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Philips Recalls Almost 12,000 Flat Panel TVs
wh0pper writes "Arcing capacitors have caused Philips to recall select Ambilight flat panel (read plasma) TVs. Because the TVs make use of flame retardant materials, damage was only sustained to the TVs and not homes. This is the first time I've heard of TVs having this type of issue. How safe are LCD and DLP TVs from this type of thing?"
The plasma's leaking all over Engineering Seal off engineering with a level 10 forcefeild and jettison the warp core^W^W TV.
Ever see a CRT go up? A nice big flash followed by some of the worst stench outside of a Linux convention ;)
Seriously, I think the hazard from the toxic chemicals is worse than the danger of something catching on fire.
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"This is the first time I've heard of TVs having this type of issue. How safe are LCD and DLP TVs from this type of thing?"
m puters/philips-plasma-tvs-recalled-306.htm
The source of the problem are fluorescent lights that Philips built into these sets to illuminate the wall behind the display. There is a fix: turn the bulbs off.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/electronics-co
"The recall includes sets with "Ambilight," or ambient light technology that projects a soft glow onto the wall behind the set, to create atmosphere and an enhanced viewing experience, according to the company. If owners turn off the Ambilight feature, the hazard is eliminated."
Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
images so realistic you won't be sure your wall's not on fire.
RTFA, the fires were caused by an arcing capacitor used in the ambilight system. The ambilight system has nothing to do with the plama technology, its just a rear lighting system projected on your back wall to help prevent the weird feeling you get from watching a large image (that and a marketing gimmick). This is more fire cause by a faulty ballast or capacator in a flourecent lighting system in your ceiling.
Sigs? We don't need no stinking sigs!
"WOW Dad.. you were right about HDTV - Those flames in Ladder49 look real!"
The above comments are not guaranteed to make sense to anyone other than the author...
Like most people suffering from frequent headaches, I never watch at a screen (be it TV or computer) without an ambient light. Without, I can be sure to develop a severe migraine after 1 hour of concentrated watch. With a dim light, I can watch TV up to 4 hours without side effects (save brain wash). This sadly apply to theatres too, so I really don't watch a film on a big screen often.
No, it's something you donate by sticking needles in your arm.
Plasma TV methodogy basics.
A Plasma tv has two plates of glass that sandwich panels of cells (the pixels) that house 3 sub-pixels corresponding to the colours blue red and green.
The TV's control circuit can address any of the sub-pixels through the rear glass substrate mounted circuit and pass an electrical charge through neon and xenon gas and as a result, the gas state changes to plasma and ultraviolet light is emitted.
This UV light is absorbed by the blue, red and green phosphors in the cell, and re-radiate the energy in the visible spectrum.
It's fairly old technology, dating back to the '60s.
Isn't science fun?
Someone's been watching too many 90s Spider-man cartoons with Michael Morbius in them. Plasma is something found in blood, but it's also a kind of high energy gas.
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As demonstrated by Mr. LaForge, proper safety protocol when dealing with plasma is the same in the 24th century as today: stop, drop and roll under the door.
Perhaps you should do some reading before spouting off.
3 things about computers: they're alive, they're self-aware, and they hate your guts.
I say BS, because being honest, how many people watch movies with the lights on?
I would prefer to use my monitor with the lights off but some bastard keeps on turning on the sun.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
What is it with people these days, back in my day, I had a 21" black and white console Zenith TV that caught fire once. Yup, one of the wax capacitors arced over and up she went. I blasted it with a dry chemical extenguisher and replaced the bad capacitor with some rolled up wax paper and alumninum foil and she still worked!! Hell, I'd still be using it if Rexall still carried vacuum tubes. The 6U8A that drives the sound went out, and I don't have a glass blowing kit to make a new one. Product safety, hummmpphhh!! Damn yuppies.
Unknown host pong.
At least it's not one of those hazardous TV's with three guns that shoot beta particles at you!!
[Insert pithy quote here]
Well, sometimes caps go.
