CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[Sparky015]

did you hookup all the ground straps, including the aquadags ( 2 long leads that are at that very top of your pic above)?

[dvh99]

maybe the tube cracked while installing and is not vacuum anymore.
i always put the 2 aquaducts on while holding the neck card in my hand because some pressure is required putting them on, same goes for the white ribbon cable below the rca connector and the rca connector.
when these are on i put the neck card on the tube and connect the remaining 2.

[Francesco]

Yes, I connected all the ground straps and the two aquadags (the two cables with the blue plastic cover, right?).
I did the procedure without the back covers shown in this picture http://www.curtpalme.com/images/MarqueeTeardown_39.jpg so the blue ground strap path was not like neck board -> back cover -> big back heatsink but it was like neck board -> heatsink. It should be the same, but I'm not 100% sure.

If the tube cracked I should have heard a CRACK!, right?

[dvh99]

inspect the glass around the pins to look for cracks.

[Francesco]

I'll look this friday, I only have access to the pj during the weekends (it's in my girlfriend's house).
Any other controls that I can do?

By the way, what is the easiest/most safe way to remove and reinstall a tube?

[Francesco]

I checked and the tube seems ok, I gently pushed in the neckboard (maybe it was not 100% inserted) and tried to power up... still getting sparks but this time from where the hv cable enters in the tube (don't know the correct name, sorry)

what can I check? do you think I brok something?

bye
Francesco

[Sparky015]

Did you remove the HV leads when you changed the tubes? If you did then check for tears in the boot that are allowing high voltage to arc to the magnetics. Once you find the hole, get some good silicone caulk / RTV with a high voltage breakdown spec, and pot the boot.

If you didn't remove the HV leads, then it's hard to tell. Since your talking an 8000, the leads could be cracked, or the HV dust could be causing an electrical path to ground. Give them a good cleaning.

[Francesco]

Hi Paul, I only removed the red HV cable from the splitter but did not remove che cable itself from the tube, if that's what you mean. I'll try to clean it.
By the way, after powering up I noticed a light coming from the very center of the tube socket, it's the black circle black in this image:



is it normal?

What I don't understand is why the tube is giving problems, as it worked good before removing. After reinstalling it started giving sparks... I tried to follow the guide and checked everything, and now it doesn't work. Evil tube!

[Sparky015]

Franscesco, the light is normal. That is the filament heater. Check the HV lead for any type of crack, and give it a good cleaning. That dust you may see on it is conductive. The only other thing I can think of to check is to reseat the neck board and make sure you didn't bend any tube pins when you reinstalled it.

[Francesco]

There was some black dust and I tried to clean it with a cloth, but I'm still getting sparks.
I think that the problem is the age of the tube, the hv lead or the silicone could be damaged. I can try with the new tube, but I fear that those sparks could damage the new tube...

[draganm]

[Francesco]

Dragan, thank you for your reply. The old blue tube looks exactly like the one on the right in your picture.
This is the new one, I think it could have the same problem:




Sorry for the bad pic, iPhone works bad with low light. If you need it I can ask my girlfriend to take a better pic, but I'm 99% sure that it chould have the same problem.

[Francesco]

Is there a way to "soft-mod" the hv cables to make them look like this? (img taken from a buy-sell thread, too bad I already have a complete set, those are beautiful!)



Could the transparent sleeve be useful?

[Sparky015]

first thing, make sure that's where your arc is coming from. Strange that now all of a sudden it's arcing, but I can tell you as a former 8000 owner, that the HV leads will develop leaks over time. with the lights off, can you see where the arc is taking place? Have you checked the tube pins that they weren't damaged when you seated the neck board?

Those clear sleeves give added protection, but htey are there for more abrassion portection than anything else. Curt has some I think for sale, so e-mail him if you want to change the HV leads all together. First find out where the leak is though. Horse before the cart!

[Francesco]

I only saw, with lights on, a spark where the red cable joins the boot (the black round "suction cup", right?). It's the place marked as "leak point" in your picture. Before that I had a spark in the middle of the neck board, but after removing and gently reseating it the spark moved to the boot. Could the arc be coming from somewhere else? What could I see with lights off?
Sorry for the stupid questions and for abusing your patience, but I'm new to this kind of devices...

[draganm]

[Francesco]

I also hope that the boards do not get damaged with this problem...

[Sparky015]

The more it arcs, the better the chance it will take out a board. I had a bad arc that took out two HDMs, so what ever you do, make sure you fix it before powering it back up since you know where the arc is coming from.

[dvh99]

hey 450 including shipping to italia
te tubes show absolutely no wear

[Francesco]

I know my friend, I know... that's exactely what I paid for my other set of tubes.
Do you want to make a change?

I'll offer you a great typical dinner when you'll come to Italy