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Modding Monitors?

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adovbs

Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2002
Location
Texas
Hi,

I've seen a lot of threads where people here are sharing cool case and keyboard modding techniques, but not much about modding those ugly, plain vanilla monitors. Is modding monitors a bad idea? What about just finishing them to match the modded case? Anyone ever taken the guts out of a monitor and put it into something un-monitorish? Ideas? Real Life Stories?

Adovbs
 
well i dont have a real life story,but, you could changes the led, put a fan on it, paint it, and make the button jet fighter switches, that would be pretty cool, i just put a buncha stickers of things i liked on mine, a pink monitor would look pretty rad. good idea mod a monitor
 
Monitors are a rare one to mod out. The main reason why is most of us are buying the larger 19"+ in size. So in turn, they still have warrenty, etc. Then you also have the fact that if you screw it up. Your out. Period. So in turn your screwing yourself out of a good 200 plus bucks. Granted, some could on some easier than others. But standardly most stay away. I have been tempted to try a few things out but there is no way in **** that I will do it on my primary monitor. I just dont know enough about them to risk it. However, I do have a few extras here that Im tempted too. Just havent had the time due to finishing up my 3 year case mod/water rig/water block/etc. Its taken me so long due to living in apartments until recently. But once I get this done and start making plans on my next, I might take the time to try something out on an older one here.

*EDIT*

WOOHOOOO 1400 posts :D
 
be careful I painted my current monitor metallic silver, and I never knew how dangerous they were....enough voltage in there to give you a proper *** whippin...you could die too....I cant stress enough to be careful...but I think it would look hella cool if you could do it....

have 911 on speed dial
 
yup life threathning is what comes to mind when modding mods. Even afters years those things can still blast you.
I watched a video about computer safety. Somewhat of a sleeper, lots of hardware handling techniques but woke me up was a guy that was playing with a monitor. He opened it up and n the back I guess he touched the vaccum and he literally was thrown back 4 yards. CRAZY!!!!
Yeah so anyway not to scare you into not doin but... yeah be safe... any modding safety always first!!!
 
I'll be a third on the safety. There's a capacitor that packs about 25 to 35 thousand volts. And to think that that guy only flew 4 yards is amazing. I've seen a guy go through a wall. It's not something to mess with. And the charge that is inside these capacitors doesn't disappear when the powers off. It stays inside the capacitor. If you do open the case you'll see a big suction cup over the big tube, that's where the voltage lies. The big red wire coming out of the back leads to a device called a flywheel (i think), and it holds some capacitors to that are dangerous. And then of course there is the power supply on the bottom that holds a little charge itself, it's enough to bite ya, but i'm not sure how hard.

Basically if your gonna do an exterior mod, then i'll be glad to see some pics, but if your puttin your hands inside the monitor, you might want to read up and just where all the capacitors are and get a grounding tool. You may want to ask around some local electronic shops. Just tell them you need a grounding tool for releasing 25-35 KiloVolts from a capacitor.

Just be careful man, i don't wanna see an RIP sign next to your name. We're here to mess with computers, not risk our lives, just a little heads up for ya.

Oh, and while we're on the subject, your power supply in your computer has these capicitors too.
 
Cluster said:
I'll be a third on the safety. There's a capacitor that packs about 25 to 35 thousand volts. And to think that that guy only flew 4 yards is amazing. I've seen a guy go through a wall.

Cluster, are you saying that you have actually witnessed first hand someone thrown through a normal wall from touching a capacitor inside a monitor? If so, please provide details. What were the circumstances? Was the monitor on or off? Plugged in or not? If not, how long had it been unplugged? etc. I'm interested because despite everyone saying how deadly monitors are, it's extremely rare to find anyone who has witnessed and actual injury from one.

It's not something to mess with. And the charge that is inside these capacitors doesn't disappear when the powers off. It stays inside the capacitor. If you do open the case you'll see a big suction cup over the big tube, that's where the voltage lies. The big red wire coming out of the back leads to a device called a flywheel (i think), and it holds some capacitors to that are dangerous. And then of course there is the power supply on the bottom that holds a little charge itself, it's enough to bite ya, but i'm not sure how hard.

