Replacing The Red Gun?

[David Meek]

How difficult is it to replace one (specifically the red one) of the guns in an RPTV?

[Kevin P]

I wouldn't recommend CRT replacement as a DIY task, if you don't know what you're doing, as it is difficult and potentially dangerous, for the following reasons:

1. CRTs are charged to 20-30,000 volts. Enough to kill you if you touch something that is charged.
2. CRTs are glass with a hard vacuum inside. If it breaks, it can cause serious injury.
3. Even after figuring out how to disconnect the CRT, remove the yoke, astigmatism and positioning magnets, and reattach everything to the new CRT, it's tricky to adjust all those things correctly so the new CRT works properly.

If you don't have training and experience in this sort of thing, I would recommend calling in a tech to do the job.

EDIT: Can you tell more of your problem? In TTP you said the screen was all red. How bright was it? The CRT might be ok, it could be the drive circuit that's toast. Red guns are more resistant to burn than green/blue guns, and if it was all red, it wouldn't be uneven so it could be adjusted out once the problem that led to the all-red screen is fixed.

[Shane Martin]

After watching the guys at the repair shop I worked at I would whole heartedly agree with Kevin.

[David Meek]

Thanks guys, I was afraid the answer was going to be something like that.

I was leaving the house this morning, glanced into the theater room and saw a red screen on the Pioneer. The last user left it on with no input signal and fried the red gun, I think. Oh, joy.

[David Meek]

What makes it REALLY irritating is that we sold the RPTV with the Houston house, and I was planning for a nifty new toy for the Orcas Island house. Some of my "discretionary money" now has to go into fixing the Pioneer. Oh, it's a Pro Elite 610. Older yes, but still a beautiful picture. Well, it WAS anyway. :roll:

I haven't tried to run a picture through it yet to see if it's the amp. I'll do that as soon as I get home this evening.

[George Bellefontaine]

Gee, that sucks, Tex. Don't know how long you've had the PioneerTV but another problem may emerge when you just replace the red only gun. It will likely be brighter than the red and blue guns.

[David Meek]

Uh oh. Is there a way to compensate for that?

[George Bellefontaine]

Not sure, Tex. Perhaps by cutting back on the Red gain and bias settings may compensate, but that would have to be done by someone with proper equipment so that you get the proper grayscale. Sorry, didn't mean to alarm you. But my son is a tech in the broadcast and large venue projection field and once told me they usually replace all guns when one goes on an older front projector, but maybe RPTVs are different.

[spirited]

In my experience David, if your screen is all red, it's probably not the red gun.I agrre with Kevin when he says it might be one of the 2 drive circuits or (STK ICs) they are standard in almost every RPTV. If I'm right you will still need to call a technician to replace one or both of the ICs, and he'll also have to redo the convergence to adjust the color balance.


Added by Lex: Read Lex's comments below this post before following the following advice:

***Before you call a technician, you could perform a simple test. Remove the back cover of your TV, and place your hand over every gun without touching them. If your hand turns red, green, and blue you can be sure it's a problem with one of the IC's

Just my experience

Larry

[Lex]

don't remove back panel of Elite!!! The mirrors rest on the back panel, and if you remove it, your screwed.

You have to work from the front side, those panels are removable.

[David Meek]

That's Good To Know!!!! 8O

No, this is going to be a technician job all the way.

[David Meek]

When I got home I powered things up - the red was still there - and threw a DVD in. The DVD showed on the screen, but it obviously had a strong red tint.

[David Meek]

Got the 610 back from the shop Friday afternoon. It turned out that the red gun and an I/C were kaput. I played a couple of DVDs through it Saturday and Sunday just as a warm-up, and then sat down to watch my new copy of Kingdom Of Heaven. It may not have been the best choice as it has a rather stylized color palette for good portions so it was hard to judge how much tweaking I'll have to do. Now, where'd I put my Digital Video Essentials DVD?

[George Bellefontaine]

Got the 610 back from the shop Friday afternoon. It turned out that the red gun and an I/C were kaput.

Sheesh, bad enough the red gun was cooked, but the I/C, too ! Anyway, it will be interesting to see what has to be adjusted. Play something in black and white to see how much off the grayscale is. Do the reds seemed brighter than other elements in a color picture ? Will you be keeping this RPTV or selling it before you move to Orca Island ?

[David Meek]

George, it's going the way of the dodo bird. :later: The Orcas house is just too small, so I'm looking at something along the lines of a 50" plasma.

[George Bellefontaine]

50" plasma sounds really nice. Best wishes, Tex.