[HN Gopher] Did I destroy my friend's TV with a magnet? (2022)
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       Did I destroy my friend's TV with a magnet? (2022)
        
       Author : reqo
       Score  : 6 points
       Date   : 2024-01-03 19:00 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.fleet.org.au)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.fleet.org.au)
        
       | kamilner wrote:
       | There's a throwaway comment in here about the earth's magnetic
       | field affecting CRTs and turning the TV upside down, is that
       | actually true? I would have thought the earth's magnetic field
       | would be incredibly weak in comparison to the deflecting coils.
        
         | db48x wrote:
         | Correct, the field of the Earth is weak and won't mess up the
         | image on the TV.
        
           | degauss wrote:
           | Incorrect.
           | 
           | The earth's magnetic field definitely affects Cathode Ray
           | Tubes and many other things.
           | 
           | High end CRT computer monitors came with a built in
           | degaussing system and some had controls for aligning the R,G
           | & B electron beams.
           | 
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degaussing
           | https://hackaday.com/2016/05/25/wtf-is-degaussing/
           | 
           | From personal experience, I took a 20" Sony Trinitron from
           | Los Angeles to New Zealand in the mid 90's. the reversal in
           | the Earth's magnetic field between the northern and southern
           | hemisphere's meant I could never completely get the RGB guns
           | to line up correctly.
           | 
           | https://www.webopedia.com/insights/monitorhemispheres/
        
             | cardiffspaceman wrote:
             | I used to move 20-inch CRTs around in the office and have
             | to degauss them. But stationary ones also needed this and
             | the built-in coil was great.
        
         | TheBigSalad wrote:
         | I've had TVs move room to room and face a different direction
         | and need to be fixed with a degaussing coil. I'm told it's from
         | the Earth's magnetic field. Could also be that they were next
         | to other TVs (arcade machines in this case).
        
       | lukev wrote:
       | Is it just me, or does the article not actually answer the
       | question in the title? It explains the components well, and how a
       | magnet distorts the image, but does not describe _which_
       | component is capable of being permanently altered by an external
       | magnetic field.
       | 
       | Is it the phosphor coating? The deflecting coils? Some sort of
       | static field in the glass?
        
         | db48x wrote:
         | A magnet will bend the electron beams, but that isn't
         | permanent. A permanent color change made by a magnet only
         | happens by imposing a magnetic field on a metallic component of
         | the monitor, so that the beam is always deflected by it. One
         | component not shown in that diagram is the shadow mask, which
         | divides the screen into discrete dots to be activated by the
         | electron beams. This is a very thin piece of metal (or a grid
         | of thin wires in certain cases) that is easily magnetized.
        
           | joezydeco wrote:
           | And can be repaired, most of the time, with a degaussing
           | coil.
           | 
           | https://youtu.be/3pVLizAHby4
           | 
           | There was a time with some of these larger TVs and monitors
           | where a coil was built into the frame and would energize
           | briefly on power up, or with the push of a button on the
           | control panel.
        
             | lukev wrote:
             | Oh yes, I well remember the "degauss" button on CRT
             | monitors. We had one where it was basically a mini EMP and
             | would make the images on nearby monitors quiver as well.
             | Fun times.
             | 
             | I know a magnetic field was being retained _somewhere_ ,
             | just wasn't sure which component it was.
        
           | lopis wrote:
           | I can't believe the author skipped this part. I felt terrible
           | unsatisfied with the article. Thank you!
        
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       (page generated 2024-01-03 23:02 UTC)