This sounds like BS. You think it's called a flywheel? You don't know how much power is inthe power supply? The suction cup has the huge power? How can you know so little about the workings of the monitor and yet be so confident that theyre deadly and have seen someone thrown through a wall by one? If you have information, then please share it. If you don't have information then please don't contribute to the hysteria by making it up. And for the record, in a properly functioning monitor, the capacitors will drain off when it's unplugged. The don't drain instantaneously, but they drain pretty quick. Yes, it's possible for them to retain the charge, but it's not standard.

Basically if your gonna do an exterior mod, then i'll be glad to see some pics, but if your puttin your hands inside the monitor, you might want to read up and just where all the capacitors are and get a grounding tool. You may want to ask around some local electronic shops. Just tell them you need a grounding tool for releasing 25-35 KiloVolts from a capacitor.

Just be careful man, i don't wanna see an RIP sign next to your name. We're here to mess with computers, not risk our lives, just a little heads up for ya.

Oh, and while we're on the subject, your power supply in your computer has these capicitors too.

Yes, by all means be careful when working with electronics. Any piece of elctronics that runs on household current can contain deadly voltage. Monitors are especially dangerous because they contain even higher voltages. Always take precautions, and always get as much information as you can before proceeding. But frankly, most of the hysteria surrounding monitors is, IMHO, just that - hysteria.

nihili
 
I'd like to thank everyone for their suggestions (and cautions).

My personal interests in modding a monitor have more to do with painting it to match whatever I end up doing to my case. I was simply curious about what kinds of monitor mods, if any, anyone else has accomplished. I've seen so many extreme case modding posts in this area, that I figured if a monitor mod could be done, someone here has probably already done it. ;)

I am well aware that a residual charge is carried by both monitors and TVs, and plan to be very careful if and when I ever open the case on one. My son is a computer tech, and has experience repairing monitors and televisions, so I plan to borrow his testing equipment and consult with him and others (including someone else in my family who is, among other things, an electronics engineer) on how long to let the charge bleed away and on what not to touch when I take the case off to be painted.

So, yes, of course I will be careful. I am having a lot of fun right now and I'm not in any hurry to have it ended prematurely. ;)

Adovbs
 
I have seen a crt (the pointy thing on the end of the moniter) grab hold of someone. he was trying to discharge it with a screwdriver and his hand was too close to the shaft. it had been setting unplugged for a couple days. it instantly welded the screwdriver to the terminals and threw him on the ground:eek: . luckly he diden't recieve the full brunt of the discharge or he could easyly have been killed. btw i was helping out in a small electronics shop at the time and the guy was fired on the spot. (improper discharge tecneque) if you want to do this take it to a shop that is equiped to discharge crts and capaciters and have them open it up and discharge them. it is not something for an amituer to attempt. after they do that you should be ok untill you fire it up again.
 
HOLY CRAP

It's not often you realize how dangerous something is you've done, and how easily you could have died. Just about a month ago, I was using a really dark monitor, and a friend told me on some monitors you could open it up, and turn the brightness wheel farther than normally (like removing the metal cap on a lighter and making the flame really big :) ). So I turned it off, unplugged it and opened it up. Fresh from the socket, and poked around in there. NEVER DOING THAT AGAIN. As a matter of fact, I don't think I'll be removing the case again. It seems easy to damage a scree nanyeay. The motherboard thingy in there is really flimsey without a case on and would probably break off.
 
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I painted my monitor black to match the rest of my system. Looks nice. Time to redo it though, getting some scratches.:mad:
 
Hey guys, I worked inside my monitor just fine. Click the link in my sig to see how I cooled it off.

nihili is right. I think a lot of the stigma surrounding the danger level of working inside a monitor is only there because it's not done much and, unlike computer cases, there is a small hazard of electric shock. I don't like to see this quasi-knowledge proliferate so here are a few things to consider:

The high voltage transformer is called a flyback transformer. That is the term for the type of circuit that produces the high frequency AC before it gets stepped up to the 20+ kilovolts that goes to the second anode, which is a large metal shield inside the picture tube that the thick red wire and suction cup attach to. There are some capacitors in this circuit, just like any power supply, but the circuit also has bleeder resistors that are designed to rapidly drain the charge in the caps once the power goes off. Hear those clicks when you turn on the monitor and when it comes out of standby? Those are relays that cut the bleeder resistors in and out of the circuits as they turn on and off.

