24" Widescreen CRT (FW900) From Ebay arrived,Comments.

jbltecnicspro said:
I’m all ears. Curious to know if the circuit gets hotter at higher refreshes. If not then I’d say you have a point. If only a little I’d still say you have a point. :)
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If these units were still readily available and the crt logistical chain was still up and running I could see myself "playing" around with higher resolutions and refresh rates beyond spec, but since these units are the very last of their kind and will someday in the very near future be gone forever I would follow the advice of someone like Vito. He doesn't give out advice just because; he's a master of his trade and I'm sure he gave it for a reason. Most likely, running these units above specs places undue wear and tear on the electronics.
 
cesarioFL71 said:
If these units were still readily available and the crt logistical chain was still up and running I could see myself "playing" around with higher resolutions and refresh rates beyond spec, but since these units are the very last of their kind and will someday in the very near future be gone forever I would follow the advice of someone like Vito. He doesn't give out advice just because; he's a master of his trade and I'm sure he gave it for a reason. Most likely, running these units above specs places undue wear and tear on the electronics.
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It’s not technically above spec though. And honestly a thermal camera and 30 mins is all we need to verify. My two cents
 
How many of us have a thermal camera? I don't and for me it would be a question of risk vs reward? Why take a chance on shortening the life of your prized crt for what amounts to a questionable benefit?
 
cesarioFL71 said:
How many of us have a thermal camera? I don't and for me it would be a question of risk vs reward? Why take a chance on shortening the life of your prized crt for what amounts to a questionable benefit?
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If your monitor cannot survive 30 mins at max vertical than it was fucked to begin with.

I have access to one! Lol. Why I never thought of this when I HAD the monitors I’ll never know.
 
cesarioFL71 said:
How many of us have a thermal camera? I don't and for me it would be a question of risk vs reward? Why take a chance on shortening the life of your prized crt for what amounts to a questionable benefit?
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I’ve been using my LaCie for almost 10 years at high refresh rate for games

Like I said the monitor wouldn’t let you run high refresh rates if it was bad for the monitor
 
my FW900 show a "out of scan range" OSD message and nothing more if i try to go anything further than 160hz, (even at 161hz) regardless if its within the horizontal scan range , so it seems it symply wont allow to use something that can damage it.

however i agree, based from the age and the natural wear of our CRT monitor that surely have at this point. i believe is better to not to force somethings such high for unecesary long periods, even if so far seem to be working normaly.


age and wear is staring to show their consecuences on many CRT monitors:

my FW900 is doing this freaking GSOD (green screen of death) everytime i turn the monitor ON after being off for some hours (like when turning it ON in the morning) this issue started to happen suddenly, even when my FW900 was not used for about 3 months, and i see this kind of issue is happening on many monitors and killing many GDMs i see suffering from this issue with no fix as it seems so far. :dead:, so far when i turn the monitor on and see that greenish screen for more than 1 second, i inmediately turn off the monitor if it doesnt do it automaticaly, wait a second and turn it again on, so the greenish screen disssapear but who knows whats about to come, i am trying to prepare myself "psychologically" if the day that greenish screen becomes pemanent 😥),
also my compaq 7550 CRT monitor suddently also after being unused for months, got its picture horizontaly narrowed, luckily i was able to fix it by resoldering as many soldier points i was able on its PCB which fortunaty is just one single board.

from sometime ago i started to use my CRTs with reduced brightness (constrast setting for luminance) when i dont game or watch movies and general videos, i believe this would also help reducing their natural wear, also personaly i use my CRTs for desktop usage at 60hz and for many games since 60hz on CRT always have had soft ficker enough to my eyes for even desktop usage and surely it can be healthier for the monitor itself as well, so most of the time i use it at 60hz, i do use higher refresh, 90hz max for some unlocked fps modern games were my system can keep that framerate constant, to my likes i dont see the necesity to user higher than 90hz, to my eyes i hardly note the difference agains higher frecuencies than 90hz on the CRTs, and since CRT dont need such high ridiculous refreshes like 120hz-240hz as modern display need to improve their flaws like poor motion quality, latency, low BFI brightness, more aggresive BFI flicker than CRT, etc,
so i never seen the necessity to use the CRT monitor maximum supported refresh rate.
 
