I was watching TV tonight when there was a rather close lightning strike - the tv “zapped” for a second, it made a noise and the picture shook for a second. Afterwards, large portions of the screen became discolored - yellow areas would look purple, that sort of thing - similar to what you’d get from using a powerful magnet near it.
Anyway, I turned it off and back on, and the picture was fine. Is there anything I should be worried about? Or did it degauss while powering on, perhaps, fixing whatever the problem was?
With any luck, yes. The CRT has degaussing coils that activate for a few seconds or so every time you power up. A near strike can have other possible ill effects on the circuitry, but I’d say you shouldn’t worry about it. There isn’t anything you can do but wait and see, anyway.
Same thing happened to me when lightning struck a sycamore tree in the front yard 15 feet from the house.
Both TV set and computer moniter displayed very wierd color patterns. Computer moniter was fine after turning it off and turning it back on again. TV not so lucky (old set–at least 15 years old) —still have colors a little strange on the left side of the picture for a couple of inches. ----a little annoying but bearable.
Question #!------would a professional degaussing help?-----not really wild about paying for a service call on this old a set.
Question #2----- I actually have an old degausser from Radio Shack for cassette recorders. Would that help any? And, if so, how would I use it on something as big as a TV?
#! (or “1” in my part of town). Yep. It probably would. There are other possibilities (due to aging components).
#2 Yes, but be very, very careful. Start well away from the screen before turning it on, bring it a bit closer, keep waving it in slow circles parallel to the front of the screen, back up slowly, turn off when well away. I would recommend a test run first where you only get close enought to see some effects then back off. For more info, see the Repair FAQ on degaussing.