So the TV is still broken(ish) but I?m still adamant that I?m going to fix it myself. I could get someone to come around and have a look at it but why pay money for someone else to have all the fun of making it work again when I can get just as much enjoyment trying to get it going myself.
I?ve been doing quite a lot of research into how the degausser works on TVs and why mine isn?t doing the job.
?Degaussing is the process of decreasing or eliminating an unwanted magnetic field? ? Wikipedia
From what I understand there are magnetic fields everywhere which can interfere with your TV/monitor and everytime you turn your TV the degausser kicks in and recalibrates the screen by causing a magnetic field inside the tube to oscillate rapidly with decreasing amplitude until everything is hunky dory. As I said this works for everyday magnetic interference but when your TV gets effected by a powerful magnet, etc, which I?ve decided is what happened to mine, then the inbuilt degausser simply doesn?t have enough power to recalibrate the screen. Simply leaving the TV for a day and then turning it on simply doesn?t work.
The solution is to get a more powerful degausser, a degaussing coil, which is actually quite hard to get hold of. I?ve eventually ordered mine from Hong Kong (gulp!), which will mean that it?ll be some very cheap equipment (cost me £10 all in), but as it?s in effect just a bundle of wires tightly wound and with electricity passed through it, then I don?t think they can get it too wrong (I hope).
Instructions for degaussing this way is too hold the degausser next to the TV screen and switch it on and then slowly move away from the screen whilst circling it to cover the whole of the screen. Once three or four feet away the screen should be back to normal and then rotate the deguasser so it?s smallest profile is facing the screen and turn it off. Bingo!
An important thing to remember is that degaussers are also used for wiping magnetic recording media such as tapes, floppy discs, and hard-drives, so when using it keep all that stuff away!
I?ll have to wait for the degausser to be delivered which could be up to 30 days but if it actually works I?ll be very happy?.. and if it doesn?t then I?ll have to bite the bullet and get a professional to sort it out.
Excellent, that does sound like fun. What kind of T.V is it?
It?s a CRT flatscreen widescreen model piccy here
Hope it works for you. Let me know which day you?ll be doing it so that I can be out of town in case you end up splitting the atom or something.
I think I need one of these things at work. Every time I go in, some machine breaks down near me. I need to change my electromagnetic field, I think.
Hope it works for you!
Aravis ? Yes I read that on your blog? I think one of these babys could do a lot more harm than good if used wrongly though?
ECR ? see my comment to Aravis?BOOM!
Lol. Why pay some TV repair bloke to come over while you can have fun like this indeed?
And if it doesn?t work, you?ll still have a cool CIA-like tool for wiping people?s hard drives.
But I wouldn?t tell this story when talking to women. They might think you?re, well, strange.