9 May
2006
9 May
'06
11:26 a.m.
On Monday 08 May 2006 01:38 pm, Eric J Korpela wrote:
I've been thinking about some of my machines that
have built in CRTs.
I'm wondering how best to maximize the lifetime of the CRTs and the
eventual scarcity of replacements. Does a CRT live longest if it is
used often, or if it is left unused, or somewhere in between?
For most of these machines, it would be possible to route the video
signal to an external monitor and disconnect the power from the CRT
itself. The question is would that prolong the life of the CRT?
I read somewhere not all that long ago that leaving vacuum tubes of any sort
sitting idle for long periods of time will tend to result in them getting
"gassy", by comparison with operating them from time to time.
OTOH, a CRT is going to wear eventually in terms of cathode emissions, a
problem that's going to be worse at high current levels (high brightness) and
also in some cases you'll have burn-in on the screen to deal with, though
that's easy enough to get around.
So I'd say that the solution is to run it from time to time, gently.
--
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space, a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed. --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
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Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James
M Dakin