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Not to argue the point. My old G70, when pushed to its limits, clearly was working harder than at lower refresh/scan rates. Direct view displays are different animals altogether but you get the point. Like I said if we had a thermal camera I'd love to see if there's a difference. Maybe there isn't and this is all for nothing. Anyways - not trying to throw shade at you Enhanced Interrogator - sounds like your monitor is still rocking and you love it.
 
FWIW: I lower the contrast and brightness on the input to which my work computer is connected. And soon as I stand up from my desk I switch on the screen saver. (One with mostly black, e.g., "Mystify", but not completely black which I heard is damaging to a CRT.)

This is still the highest rate I was able to run it at 100 Hz:
454080_FW900.png

(Was created with GTF timings.)

Interesting as appeared to be slightly over spec. Was just an experiment. I don't run that. As I also worry about stressing the display, because of the analogy to cars. Though I don't know if that's actually a thing or not as far as CRTs go...
 
Hehe…I’m always considering replacement options. I mean how long do we really expect our FWs to last? I only use mine for my gaming PC, and that sometimes doesn’t even see usage for a few weeks, but still.
 
Flybye said:
Hehe…I’m always considering replacement options. I mean how long do we really expect our FWs to last? I only use mine for my gaming PC, and that sometimes doesn’t even see usage for a few weeks, but still.
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I hear you. And I hope you correctly detected that I’m playfully being a smartass. :). Viewsonic XG2431 is a good substitute if your screen dies.
 
jbltecnicspro said:
I hear you. And I hope you correctly detected that I’m playfully being a smartass. :). Viewsonic XG2431 is a good substitute if your screen dies.
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🤪 lol of course. I’m the last person to ever get offended or take anything the wrong way.

Viewsonic seems to be coming back strong again, and I used to like them. I’ll check out the Viewsonic XG2431. TY
 
Flybye said:
How do you guys feel about a QLED as a possible replacement such as:

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/ali.../monitors-monitor-accessories#ratings_section
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I'd rather get https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-27gr95qe-b. Curved monitors do not tickle my fancy.
Otherwise I'll just pick RGB 32" 4K OLED once these are available and do not cost considerably more than $1K

BFI: I say big yes but if it doesn't work with VRR it would be pretty useless. Also not a deal-breaker for me if monitor doesn't have BFI.
 
XoR_ said:
I'd rather get https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-27gr95qe-b. Curved monitors do not tickle my fancy.
Otherwise I'll just pick RGB 32" 4K OLED once these are available and do not cost considerably more than $1K

BFI: I say big yes but if it doesn't work with VRR it would be pretty useless. Also not a deal-breaker for me if monitor doesn't have BFI.
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I just read the manual of that monitor it and mentions nothing of motion pro or anything so I’m gonna go on a limb and say nope - no BFI.
 
Petrasescu_Lucian said:
It's safe, the FBTs are interchangeable. Besides, you don't have plenty of options if your FW900's FBT is screwed, as the chances of finding an NX-4504 AND, at the same time, virtually unused as is the case of my Dell's FBT are slim to none.
The first thing I tried was to install the FW900's FBT and A Board into the Dell P1110. It worked without issues but all the problems were carried over to the Dell (very poor focus, washed out image and very long warm-up time). The image in this case was, ofcourse, horizontally streched and needed adjustment.
I've been using the FW900 for over a month and everything is rock solid. It's such a beautiful monitor!
If you happen to stumble upon a Dell P1110 I strongly recommend changing the A Board as well. You'll have to swap the white plastic connectors on the A Board as the plug on the FW900's cathode filaments doesn't match the white connector on the A Board of the Dell. You'll have to desolder and resolder but it's pretty easy (see attached pics).
Another thing to recommend is to remove the coating if it's scratched. The improvement in text clarity and color vividness outmatches the increased reflectivity but that is probably a matter of taste. In dark room conditions, the image is superior without the anti-glare coating in my opinion.
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So the flyback of my working FW900 finally started having problems. It had the usual "picture getting fuzzy and after some minutes a pop and everything is fine" symptoms. I desoldered the flyback and measured the primary inductance and compared it to the A32 FBT I bought a while ago. Unfortunately they seem not to match so the A32 FBT will probably not work.

I bought HP P1120 a while ago which is basically a Sony G1 chassis rebrand. I have already used the tube of the HP for my F520 as that tube was in better shape (btw, works perfectly fine as well, even if the pitch is not 100% the same). I desoldered the flyback there and measured the primary inductance and it seems to be in the same ballpark.

