rhindlethereddragon Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 If you are hooking up your vintage game system to the cable input on the back of a vintage TV (without an RF box - plugging the line directly in with one of those little screw-in pieces that are so common in gaming these days), is it possible for the television to somehow send an electric current FROM the cable input, through the line to your games "output" line and damage components inside?? The reason I ask this, is that I have an older TV that works, but it's a little "screwy" sometimes (for example, when you turn the game system on, the screen will distort until you switch the channel from 3 to 4 and then back to three again and then it displays clear), and over the years, I have had two vintage systems die on me after being connected to this TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ataritard Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 By any chance was your house built on an old cemetery? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxpressed Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 That's an interesting observation. In the past year, I've had three Colecovisions blow an octal buffer IC and one Astrocade geek out after being plugged in for the first time in several months. But no problems with all other systems. I do wonder if the F-plug may be less safe than the old-fashioned switchbox when it comes to electrostatic discharge. Maybe someone with more expertise than I can chime in. BTW, I was amused by the thread title because every console manufacturer back in the day went out of its way to assure consumers that videogames wouldn't damage TV sets. People seemed to be really worried about this based on the amount of attention it got from the industry and media. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Tomlin Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 I've had three Colecovisions blow an octal buffer IC I've been suspecting that has something to do with the controller port being designed to put -9 volts out under some condition. It takes a lot to zap a TTL chip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Dart Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 If you are hooking up your vintage game system to the cable input on the back of a vintage TV (without an RF box - plugging the line directly in with one of those little screw-in pieces that are so common in gaming these days), is it possible for the television to somehow send an electric current FROM the cable input, through the line to your games "output" line and damage components inside?? The reason I ask this, is that I have an older TV that works, but it's a little "screwy" sometimes (for example, when you turn the game system on, the screen will distort until you switch the channel from 3 to 4 and then back to three again and then it displays clear), and over the years, I have had two vintage systems die on me after being connected to this TV. My first reaction was "What? Of course not." But then I remembered how my work computer's headphone jack put out this strange buzz that eventually killed the left earpiece of two different pairs of headphones. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegamezmaster Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 (edited) Could it have anything to do with the wiring of the house being old? Causing surges? Edited March 28, 2012 by thegamezmaster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 My first digital settop box had the option for powered antenna (through the cable) so maybe some TVs can do it too. That'd be a sure way to damage anything connected that wasn't expecting it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thevnaguy Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 By any chance was your house built on an old cemetery? They moved the headstones but not the bodies!!!! - Poltergeist 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ataritard Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 By any chance was your house built on an old cemetery? They moved the headstones but not the bodies!!!! - Poltergeist They're here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxpressed Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 (edited) I've had three Colecovisions blow an octal buffer IC I've been suspecting that has something to do with the controller port being designed to put -9 volts out under some condition. It takes a lot to zap a TTL chip. This makes a lot of sense. I'm paranoid about swapping controllers now on my surviving CVs. I won't unplug the controllers if I don't have to, and I make sure that the unit is off and the power supply unplugged if I do have to swap. I wonder if age has made those ICs more sensitive because I remember doing these hot swaps all the time with my childhood CV. Edited March 29, 2012 by boxpressed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhindlethereddragon Posted March 30, 2012 Author Share Posted March 30, 2012 Could it have anything to do with the wiring of the house being old? Causing surges? Could be, because oddly enough, this particular area where the TV is is the ONLY place I do not use a power strip. Power strips protect against surges, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpugmire Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 No, surge protectors do that. Power strips just add outlets. There are some power strips that have surge protection built in, but not all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 I would guess that anything capable of damaging the console could be measured with a volt meter directly across that RF input jack or at the input jack with respect to the console's power supply output. Just a guess. Might take an oscilloscope to figure it out...if it's really there. I would guess it's not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jferio Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 Get a surge protector in there first. I think you'll be surprised. Also, do not leave your game systems plugged in. I have a couple of the old computer power center strips for the consoles I leave hooked up. No console is left plugged in, I just flip a switch and it's unplugged. Some consoles have fuses inside to protect against surges, but they usually do that by killing the power (SegaCD is one example). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 There could be ground loops between your console and tv. There could be faulty isolation within the tv, allowing a DC voltage offset (similar to ground loop) to be sent back to the console. It could also be AC level being sent back, enough to jump the caps. Any of these levels could cause the whiskers the sometimes grow on old electronics to short out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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