How To Discharge An Arcade Game Monitor (The Phillips Gameroom: Episode - 15)

In this detailed video Andrew Phillips shows how to properly, and safely discharge a vintage arcade game CRT monitor. Failure to discharge an arcade game monitor can result in serious injury, or even death...BE CAREFUL.
DISCLAIMER:
The individual featured on the Phillips Vision UA-cam Channel identified as Andrew Phillips, also known as Andy Phillips is not a professional mechanic, contractor or certified repairman. He does not have any formal training in the automotive field, or any other trade. He is strictly a Do It Yourself handyman.
Phillips Vision, or the individuals featured on this channel, assume no liability for anything you choose to do to your vehicles, appliances, games or any other items featured in the videos before, or after watching one of the videos or utilizing the content from this channel.
All Do it Yourself (DIY) repairs or modifications you perform are at your own risk. In some cases, even if you perform everything properly, you can destroy or damage one or more things you are working on resulting is costly repairs.
In addition, if for some reason, the instructions on this channel are incorrect, resulting it something becoming damaged, Phillips Vision and those featured on this channel WILL NOT reimburse or pay in any way the costs that may be incurred due to following wrong instructions.
PLEASE DO NOT PERFORM ANYTHING SHOWN ON THIS CHANNEL (PHILLIPS VISION) UNLESS YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE AND CONFIDENT TO DO SO.

[@abrahamvalentin3225]

Thank you for your safety tip on how to discharge it this is my first time actually attempting this and yes I was nervous but it was already discharged when I checked since it hasn’t been powered on in years but I do now feel safer in doing this. Thank you I subscribed too :)

[@MatthewCalcote]

I survived, would recommend this video

[@araz1977]

Thank you for this video. It's great to know how to do things the safe and correct way...

[@lookitskazzy]

Love the chicken stick. Wrapping the screwdriver handle in electrical tape works but I also feel safer using a chicken stick. Just buy a cheap plunger and use the handle from that.

[@vcpd]

Just bought my first arcade cabinet. 1981 ms Pac-Man. Any other safety tips I should know? The high voltage scares me

[@PhillipsVision]

@@vcpd nothing to worry about as long as you discharge it properly

[@hsn10]

Shouldn't be metal chassis connected to protective earth? If you unplug it from socket earth will disconnect as well and charge will go to path with least resistance.

[@Sonyman34]

Just the same if i was replacing the crt with a lcd, i still would need to do correct?

[@PhillipsVision]

On the crt …yes

[@picklerism]

Do you leave the unit plugged into the wall (with the switch off!!!) when you discharge the unit?

[@PhillipsVision]

No, unplug the game before doing anything

[@picklerism]

@@PhillipsVision So how does the voltage discharge to ground if the unit isn't plugged in?

[@chriskaprys]

@@picklerism I struggled with these concepts, too. I'll try framing this a few different ways and hopefully one will help point you in the right direction, simplifying not to be condescending but to help the ideas stick.
It may be helpful to think of "ground" as a destination for stored-up energy. More of a principle regarding potential energy than something that specifically exists in a wall outlet. You could say that ground is where the stored energy *isn't*, so it's a reference to how much stored energy there *is*.
The monitor chassis can be ground, so can your body, so can the third hole in the wall outlet.
In the case of the ground that's in the wall outlet, that's designed as a safety feature, basically so electrical energy that's found a way out of its intended circuit will (hopefully) end up taking that path instead of your body.
Not a great analogy, but maybe think of a rubber band, loose and floppy, as ground ... then pull back on the rubber band and hold it, so you've filled it with potential energy, like voltage. Ground is like the state of equilibrium that the rubber band under tension is trying to get back to. So "discharging voltage to ground" has more to do with controlling the rubber band as it releases the stored up energy on its way to being loose again.
Think of static electricity, how your feet rubbing on a carpet or clothes rubbing on a car seat builds up charge, potential energy, and the next metal object you touch you get a small shock. That conductive metal object you touched "grounded" the potential energy, the static charge, by giving it a destination to discharge into.
So it doesn't need to come from the wall outlet. Electricity is everywhere. The kind that comes from an outlet is simply harnessed and contained as a resource that we can put to work. And even after pulling the plug, there can still be energy stored that's waiting for a path to discharge into.
In the case of these arcade monitors (and microwaves and other devices), even after unplugging them from the outlet, the components inside can still retain huge amounts of potential energy. A capacitor, for instance, is designed to store energy and release it at a certain rate (like a battery) once given a path to do so. Whereas the chassis, although conductive metal, is not designed to store energy. So when you connect a capacitor full of energy to the ground plane (chassis), this provides a path for the stored energy to travel along (instead of your body). The metal chassis isn't storing the charge, isn't like a battery, so the energy can discharge and dissipate. The potentially-fatal rubber band under tension, as it were, is now loose again, and all the energy it released went somewhere other than your body.
Hope that helps. 👍

[@chrischwaz7788]

Is it the tube holding a charge or are the wires going to the tube coming from a large capacitor

[@PhillipsVision]

Awesome, glad it helped👍

[@darksatanau2893]

The tube holds the charge under the anode cap. Holds about 20,000 to 30,000 volts I believe depending on the monitor