Unplug your monitor, wait 5 minutes, then you will be perfectly safe. If you're really nervous then take a screwdriver, wrap a bare wire around the shaft and connect the wire to a ground like your PC chassis or the screw on an electrical outlet. Then touch the tip of the screwdriver to anything you are wary of inside the case. You can easily perform many modifications to your monitor, just use common sense and do not be scared off. Have fun!
 
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just something to think about. i almost painted my 19" monitor orange, to match my case. then i built a clear case, and bought an lcd. so now i'm trying to sell my monitor, and i am sure glad i didn't paint it orange.

so if you don't plan on selling it ever, or can make it look even better than before, i say go for it. I would probably not feel comfortable opening one up though
 
i don't understand how a person could be thrown thru a wall when the highest the voltage could be is what is coming thru the wall or the outlet. My dad was once working in our basement with a saw and he accidentaly sawed thru the cord that was powering the saw. The cord flew off the wable with the raw wire end while the other end was plugged into the wall. The end touched my dad on the arm and gave him a shock and a little burn but nothing terrible. How could power coming strait from the wall do less damage than something inside a monitor that also came strait from the wall. His story seems pretty odd to me.
 
dragon orb 3 said:
i don't understand how a person could be thrown thru a wall when the highest the voltage could be is what is coming thru the wall or the outlet. My dad was once working in our basement with a saw and he accidentaly sawed thru the cord that was powering the saw. The cord flew off the wable with the raw wire end while the other end was plugged into the wall. The end touched my dad on the arm and gave him a shock and a little burn but nothing terrible. How could power coming strait from the wall do less damage than something inside a monitor that also came strait from the wall. His story seems pretty odd to me.

Capacitors can build up a charge over time and then release it all at once. The overall energy released isn't any more than what it takes in, obviously, because energy doesn't create itself (outside of a nuclear reaction, of course) from nothing. A short, intense burst of energy from a charged capacitor would be much more intense than the slow, gradual current that charged it and could potentially do much more damage to the human body than the charging current because of it's intensity and the effect it would have on the heart and nervous system.

You are right to be skeptical, however. The components inside a monitor are (nearly) incapable of storing a charge strong enough to do something like that and the chances of them being able to deliver it to the human body in such a way as to throw the hapless tinkerer through a nearby wall are virtually nonexistent.

MONITOR DANGERS: DON'T BUY THE HYPE!
 
you are right in saying that a shock from a moniter probibly won't throw you through a wall. but as i stated i have witnessed someone getting shocked by a moniter. as for the bleeder circuits those are fairly new and many older moniters do not have these. i am not trying to say do not open your moniter or you'll die. i am just makeing sure people are cauious when opening anything with caps and crts. oh and have you ever sen a telsa coil in action? many people who build those use CRTs from tvs and moniters for the HV needed to make them work.
 
Yes, and tesla coils, like CRT monitors, use extremely high voltages at very low currents...microamperes in fact...far less than fatal. On top of this, tesla coils also generate very high radio frequencies, which travel over skin instead of through organs so they only pose a danger of burns, not electrocution. The shock you can get from a CRTs second anode supply, while direct current and theoretically more dangerous, just rivals a strong static shock and only poses a danger to people with pacemakers or cardiac conditions as it's current is very low.
 
donny_paycheck said:
Yes, and tesla coils, like CRT monitors, use extremely high voltages at very low currents...microamperes in fact...far less than fatal. On top of this, tesla coils also generate very high radio frequencies, which travel over skin instead of through organs so they only pose a danger of burns, not electrocution. The shock you can get from a CRTs second anode supply, while direct current and theoretically more dangerous, just rivals a strong static shock and only poses a danger to people with pacemakers or cardiac conditions as it's current is very low.

It's not the Amperes the monitor will draw that is the problem. It's the amount of Amperes YOU will draw. Amperage is relative to resistance, the more resistance, the more Amperage. The discharge in voltage will be the same regardless (basic Ohm's law). What someone can shrug of, may kill someone else. Like anything ealing with electricity, be careful, and take all the necessary precautions. For anyone to go around and say
MONITOR DANGERS: DON'T BUY THE HYPE!
is reckless. Most likely you can play around inside your monitor without anything happening, but on the off chance that you're you're the 1 in 1,000,000 that something does happen to, do you want to be the person going around warning people and showing pics of your amputated digits as proof? Do what you feel is within your ability, and never let anyone goad you into something you don't FULLY know the consequences of.
 
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