Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Replacing the bad flyback transformer in Apple's Studio Display 17"

riveducha.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 64 posts

Re: Replacing the bad flyback transformer in Apple's Studio Display 17"

#41

Post by userbinator »

serf wrote: post #37

Everyone in the comments keeps saying "if you don't know what you're doing, go find someone that does, skip the work, dont touch it", etc etc. i'm here to say that that kind of behavior doesn't foster self improvement and learning. here's what I suggest : learn about the job, learn about the hazards, take the precautions, get the equipment, don't let your guard down, and then do the work by-the-book. you'll learn som…

Here's some good discussion of the risks: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/how-dangerous-or-lethal-i...

Re: Replacing the bad flyback transformer in Apple's Studio Display 17"

#42

Post by userbinator »

Hizonner wrote: post #26

> Opening up CRTs is dangerous. Do this at your own risk. Considering hiring a professional instead. Hire a professional. To fix a quarter-century-old monitor that was nothing special when it was new. Why? I mean, I wouldn't bother fixing the thing anyway, but hiring somebody is going to cost you more than a much better brand new monitor.

Standard legal boilerplate disclaimer?

Re: Replacing the bad flyback transformer in Apple's Studio Display 17"

#43

Post by bombcar »

serf wrote: post #37

Everyone in the comments keeps saying "if you don't know what you're doing, go find someone that does, skip the work, dont touch it", etc etc. i'm here to say that that kind of behavior doesn't foster self improvement and learning. here's what I suggest : learn about the job, learn about the hazards, take the precautions, get the equipment, don't let your guard down, and then do the work by-the-book. you'll learn som…

The hazards have to be knowable (they all are) and you have to take the precautions.

The trick is, that professionals often need to know how to do something just barely safely so that they can do it fast and efficiently.

But a hobbyist doesn't need to do it fast, so you can do it very safely.

In this example, learn how to ground out the equipment, do so, and then leave it for weeks, etc.

Re: Replacing the bad flyback transformer in Apple's Studio Display 17"

#44

Post by bombcar »

rasz wrote: post #16
glhaynes wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never worked inside a CRT (but may need to soon) and am not great at electronics repair, but I'm a little surprised you describe yourself as having a lot of skill but still tend to avoid them. From my understanding, it's straightforward to reliably discharge them and make them safe to work on. Do you think it's easier to get this wrong than I've understood or do you just feel uneasy about it in general? Just cur…

Im an EE that never worked on CRT and declined plenty of requests. I also like to think Im quite mechanically inclined, but I would _never_ go anywhere close to a split rim being serviced. There are things just not worth the risk in life, like jumping head down into unknown stream, or skating down handrails.

Split rims is a good example of the kind of risks - they can be handled correctly but the temptation to skip steps is always there - but much more strongly there for people who do it a lot. If you replace them once, you can be anal about the safety (cage + chain + remote fill) because you don't need the speed.

I'd still replace the worst split rims with at least deuce rims.

Re: Replacing the bad flyback transformer in Apple's Studio Display 17"

#45

Post by qingcharles »

ComputerGuru wrote: post #31
andyjohnson0 wrote: post #30

From what I understand of this, the danger comes from charge stored in large capacitors. So what is the longest that these capacitors can hold a significant charge if the crt is left disconnected from mains power? Hours/days/weeks? Is simply waiting long enough a reliable way to render a crt safe to work on? (Irrespective of the answer to this, there is no chance at all that I would ever mess with crt circuitry. But…

I got a really nasty shock from a capacitor in a flash (as in camera) that was powered down for weeks, back in the 90s.

When I was an asshole little kid I would pull these out of disposable cameras and use them to Tase people at school.

Re: Replacing the bad flyback transformer in Apple's Studio Display 17"

#46

Post by zxexz »

ivraatiems wrote: post #27

I have a fully functional third-gen iMac (the "jelly bean") that needed its inner bezel replaced. Sourcing a non-broken bezel was one big job, but even after I did, finding someone with the knowledge and skill to repair it safely was a task. I wasn't willing to do the repair myself, it's just too dangerous for an amateur. These machines are supposed to have components that automatically discharge the screen after the…

I would absolutely love to hear more about this, any of the details you care to share. Truly does sound like an adventure.

Re: Replacing the bad flyback transformer in Apple's Studio Display 17"

#47

Post by whalesalad »

teh_klev wrote: post #35
Hizonner wrote: post #26

> Opening up CRTs is dangerous. Do this at your own risk. Considering hiring a professional instead. Hire a professional. To fix a quarter-century-old monitor that was nothing special when it was new. Why? I mean, I wouldn't bother fixing the thing anyway, but hiring somebody is going to cost you more than a much better brand new monitor.

> To fix a quarter-century-old monitor that was nothing special when it was new. > Why? I mean, I wouldn't bother fixing the thing anyway, but hiring somebody is going to cost you more than a much better brand new monitor. There are folks out there who spend their time fixing unexceptional cars such as old Ford Orions, Austin Metros, VW Golf Mk 3's (poverty spec) and so on. In their day these were the most boring of…

Oddly enough I have a thing for MK3 GTI’s

Re: Replacing the bad flyback transformer in Apple's Studio Display 17"

#48

Post by zxexz »

qingcharles wrote: post #45
ComputerGuru wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got a really nasty shock from a capacitor in a flash (as in camera) that was powered down for weeks, back in the 90s.

When I was an asshole little kid I would pull these out of disposable cameras and use them to Tase people at school.

I remember building a crappy, but extremely dangerous (to the user), Gauss gun out of a stack of discarded disposable cameras, when I was much younger. I remember pulling out the capacitor and the charging circuit was pretty easy, and you just hook them all up in parallel, connect to a stack of AA or D cells in parallel. Still amazed I never died from doing crap like that. Definitely vaporized a few sections of skin and lit sections of my hair on fire a few times :)

I recall repurposing the Gauss gun as a tiny "handheld" EMP that would vaporize a section of wire. Made a Win95 thinkpad (ancient now, old then) do funny things.

Re: Replacing the bad flyback transformer in Apple's Studio Display 17"

#49

Post by unfocused »

For those interested in Electronics repairs, have a look at Mr. Carlson's Lab on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MrCarlsonsLab/videos

Lots of detail and explanations. P.S. I'm not affiliated with anything, I just genuinely think this is one of the best (educational) channels out there on this.

Re: Replacing the bad flyback transformer in Apple's Studio Display 17"

#50

Post by winrid »

ivraatiems wrote: post #27

I have a fully functional third-gen iMac (the "jelly bean") that needed its inner bezel replaced. Sourcing a non-broken bezel was one big job, but even after I did, finding someone with the knowledge and skill to repair it safely was a task. I wasn't willing to do the repair myself, it's just too dangerous for an amateur. These machines are supposed to have components that automatically discharge the screen after the…

So he made a connector with a resistor that connected to ground? Is this different than normal TV repair somehow?
Post reply on HN