a 'shocking' development... (1 Viewer)

[Chris Demaree]

My brother and I moved my Sony kv36-fv26 from one side of the room to an adjacent wall. The 'fun' part came after I unplugged the tv from the outlet and disconnected all of the input connections. Since the tv was ready to be moved, I grabbed the power cord, so that we wouldnt trip over it or catch it on something. Once I grabbed the plug, I received one hell of a shock (like a LARGE static shock). The tv had NO other connections and had not been turned on since the day before. Has this happened to anyone else? My brother manages a rent to own store and he has seen this happen to some of his employees with other tv's, but I've never even heard of this. This happen to anyone else? Should I be worried about my TV in any way? I was curious to see if anyone has had this happen to them and what might cause it.
Thanks!

 

[EdD]

One possibility is that you really did get a static electricity shock. TVs do generate static electricity so it could be as simple as that. Is the socket that the TV is plugged into properly grounded? Does the TV have a 2 or 3 prong plug? If it has a 3 prong plug and the socket has an open earth ground, then static electricity can collect over a period of time in the chassis and discharge when you touch it. If it is a two prong plug then the chassis is likely connected to neutral which should provide a path for static electricity to discharge. If it was on right before it was unplugged then static can build on the chassis even after the TV is off and since there is no path for the static to discharge with it unplugged, you provided the first path to ground.
The other possibility is more disturbing. Tube TVs (including tube projectors) are basically electron guns where the electrons are guided by magnetic fields (although sometime it might be static electric plates). An electron gun uses solid state amps (or tubes in older tvs) and huge capacitors to shoot electrons at many (hundreds of) thousands of volt which then hits the phospherous on the front of the screen. Those huge capacitors don't discharge immediately after you turn them off. In fact they are known to cause serious shocks to technicians even months after the TV was last turned on. Now if you ever talk to anyone who fixes TVs or monitors, they will tell you to be careful what you touch inside a tv chassis even with the power off and unplugged.
What is surprising in your case is that you got a shock from the plug which should be isolated from those capacitors. Did you suffer any burns or other "damage" to your person? If not then it is mostly likely static.
If in doubt take the set in and have it looked at. It is better then hurting yourself or someone else in your family because there is an electrical fault.
EdD

 

[Ergin Guney]

Ed's second paragraph hits the nail on the head. It's a fact that's well known by all TV technicians and cautioned against widely in TV service manuals that TVs retain lethal electrical charges in their internal circuitry even well after being unplugged.
What I'd like to add is that I'm less surprised than Ed, however, that you were shocked through the plug. That very same thing happened to me at least a couple of times with my 32" Sony. I look at it as normal behavior.

 

[NickSo]

Has anybody been shocked by the cable comig from the satellite dish?
If i touch the cable and the input to the reciever at the same time, it gives me a shock..kehehehe