JimAldro

Getting zapped

Our new 46" Samsung has a volume control on the side panel. Everytime I touch the volume I get a static poke, like you do when flipping on a lightswitch. The TV is on an oak stand which is on a carpeted floor.

I'm afraid I'm going to short something out.

Any suggestions?

Ed Kerns

Jim, I don't know what part of the country you're in, but here in Michigan, the air is very dry in the winter and static 'pokes' are common. A couple of suggestions; If you can, raise the humidity in your house. If that's not practical, touch something else that is grounded before you touch the TV. It seems unlikely that your static discharge would harm the television, but I'm no expert so I'll leave that to others judgment.

John S

You can try some anti static spray, but it probably won't make a difference. You can get a grounded computer / anti static mat, that will take care of it though. Do some googles, lots of that stuff available.

I would not be to keen either on it, even though it may never hurt the display. With all the computer type processing going on these days in displays, I wouldn't be to keen on it either myself.

Tony Loewen

I used to get pokes turning on my projector, so for a while I would, and I also told my wife to, touch the screw on the light switch nearby before turning on the projector. I was going to install a little grounding mat, little more than a chuck of metallic screen or aluminum foil with a wire connecting it to the ground on a nearby outlet, near the projector for this purpose but for other reasons we bought a small little room humidifier. The theater is downstairs, and even with the humidifier upstair, the furnace (forced air) moves the air around enough that it hasn't been a problem since. It was about $60 at Sears. Well worth it. We don't electricute each other getting out of bed anymore either.

Doug MacGregor

I used to think that most modern high-tech equipment was sufficiently grounded to avoid frying it if you touched it and got zapped.
But I have begun to think differently since I have been experiencing problems with my JVC receiver (RX-6010V).
I got it in September 2001 and 18 months later I noticed that all of a sudden when I touched any of the buttons on the front panel, the display would go nuts - press DVD and the config display would come up. The front buttons just became useless. The receiver still worked ok with the remote but the FM tuner also stopped working.
It happened in February of 2003, the coldest (and driest) month in Ottawa.
So I got it fixed (replaced all the button switches, a big job)under warranty as well as the FM module.
Here's the kicker.
I resolved never to touch the receiver in the winter just in case...
Oops. 3 weeks ago without thinking I turned it on using the front panel and ever since then the display is going nuts again and the FM is gone again.
This might just be a co-incidence or a bad design on JCV's part but I have a sneaking feeling it was static.
I can't take it in again because it's now out of warranty and it took nearly 3 months to get it fixed the first time, not to mention that the first time I got it back, it was still broken!
I probably won't buy JVC next time just to be on the safe side but I also will buy a grounding mat to place under whatever I buy.
End of story.