• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here
  • From now on we will require that a prefix is set for any items in the sales area. We have created regions and locations for this. We also require that you select a delivery option before posting your listing. This will hopefully help us streamline the things that get listed for sales here and help local people better advertise their items, especially for local only sales. New sales rules are also coming, so stay tuned.

Monitor Repair?

L

lyonadmiral

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Messages
2,431
Location
Peru, New York
(I've been having some connectivity issues, so if this post is a duplicate, please delete it.)

I'm wondering if anyone out there would be interested in servicing CRT's provided they could be shipped to them and back. I'm sure that there are others like me who are technically capable when provided with the proper tools but just aren't comfortable working within the depts of a CRT.

Thanks,
Dan
 
I think the general consensus would end up being the price of shipping it back and forth would be around the equivalent value or more of the crt itself. Just my opinion though, but yes I've been in the same boat a few times where I had a monitor I was going to fix but outside of some simple or overly obvious blown parts wasn't up to the task technically.
 
I think costs of shipping could be managed, if packed well, and shipped ground or parcel post. Yet, with that, I think this is important, because what if you do have one of those rare and illusive displays like the 5154, (I don't have one, but would like one.) where the rarity of the display makes it less feasible to look for another one. Those are the types of displays I'm talking about.
 
I don't know. Other than the obvious problem of shipping (and the damage associated with it), I can see real problems in dealing with irreplaceable parts, such as FBTs, yokes and CRTs.

In balance, would the customer be more or less likely to have a good experience?

The PLC (CNC) folks run up against CRT issues all of the time. The way they address the problem is by offering full replacement units. Makes sense to me.
 
Dan,

You should consider trying your "local" (I use that term loosely, because I believe you are way out in the country) TV repair shop. Often circuitry inside old monochrome monitors is good old RS-170 that any good TV bench tech from the 70s could troubleshoot with both eyes closed. Quite often the problem is with the flyback or the horizontal output transistor.

As for parts or the difficulty of troubleshooting such monitors, well, I'm not an EE or properly trained technician, and I have fixed the analog video sections of at least three VT100 terminals. I was able to find flybacks for them (and bought some extras). I have no interst in trying to do it for profit though. But that's where your local TV repair man comes in. He would be glad to actually have a customer.

Lastly, with regard to CRT safety, with a little common sense and care you will be fine. Discharge the anode to the chassis before doing much and be careful around the neck of the tube. It reminds me of when my first son was born, I was worried I would break him when I held him. Same was true when I first worked on monitors. Then of course by the time kid #2 was born, I knew how robust they really are....

Lou
 
Last edited:
Lou, most TV repair shops (if they still exist) don't deal in CRT units any more.

CRT TVs are barely worth much more than their scrap value. Local recyclers are swamped with them.
 
I guess that is indeed my dilema, finding someone to do it. I'm willing to pay, just have to find someone who's willing to do it. I do have an acquaintance here who can do it, for almost free (six pack of beer here and there), but it's what his day job is and he does IT hardware repair (mostly printers) all day long.
 
Yup, the way of the world, it seems. You'd stand a better chance of getting a 5154 repaired if you took it to Shenzhen.

I've got my hands full with not-very-old LCD monitors that people have scrapped because of the failure of about a dollar's worth of capacitors. Nobody even thinks about repairing them any more.
 
Last edited:
You might find an old tech at a TV repair shop that was alive when repairing CRTs was common. There was a good tech around here that fixed electronics and sold Dish network sattelite gear but he died of a heart attack a year or two ago.

I have a couple monitors that I kept incase I run across somebody local who can fix them someday (Tandy CGA and my old Sony 420GS that probably just needs recapped). Common VGA CRT can be had at recyclers for next to nothing, or freecycle for nothing. Unless the monitor is rare and expensive just get another on ebay and keep the old one for spare parts. Sooner or later prices will be high enough that getting a replacement will be more costly then getting one fixed (assuming there are enough people who need to have them). Do arcade machines still use CRT's, if so who repairs that stuff?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top