Posted by Bob Myers on 11/07/07 21:40

<panteltje@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1194441321.752773.311000@57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com...
> No, I doubt that, as I mentioned electrolytic capacitors, solder
> joints
> due to thermal stress, all have a shorter life.
> It depends a bit on how you define 'life' in this case,
> a bit less brightness from CRT phosphors is easily compensated by
> a bit more drive (say contrast) and or brightness.

Good point; I'm using "life" in the sense of what ultimately
winds up taking ALL monitors out of service - i.e., not
just those factors that would come up in the sort of failure
that would cause the unit to be serviced and then returned
with more useful life left in it. In other words, look at the
history of all monitors in the field, including both the relatively
early "hard failures" AND what ultimately causes the unit
to leave useful service.

Individual electrolytics, while they're certainly not among
the most long-lived of components, aren't really all that
bad in terms of MTBF IF they are not subjected to
excess thermal or electrical stress (i.e., I'm assuming a
reasonably conservative design). But I would certainly agree
that they (along with the horizontal output transistor that
someone else mentioned) definitely contribute to their share
of monitor/TV failures, esp. in designs that are...ummmm...
shall we say less than optimally designed? :-)

> I do notice, as some other poster also remarked, that I
> need to run the the Samsung LCD at zero to 30 percent
> brightness, as it is extremely bright (indoors, artificial light).
> Maybe running the CFL tubes at <= 30% will extend their life, wait and
> see.

Well, it certainly can't hurt. Like CRTs, CCFLs are
basically producing light via phosphors, and are subject
to many of the same aging factors.

Bob M.

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