Talk:CRT Repair Cautions

I should have probably named the page "CRT Repair Cautions" to be more in line with my intended purpose of the page.

A bit of background to give context for this page, every time I have made a youtube video where I've worked on a CRT there have been tons of comments saying they will kill you. This is, in most cases, not true and CRTs are no more hazardous to work on than any other mains powered device. This page was intended provide a calmer explanation to dispel that common myth and explain how a CRT works and why the CRT itself is not the killer it is portrayed as. The first word on the page being "DANGER" is very much not what I was trying to achieve. There are of course hazards that need to be avoided when working on a CRT, like many other electronics, but the CRT itself does not pose a lethal threat. And in most cases once you have turned the device off and discharged the CRT the hazards are essentially eliminated.

I like the information about the electrostatic deflection but I would prefer it be a separate section that discusses it on its own merits rather than another warning. Perhaps a better way to organize the information would be to put a paragraph at the top of the page that explains that the farther back you go with CRTs and the more niche you get, the likelihood of encountering the additional hazards becomes. But make it clear that they are not going to be present in every device.

The warning about the exposed chassis is a good one, that while I would rather not be on this page instead of or in addition to a page like Mains Powered Cautions, because the term "CRT" is used interchangeably to mean both the literal tube in the device as well as the device as a whole. Those who don't make a distinction should be warned about it. This should stay as the short description it is now and have a "more info link" like below to more information how how to check for this and how to work on it safely in the full mains power page.

I'm not sure that this is a good place to include the information about CRTs emitting X-Rays and would be better put on a full CRT page since they do not pose a danger when working on the device. If this is a misconception that I am unaware of then perhaps it could be handled like the exposed chassis information with a footnote and link to the main CRT page with more info.

--AkBKukU (talk) 15:04, 7 February 2022 (UTC)


 * Okay I understand better now what this page is trying to accomplish, maybe "CRT Repair Hazard Misconceptions" is a better page name (with a 'not to be confused with the full CRT Monitor mains and all' in the subheading thing), possibly with a parent page "CRT Repair" page with the rest of this info?


 * The use of the 'DANGER' signal word is more of a liability thing hence why you see it printed on the outer shell of CRTs and next to high voltage stickers on the tube. As this Wiki is accessible to anyone and is intended to give guidance on how to do things it should be put somewhere, but I agree not on a page about anode misconceptions.
 * Yes that electrostatic bit isn't very good, I added it after editing that paragraph as I didn't want to redo the whole thing or double the word count again, as you say a distinction further up that this page is about the most common type of modern CRTs is probably best.
 * I agree putting a 'for more info' link about general mains stuff is best, if there's a parent CRT page then it shouldn't be on this one.
 * The stuff about ionizing radiation is something I included because in the past I was always told it was a big thing and always 'never sit close to the TV', but I now know it's barely even detectable on most CRTs (I'm also a little bias to include it due to working in nuclear physics).
 * WizardTim (talk) 16:03, 7 February 2022 (UTC)


 * I'll put a little more effort into this to create a CRT page and mains power page because somewhere to put more generic information is definitely needed. I'll make this a goal before the full site launch because I feel this is a critical section. As those other pages take form I'll see what makes the most sense to rename this page to within the context of everything. I think the "Misconceptions" part would be good for just the anode but I do like the mention of the live chassis since that is a possible thing which and is every bit as dangerous as it sounds. So I think sticking with just cautions or hazards would be preferable and "cautions" is probably the better fit since as a verb it means to serve as a warning.


 * I'm hesitant to split off three more pages for this all being related to CRTs without having significant information to put in them which is why I started out somewhat general here. I think a parent page that is just CRT would serve as both a page for general CRT information as well as CRT repairs since that is the context of the wiki as a whole. I want a page like that as well because I would really like to get some general diagnostics on CRTs documented like how aging high ESR caps would likely cause lines to smear horizontally and an example of what a dislodged shadow mask would look like. For the mains power, I assume there are other things like radios that can have live mains chassis so I feel that would be best served as a separate page with an associated specialty category that could be tagged onto device pages to add a warning with.


 * I get the "The lawyers made me do it" aspect of the warning. I could see putting a warning with Template:Warn up a with more specific non-liability notice that mentions this is a "most cases" thing that doesn't cover malfunctioning hardware or carelessness. I have put something like that in Caps_Wiki:General_disclaimer which is at the bottom of every page, but explicitly stating it here may be prudent.


 * I am not as familiar with electrostatic deflection so if you have more experience on that I would appreciate it being expanded upon here at some point. That's fine if not and I'll try to do some research on it to get up to speed and try to add to it.


 * --AkBKukU (talk) 16:54, 7 February 2022 (UTC)