Picture Tube Arching

Got home last night and my wife tells me that my son had been watching TV when the screen went blank and she could hear what she described as a tapping sound and an electrical burning smell.

She unplugged TV, DVD, STEREO, VCR, power strip, ariel (sp that might be the girl from Little Mermaid)

The smell was still in the air.

I got an extension cord and using a different power point, powered up each device separately.

When I went to turn the TV on as soon as it tried to power up the tube there was this sound that was like electrical arching and the picture would not appear.

A faint smell also came back.

Disconnected again.

I then wondered if I powered the TV on - to what should be standby mode - and tried the remote to turn it off.

Did this and it stopped the arching sound - used the remote again and it worked fine.

We then left it on for about 3 hours with no issues.

There still seems to be a bit of a smell but not sure if that's just hanging around or something that is heating up and putting off the smell.

I'm wondering if to much dust build up or a spider or cockraoch or ants soemthing could cause a short circuit ?

Should I take it in for someone to look at ?

I know this is not computer related but also know there's a few 'Sparkies' out there who might be able to help.

If the thread get's locked and anyone has any ideas, just PM me thanx.

I don't think it's too far off topic as TV's and monitors are so similar.

A cockroach or something like that is a definite possibility - they like the warmth and certainly can cause shorts (and the little buggers can take a few kilovolts and survive as well). The ozone (burning) smell will hang around for a while. However, I think it would be wise to heve someone take a look at it, TV's are a notorious fire hazard, and some insulation could easily have been damaged, even though it appears to be working fine.

Hmm that's what I was thinking.

We live in a timber cladding house and I wouldn't want to come home and find out that the place has burnt down because the TV appeared to be fine but was just a fire bomb waiting to explode.

If the TV is marginally old, i'd get rid of it for safety sake. If you have the wherewithal, they 'can' be opened and cleaned inside. But be very careful,they have capacitors that can carry a charge for a 'long' time after being unplugged. I'd leave it disconnected for 24 hours before grabbin' a screwdriver...:eek:

Even 24 hours is not enough for some of them. By the way, some roaches love to eat the insulation in tv's. Learned about that in North Carolina when I lived there. Also, there is about 50,000 to 70,000 volts in the flyback. It will ruin a persons day!

The TV is a 59cm SONY about 6 years old cost about AUD$1000 so am no looking to just ditch it.

I think I'll book it to my local TV doctor for a check up.