Degaussing coils...how the hell do I use this thing?

well, I have messed around with it and can not get the screen to look like it should and on top of that, as soon as I take my finger off the button it goes right back to the way it was. The only thing I have done that actually gets the screen perfect if putting a speaker in the cab to balance it out, I think I can mount one in there and keep the picture balanced, but would rather figure out this $50 piece of plastic and get this thing fixed.

so....how the hell do I get this thing to work? It came with NO INSTRUCTIONS

it says on it....10 seconds min. and 1 min max.....


advice? anyone have one? Is it too messed up to fix?

thanks!



here's what twobits said...but I can't get it to work

Hold the coil out in front of you and switch it on. Approach the middle of the picture tube as you swing the coil around in a small circle. Wipe it across the face of the tube in slowly widening circles. Take about five circles to get out to the outside perimeter of the screen and back away from the screen slowly as you continue to make big circles. When you have backed up a couple of feet and you are no longer effecting the picture, shut the coil off.

Also wondering if you have a speaker magnet unshielded and close to a motherboard or game...can it mess it up?

have the speakers where they will be perminantly situated, hold the wand close to the crt, switch on and with a circular motion of the wand gradually move it away from the front of the crt, that means walking away maintaining the circular movement, then switch off, it should take no more than 10 seconds.

I have actually done this with a speaker magnet before. I had a speaker sitting on the top of my 13" tv in my room, and it got everything all out of wack over time. So I grabbed an old speaker and did basically what toddy described above. I put the TV on a input w/ no signal(so i got a blank blue screen) and the places that were improperly magnetized were discolored pink or green. I had to stay fairly close to the screen to have much effect (the speaker magnet is not powerful like a wand) also it takes a lot of patience this way. I kept fixing one spot but making it worse elsewhere. Eventually I got it straightened out though! That was a couple of years ago and it still looks good.

cheers,
-DT

*EDIT!!*- Speaker magnets should not be harmful to any PCB as long as there are no magnetic media involved. By this I mean harddrives, tape drives, magnetic strips, etc. Even then I doubt that a speaker magnet would have an effect except maybe over a period of years and in VERY close proximity (like leaving a speaker sitting on a hard drive in a box for 4-5 years). A degaussing coil WILL blank magnetic media listed above, almost instantaneously so take precautions with games that have disk drives like killer instinct or primal rage (yes, this does include the magnetic strip on the credit/atm cards in your wallet).

Shielding for speaker magnets is really to prevent the speakers from picking up stray RF and making pops, crackles, stray truckers on the highway outside your home... - *END EDIT*

Is the voltage to your monitor right? I had a really dim display and an 1/8 of a turn of the knob on my PSU made the problem go away.

I did it like 5 times and as soon as I back away it goes right back like it was. Also, when I am close...the changed color scrolls upwards..

is that normal?

I am emailing the guy back and forth right now and he mentions a possible bent shadow mask....whatever that is....

ideas?

playboycougar said:

Is the voltage to your monitor right? I had a really dim display and an 1/8 of a turn of the knob on my PSU made the problem go away.

Click to expand...

I't not dim, it's off colored on one side....but I messed with the psu knob anyways and no change

NGT said:

I did it like 5 times and as soon as I back away it goes right back like it was. Also, when I am close...the changed color scrolls upwards..

is that normal?

I am emailing the guy back and forth right now and he mentions a possible bent shadow mask....whatever that is....

ideas?

Click to expand...

A bent shadowmask would cause that problem, but its very rare (and usually occurs if the crt has been dropped) will get back to you later with some other ideas

ttooddddyy said:

A bent shadowmask would cause that problem, but its very rare (and usually occurs if the crt has been dropped) will get back to you later with some other ideas

Click to expand...

thanks! I moved the cab around and it got smaller...so I moved it across the garage and it switched sides on the monitor It's MUCH smaller now and over on the other side. The coil and degauss button almost take it out completely but I would still like a 100% fix.

any idea why this would effect it?

Moving the cab when its still warm proves nothing, you would expect the crt purity to alter when its postion is moved because the shadowmask will bend as a result of the earths magnetic flux.

What happens if you let it cool down for 20 mins then switch on in a different location.