Re: bizarre monitor failures

From: General Schvantzkoph (schvantzkoph_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 07/20/04 

Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 09:24:37 -0400

On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 20:46:18 -0700, M Berger wrote:

> Lenard <lenard@127.0.0.1> wrote in message news:<pan.2004.07.19.17.32.28.473730@127.0.0.1>...
>> On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 08:17:46 -0700, M Berger wrote:
>>
>> > pd@phildoddNOSPAMfreeserve.co.uk (Philip Dodd) wrote in message
>> > news:<slrncfmrj2.74.pd@phildodd.freeserve.co.uk>...
>> >> On 18 Jul 2004 19:49:55 -0700, M Berger <berger@speech-graphics.com>
>> >> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> >The strangest thing of all is, both monitors failed on rainy days, and
>> >>
>> >> There is a serious fault with your mains electrical wiring. Call the
>> >> electrical company. Tell them what you've told us, and get them to
>> >> come and run some tests.
>> >>
>> >> Philip Dodd
>> >
>> > You think my electrical supply damaged the monitor? I never thought of
>> > that possibility. Wouldn't I then have a problem with other applicances,
>> > like televisions? Why would it be induced by humidity?
>>
>> Maybe and maybe not. It could be that just the circuit feeding the monitor
>> is the problem, worn or cracked or missing electrical insulation . Or
>> maybe the wall plug where the monitors failed is bad (cracked or old or
>> ??). Add a bit of moisture from the rain (small leak or crack in the
>> wall/roof) or high humidity and condensation (with none or poor/worn out
>> wall insulation) from cooling and/or accumulation can and will cause
>> momentary electrical noise (surges, shorts, high/low power conditions
>> and/or ground loops) on the circuit locally. While the electrical noise
>> would be present in most households/apartments entire electrical system it
>> would be most severe to the appliance(s) closest to the source and less of
>> a problem further away.
>
> Sounds logical. Incidentally, I have other components plugged into the
> same outlet (on the same surge protector) -- including the tower and a
> laptop. So I'm wondering two things:
> 1) If the power supply to this outlet is unstable, why aren't the
> other components affected? Are CRT's just more delicate or susceptible
> to power disruptions?
> 2) Could I be overloading this outlet with these components and could
> that have contributed to the damage?
>
> Thanks,
> Michael

The power supplies in the other components are probably designed to handle
the world wide range of voltages, i.e. for 110V/60Hz to 240V/50Hz so they
are going to be very tolerant of overvoltages. The CRT operates at high
voltages (25KV) so it's using an old fashion transformer rather than a
modern switching power supply. The power supply in the CRT is therefore
less likely to be able to handle a problem with your power.

Have you tried an LCD instead of a CRT?. There isn't much reason to use a
CRT anymore unless you are a graphics professional. An LCD can't be
damaged by the wrong horizontal frequency, doesn't have a high voltage
supply and uses the DVI rather than the VGA connection.

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