A few years back, one of the big-two makers of the electrolytic paste put out bad goop for several months. This paste found its way to several manufacturers of high quality capacitors. These caps found their way into PC mobo's, and there was a spate of in-the-field capacitor failures in certain motherboards. Some name-brand makers of high quality mother boards got bit by that one. (My then-employer included.) No flames, though. These caps were being operated entirely within spec, but were fabricated with out-of-spec paste.
Caps that are pushed beyond their ratings will go. Sometimes, their are transient voltages the designer didn't account for that cause caps to be operating beyond their rating.
I remember oh... about 25 years ago when the TI "Silent 700" thermal printing terminal with built-in acoustic modem was the Bee's Knees. No shit, we all coveted those babies. Way better than an ASR33. Anyway, I was working in the cube next door to one guy that was cranking away on a Silent 700. For some odd reason, it was a period of dead silence among the 16 code monkeys in that area. There was a loud *BANG* and then a "Woah" from the user when a fairly large 'lytic released it's magic smoke(*). A rather spectacular amount of smoke, as I recall, since it was a large cap. A memorable occasion.
About 20 years ago at a startup company, we had just gotten the first prototype PC boards for the first product. The boards were the first of the design, using a brand new CAD system tool flow. The entire company (all 16 people) gathered in the lab for the power-on ceremony. Anyway, with the whole company watching, the VP of Eng flips the big red switch, and -- *BANG* -- along with lots of smoke. Now, the engineers were in their glory, fanning the smoke away with notepads and laughing like drunken sailors. The newly hired VP of Finance turned white as a sheet. The Pres. got a frozen smile on his face and mumbled something encouraging. He told me later he was thinking about how much money he could get for the furniture at liquidation. Turns out, with several brand new untried cad tools in the tool flow, the silk screen for one type of electrolytic had the polarity backwards, and so those caps had been stuffed backwards. A trival, but spectacular bug.
And then, in college, after a couple of brews my roomie and I decided to strip out the electrolytic caps from a worthless transistor radio, plug them into the end of an extension cord, and lower them out the window to the room blow, plug in the extension cord, and let them go *BANG* outside the window of the room below. Yes, sometimes caps go.
(*) The magic smoke theory of electronics: All components run on factory inserted magic smoke. This is easy to prove, as sometimes you will see a component rupture and release its magic smoke. It never works again after that. Therefore, all electronic components require magic smoke in order to operate.
It has been determined the real problem is that there is nothing on.
I don't think that term is politically correct.
Shouldn't it be "ignition challenged" material?
Shiny. Let's be bad guys.
I use mine to roast marshmallows...
How safe are LCD and DLP TVs from this type of thing?
If I read the article correct, the products are just as safe as any other product. Caps arcing has been seend for ages and is a "common" problem. Here at work, we got old computers dieing every month due to caps.
Just check out http://www.badcaps.com/
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I'll see if I cn dig up that bulletin tonight but, in a word, not really. The repair involves parts only available from Philips (I spelled it right this time), and I don't think they're going to help you void your own warranty. Besides, most TVs (even plasmas) involve some very, very high-voltage circuits; if you don't know where they are (or what you're doing) then there's an even chance that you will no longer be among the living.
This space for rent!
Although it was Sylvania, not Zenith, that pioneered this idea. And a few years prior to 1957, too...
Beginning in 1952, some of their high-end sets incorporated a feature called "HaloLight", which was an illuminated bezel surrounding the CRT, designed to reduce eyestrain when watching the set in a dark room.
Everything old is new again....
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Wells Gardner (a major player in the arcare monitor business) had to recall several thousand of their units for a similar problem. It turns out that the high-grade capacitors the engineer spec'd for were substituted for cheap parts by a contractor.
Result: 2-inch arcs from the flyback transformer to the capacitor. I have several of the carcasses under my bench, some have holes the size of golf balls burned through the boards.
Women are like electronics: you don't know how damaged they are until you try to turn them on.
Actually, RoHS does allow for some flame retardants deemed safe under those use guidelines. While not knowing exactly what Philips uses for its plastic, since I am a fire safety researcher, I'm betting that they used a polycarbonate + RoHS allowed flame retardant system, or something similar.
Not all flame retardants are banned under RoHS. Many are eliminated under a related code (waste electronic and electical enclosures or WEEE) but not all are banned.
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