Old CRT Monitors

[Homer]

Morning all

 

A properly random request, our Principal has asked if I can source a couple of old CRT monitors... we're a technology UTC and part of something that is going on they basically want to turn a couple of old CRT monitors into plant pots

 

Happy to collect from areas near Watford, if anybody has any dead or alive taking up space in their cupboards

 

Cheers

[mikeprice]

Morning all

 

A properly random request, our Principal has asked if I can source a couple of old CRT monitors... we're a technology UTC and part of something that is going on they basically want to turn a couple of old CRT monitors into plant pots

 

Happy to collect from areas near Watford, if anybody has any dead or alive taking up space in their cupboards

 

Cheers

 

There are always some in the council recycling centres - dunno if they would let you take one away

 

Or try asking on Freecycle/Freegle

[Duranis]

Generally council run recycling centers wont let you take anything.

 

Check if there is a local for sale and wanted facebook group as I'm sure there would be more than one person that has a few stashed away.

[Garacesh]

basically want to turn a couple of old CRT monitors into plant pots

BE VERY, VERY CAREFUL DISASSEMBLING ANY CRT DEVICES!

From what I recall, touching the wrong bits can give you a nasty shock. Some of the capacitors can charge up to over 170 volts and retain that for a very long time. Discharging them can be incredibly risky. Make sure to take any and all available safety precautions.

[Norphy]

BE VERY, VERY CAREFUL DISASSEMBLING ANY CRT DEVICES!

From what I recall, touching the wrong bits can give you a nasty shock. Some of the capacitors can charge up to over 170 volts and retain that for a very long time. Discharging them can be incredibly risky. Make sure to take any and all available safety precautions.

 

That. Very much that. I would avoid buggering about with CRTs entirely.

[pcstru]

BE VERY, VERY CAREFUL DISASSEMBLING ANY CRT DEVICES!

From what I recall, touching the wrong bits can give you a nasty shock. Some of the capacitors can charge up to over 170 volts and retain that for a very long time. Discharging them can be incredibly risky. Make sure to take any and all available safety precautions.

170 V - more like several thousand. High voltage caps also have a nasty little trick similar to memory effect which can mean that even when you discharge the cap, the voltage can creep back up afterwards (so quickly shorting them with a screwdriver can be ineffective). The glass tube in a CRT may itself be in part acting as a capacitor - so don't rely on looking for things that look like capacitors. That said, there is generally very little energy involved so the risk is skewed toward a nasty shock rather than death - assuming you are fit and healthy.

[Garacesh]

170 V - more like several thousand. [...] That said, there is generally very little energy involved so the risk is skewed toward a nasty shock rather than death - assuming you are fit and healthy.

Well realistically, it's the amperage, not the voltage, that kills you, but still.. I'd have to be wearing one of those chainmail-faraday-cage-outfit-things that power line workers wear before I'd even attempt it.. And even then, I'd be wearing the brown pants.

[DalekSec]

So what you are saying is... throw it in the pond 1st to get rid of all the electrickyiry?

[Andrew_C]

But way over here in the real world, so long as it has been off for a while, and you are careful....

 

I've recently got one from Freecycle to wave magnets at to demonstrate the nature of the beams in CRT tubes.

[Jawloms]

So what you are saying is... throw it in the pond 1st to get rid of all the electrickyiry?

 

^^^ This.

[DavePa]

There are always some in the council recycling centres - dunno if they would let you take one away

 

Or try asking on Freecycle/Freegle

 

My local council has recently awarded the waste management contract to a new company so now we have:

 

About a gazillion different containers for different items (there used to be half a dozen or so - hardcore, wood, garden, general, etc.)

More people to stand around and watch you struggle getting the car unloaded

CCTV being introduced to catch people who use the facilities too often

A shop! You get to struggle to a specific area with anything that may have a value and they will sell it for you..well not really for *you* as they keep all of the profits (gotta pay for those people standing around somehow)

 

I became disillusioned with Freecycle after receiving a call from somebody I had given some old computers to - he expected technical support and was quite rude when I said he was on his own! Perhaps I need to look at it again though

[pcstru]

Well realistically, it's the amperage, not the voltage, that kills you, but still..

Ohms law is function of three properties so saying it is the amperage would seem to be as true as saying it is down to your resistance. There is also another dimension to the problem - time, so perhaps it is about power - or maybe not even as simple as that since a cursory read-up about defibrilators suggests they profile the delivery - it's an AC circuit. And then again, it probably depends on how you frame the problem, are we time or frequency domain types? Maybe getting blasted by a high voltage cap is down to an even more fundamental universal force than mere electrickery. Luck!

I'd have to be wearing one of those chainmail-faraday-cage-outfit-things that power line workers wear before I'd even attempt it.. And even then, I'd be wearing the brown pants.

I used to take stuff apart as a kid, including TV's. My parents encouraged this but now I realise they were probably trying to save on the long term food bills.

[davethetekkie]

I used to work for a service company that took on a lot of DSG Panasonic returns for test and repair... The guys there were extremely experienced (most were actually former Panasonic service dept employees from Wakefield before that was closed) and they saw a lot of the big silver CRT TVs...

 

While I was there (repairing vacuum cleaners and microwaves) one day the (properly experienced in a Mr Miyagi kind of a way) guy next to me was servicing a 32" TV and lost concentration for half a second and just caught the back of the bare CRT that hadn't yet been discharged. The guy nearly hit the ceiling with the belt it gave him. Very lucky indeed to come out of it as lightly as he did!

 

Do NOT play with CRTs unless you're absolutely sure of what you're doing!

[southhamster]

+1 that.

I used to work in the Olivetti central repair lab fixing all kinds of kit like PC,s, printers,word processors. There were a couple of chaps who just did monitors and there were occasional bangs followed by curses. One day there was really loud bang and a CRT capacitor had blown up and embedded itself in the ceiling tile.

Put me off repairing CRT,s for some reason.....

[twin--turbo]

Damaging the tube will cause it to implode, with shards of glass going everywhere, and expose some nasty chemicals/gas and not be very environmentally friendly.

 

It will neither implode or explode.

 

TT

[Andrew_C]

Unless you drop it or a similarly dopy thing. Then it would implode.

[Andrew_C]

Who said anything about breaking the tube? Did I miss something stupid?

[Andrew_C]

Oh, if SMT want it, it probably needs to work too.

 

And while I'm here, there's nothing in that wiki article that rules out using the tube as a pot, IF you could cut one without the kabooom!

Lead in glass? There is lead in all glass

Edited May 7, 2016 by Andrew_C