
Fucking Mirrors.... How do they work?
 

wataru330

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There are these slider things around the neck that turn 360 degrees. Had a similar issue with a Wega I purchased. The Wega had like 6 of them I think. Picture looked out of focus and blurry. I think they need to be adjusted after awhile. It's a pain in the ass because you have to do it while the TV is on and you have to reach behind the TV.
Yoke rings are a mofo.

I wouldn’t bother w/ a consumer tv for movies or consoles; I would bother for the CRTs/chassis in my cabs.
 

Neo Alec

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It’s not black magic. Discharge the fucker first and it’s safe.
Only problem with that is if you forget. When I modded mine I made a mistake and had to turn it on and off so many times to troubleshoot, finally I forgot to discharge it one time.

...and now I'm a ghost and I'm haunting this place. Just kidding about that part. Luckily I didn't get a shock.

I'm mostly in agreement with the folks saying it's not worth it. My cab monitors both need recaps, but I can't imagine even starting to work on that.
 

HeavyMachineGoob

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Depends entirely on what the problem is.

Dark picture and crushed black levels? Tube is dying, can't fix.

Fuzzy picture? Probably just needs the focus and brightness dials adjusted, they're often hidden behind the back plastic shell.

Weird lines or the picture rolling over across the top? I've heard people say it's bad capacitors.

I have recapped the analog board in an eMac G4 700MHz computer, it survived surgery. Then I tried a 13" Electrohome TV, it didn't survive surgery. Oh well.
 

hatmoose

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2 years ago I knew nothing about CRT's - Since then I've had a tonne of fun learning about them, modifying them, collecting them and repairing them. Now I have probably two dozen. Maybe more. I'm about 5-10% of my way on my journey to mastery, still so much fun to be had and so much more to learn

If you just want a working monitor then no - this is an absurd waste of time and money. it will be 50x cheaper (I kid you not!) to just pay someone to fix it.

If you want an awesome fun hobby that is gaining momentum, has a really good community, and has a tonne of awesome learning material available for free then yes absolutely get into it.

There is a bit of a steep learning curve right at the start with the whole Not Dying thing, but once you learn the basics of electrical safety it's pretty smooth sailing from there.
 
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