Then I installed that flyback in my FW900 and what can I say...it works perfectly fine. Basically a drop in replacement. No issues with picture size being 4:3 or anything. But I also didn't change over the A-board, it's still the original from the FW900.
I used the monitor for over an hour now without any issues and no fuzzies and pops...
 
ElBartoME said:
... I desoldered the flyback and measured the primary inductance and compared it to the A32 FBT I bought a while ago. Unfortunately they seem not to match so the A32 FBT will probably not work....
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Congrats on getting it working!

I'm curious, though. What exactly was the difference? That's the transformer or one of those little transformer units? And is there no possible way to get a replacement?

See this is why I brought up that OLED monitor. If a electrical pro can't even get the right replacement parts, when the FW900 dies, it's gonna go bye bye. Corsair has a new 45" OLED, but specs don't mention BFI. At least OLED monitors are becoming more and more mainstream. It will be just a matter of time before we have a suitable replacement or possibly get lucky enough to find the right replacement parts.
 
Flybye said:
I'm curious, though. What exactly was the difference? That's the transformer or one of those little transformer units? And is there no possible way to get a replacement?
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It's the flyback transformer. The big plastic box where the HV lead comes out of.

The value of the primary inductance is important as the rest of the circuit is tuned for that. If the inductance is different then the circuit will also behave differently and worst case you will grill your electronics.

And no, there is no way to get a replacement flyback.

If my FW900 dies, I'll switch to OLED too. No way I'll pay the stupid prices nowadays.
 
Beat up
ElBartoME said:
It's the flyback transformer. The big plastic box where the HV lead comes out of.

The value of the primary inductance is important as the rest of the circuit is tuned for that. If the inductance is different then the circuit will also behave differently and worst case you will grill your electronics.

And no, there is no way to get a replacement flyback.

If my FW900 dies, I'll switch to OLED too. No way I'll pay the stupid prices nowadays.
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FW900 going for 1300 at the moment on Ebay......crazy!!! https://www.ebay.com/itm/1343652409...rentrq:2b23341b1850ab8e9a88c8ddfffd8774|iid:1
 
ElBartoME said:
It's the flyback transformer. The big plastic box where the HV lead comes out of.

The value of the primary inductance is important as the rest of the circuit is tuned for that. If the inductance is different then the circuit will also behave differently and worst case you will grill your electronics.

And no, there is no way to get a replacement flyback.

If my FW900 dies, I'll switch to OLED too. No way I'll pay the stupid prices nowadays.
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Please forgive my ignorance, but I am a curious soul. Couldn’t some type of replacement be created for it? What is so unique about flybacks if it can’t be duplicated!
 
Flybye said:
Please forgive my ignorance, but I am a curious soul. Couldn’t some type of replacement be created for it? What is so unique about flybacks if it can’t be duplicated!
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At the very least you'd need the original specifications to be able to duplicate one, and these were custom made components, the relevant informations have never been publicly available.

I'm quite skeptical about the flyback replacement of ElbartoME. Of course it could be interesting as a last resort option to save a FW900 if it holds on the long run, but I can't believe both FBTs are strictly identical. There are also other components included inside appart from the main winding, according to the service manual schematics. If both FBT models were identical, there would have been no need for two different references.
 
Strat_84 said:
I'm quite skeptical about the flyback replacement of ElbartoME. Of course it could be interesting as a last resort option to save a FW900 if it holds on the long run, but I can't believe both FBTs are strictly identical. There are also other components included inside appart from the main winding, according to the service manual schematics. If both FBT models were identical, there would have been no need for two different references.
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If I have to choose between a FW900 with a dying FBT that is sooner or later gonna be broken or a FW900 with a different flyback that is not the exact same one but it seems to work, I'm gonna choose the latter...

I suspect some parts for the dynamic focus inside the flyback are different like the coupling capacitors. After some hours on the monitor I see the edges are not as sharp as they used to be but I can live with that.
 
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ElBartoME said:
I suspect some parts for the dynamic focus inside the flyback are different like the coupling capacitors. After some hours on the monitor I see the edges are not as sharp as they used to be but I can live with that.
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Actually the dynamic focus circuitry is almost entirely external to the FBT, there's only one coupling capacitor inside that may interfere if different. It would have been best to measure that on both FBT before.

