Ok this TV is older than I am, but thats not that long in the grand scheme of things. I’d say late 70’s… a touch tune set, very much like the remote is installed in the upper right of the tv. However there is no remote… hence my question.
When I wake up in the morning, i turn on the set, no lights visible, with the exception of daylight. Four ‘sparks’ jolt out near the turn on knob, horizontaly across from the knob to where the screen starts, and the bottom two corners of the speaker.
The sparks dont hurt me, but, I have my Gamecube less than an Inch away from the set. Is this a problem?
First off, sparks indicate a fairly high voltage. I don’t need to tell you that this is worrisome. Secondly, a TV in line powered and has very high voltage circuits, so we’re talking about a lot more danger than the static electricity you get from scuffing your carpet on a rainy day (and even those can harm electronic gear, if the grounded shielding fails for some reason, like amateur disassembly or modification. Thirdly, though this doesn’t sound like any common failure of the high voltage stage that I know of, many TVs in the 1970s still used vacuum tubes (aside from the CRT itself) and their B supply (ca 100-200v differentials) is quite dangerous enough even if the “High Voltage” (thousands of volts) stage is not involved. If anything the B power supply can be more dangerous, because it is more directly connected to line power and can sink higher currents when it fails.
Generally: TVs shouldn’t do that; sparks are dangerous; and it’s right near your hand! You’re trusting a plastic knob (which wasn’t designed for insulation) and the variable resistance of room air to keep you alive. I could speculate on possible causes, but I don’t even have to dust off my way-to-rusty memories of fixing TVs as a teenager in the 70s to know that the only good advice is to get rid of it. The risk isn’t worth it, and almost no one does genuine TV repair anymore. (The shops just swap out major subassemblies. Many technicians have little experience in HV troubleshooting and none with vacuum tubes. In fact, many insurance policies effectively forbid shops from doing such work)
I hate saying that. Personally, I’d be very curious to put that TV on my bench and see what’s causing it (I fix computer monitors for friends, to keep my skills up, but those old TVs and their quirks still occupy a warm spot in my heart), but it only makes sense as a hobby – and only for someone with the requisite equipment and experience (and often - parts). Even so, it’s a calculated risk: professional TV repairmen died every year fixing those old sets.
I can’t think of any relatively harmless mechanism that produces this symptom right now (though but I’ve seen TVs do some pretty strange things), but even if I could the risk of deathfrom the less-than-harmless causes is substantial. I would not turn it on again EVER. New TVs are cheap and perform much better anyway.
A TV set should not throw sparks, ever. Unplug the TV now, and throw it away, unless you’re ready to have a fire in your home. A TV fire is horrible, because the power cord is usually behind the TV, and you have to get close to the fire to unplug it. :eek: I’d say get it fixed, but no TV shop will touch a 30-year old TV.
The sparks only appear when I turn the TV on in the morning, after 6-8 hours of being off. If I turn it off and back on say in an hour, or even 3-4 hours (for classes) nothing happens. I’d say each one is just a centimeter in length, and they “shoot” to the left or the right, not straight out from the tv.
What if I leave the tv on 24-7 ?
On getting a new TV;
Why buy a tv now, when I will need to get a new one in 2006 for HDTV FCC compliance?