But anyway, better check focus with some appropriate display patterns. It may be a bit off on the entire screen, not just the edges, the other FBT may need a slight pot adjustment to match the board you put it on.
 
ElBartoME said:
If I have to choose between a FW900 with a dying FBT that is sooner or later gonna be broken or a FW900 with a different flyback that is not the exact same one but it seems to work, I'm gonna choose the latter...
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My plan for dead FW900 is to cannibalize some other monitor. Even if this means not only replacing flyback but using whole electronics from other monitor and making custom case for it.

Good to hear flybacks can be directly swapped... at least between some models.
Obviously its better to use off-spec part which work than off-spec parts which are off-spec because they fail.

Did you do any WinDAS calibration afterwards?
It might help with some issues...
 
XoR_ said:
Did you do any WinDAS calibration afterwards?
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I did do a whole white point calibration with WinDAS afterwards. I also adjusted the focus knobs for best focus in the center. Unfortunately the focus in the very far corners is still off, but not so much that it's distracting me. During normal gameplay I'm not noticing anything.

I don't see a way to change the dynamic focus parameters like you can with a BVM for example. At least the F520 goes through a routine that adjusts the dynamic focus when doing the focus procedure in WinDAS. The older FW900 doesn't seem to do that.
 
Anyone ever get a temporary fuzzy/slightly out of focus image?

It’s happened to me twice. Once a few months ago and again this morning. Degauss didn’t do anything. Power cycling it makes the image clear again, and it’s been back to normal for an hour.
 
Flybye said:
Anyone ever get a temporary fuzzy/slightly out of focus image?

It’s happened to me twice. Once a few months ago and again this morning. Degauss didn’t do anything. Power cycling it makes the image clear again, and it’s been back to normal for an hour.
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This resource might be able to point you in the right direction: https://swharden.com/misc/crt-repair/
 
Baxter299 said:
What a great link
Report

Enhanced Interrogator Thanks​

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Well...there actually IS a bad focus / fuzzy picture section there, but the real question is am I daring enough to go hunting for them. I didn't know there were focusing pots in it, and the fuzzy sometimes happening, stops, then does it again then stops doing it after a powercycle makes me wonder if the pot is simply starting to have a bad connection. I mean good to know if this gets any worse! TY EI
 
If the focus problem is intermittent, LEAVE THE FOCUS POTS ALONE. The setting of these pots is right, it's just that there is an electrical issue somewhere that impacts focus.

Now, finding what the problem is is another story. I can be anything from a bad solder joint to a worn out component. :oops:
 
Couldn’t the pots themselves be going bad? I mean it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had a potentiometer type thing go bad losing contact inside.
 
I don't think so. If it were a potentiometer that was used daily, maybe it could wear out. But these were just set once in their life and sealed, there's no way they could go bad.
 
I have sony trinitron g520 and it start flashing green with withe lines when turn on from cold. After warm up its back to normal. Anyone knows possible cause of this and possible fix?

edit: and its dead :(
 
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So my fw900 (and g520 coincidentally) have a geometry issue where the top left and right corner droop a little and the bottom left and right raise a little, loosely illustrated in this photo.
Is there a winDas adjustment or internal adjustment that can fix this?
I’m familiar with yoke adjustments and can’t imagine a way to move the yoke that would make it better.
Thanks !
 

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Alec_B said:
So my fw900 (and g520 coincidentally) have a geometry issue where the top left and right corner droop a little and the bottom left and right raise a little, loosely illustrated in this photo.
Is there a winDas adjustment or internal adjustment that can fix this?
I’m familiar with yoke adjustments and can’t imagine a way to move the yoke that would make it better.
Thanks !
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If it's like F520, look for two holes labeled:

TB-PIN
H.TRP

In an off white enclosure along the top of the tube.

Basically, a horizontal version of pincushion and trapezoid I believe. If it helps...

(FW900 should have something similar, but at the moment I'm not spotting them, but pretty dusty in there actually...)
 
SH1 said:
If it's like F520, look for two holes labeled:

TB-PIN
H.TRP

In an off white enclosure along the top of the tube.

Basically, a horizontal version of pincushion and trapezoid I believe. If it helps...

(FW900 should have something similar, but at the moment I'm not spotting them, but pretty dusty in there actually...)
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Thanks for the reply.
I believe it has h trp but sadly not tb pin, and that sounds the most useful…
 
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