Inconsistent Black Levels w/ Heavily Used 42" Samsung Plasma

[Eppie]

One potential problem with early plasmas is that the warming and cooling cycle of the displays can cause some of the internal mounting screws to loosen. The circuit boards are mounted on a metal plate which acts as a ground plane and if the screws loosen the lack of proper grounding can cause the circuitry to fail. Later units used locking washers to prevent the screws from loosening. If you pick up a used plasma, it's a good idea to remove the back and make sure all of the circuit boards are mounted securely.

 

[lovinthehd]

Definitely cooler, but 200W-220W isn't much current- I don't know your energy cost, but here, it ranges from about 10-1/2 to a bit less than 30 cents/KWh (time of use billing) or just under 20 cents/KWh for normal billing and at 200W, 10 hours doesn't cost much. I just checked the energy use for a 65" LG OLED evo and the specs page shows 169.9W, <.5W in standby- the Kill A Watt shows 0W for my plasma when it's in standby.

Just got my bill....current rate is $ 0.1034 per kWh but we have some fixed service charges so it works out this month to a little more than .144 /kWh. I never worried about the consumption of my av gear, tho.

 

[highfigh]

Just got my bill....current rate is $ 0.1034 per kWh but we have some fixed service charges so it works out this month to a little more than .144 /kWh. I never worried about the consumption of my av gear, tho.

Is that rate typical, or is it the charge for a special program, like our time of use/peak use system? I'm now paying about the same for off-peak use, but on peak costs almost 30 cents/KWh and my off-peak time is 7PM-7AM, so that's when I use the most energy.

I checked my Kill A Watt (just for the TV) yesterday and it shows less than 9KWh, after about a week, so the cost of Plasma TV use is really not a problem but they told us to switch to CFL from incandescent and later to LED, to save money. I have had electric bills of more than $100 recently, with only LED lighting- most of them measured at 8 Watts. No electric range, water heater or heat- all natural gas. The only appliance that might use a lot is the fridge or the furnace's fan and controls.

 

[lovinthehd]

Is that rate typical, or is it the charge for a special program, like our time of use/peak use system? I'm now paying about the same for off-peak use, but on peak costs almost 30 cents/KWh and my off-peak time is 7PM-7AM, so that's when I use the most energy.

I checked my Kill A Watt (just for the TV) yesterday and it shows less than 9KWh, after about a week, so the cost of Plasma TV use is really not a problem but they told us to switch to CFL from incandescent and later to LED, to save money. I have had electric bills of more than $100 recently, with only LED lighting- most of them measured at 8 Watts. No electric range, water heater or heat- all natural gas. The only appliance that might use a lot is the fridge or the furnace's fan and controls.

The basic service charge is 49.00 and our city adds a franchise fee of about $3-4 (varies with usage). The rate since December (generally a 7% increase) is the .1034 per kWh is for over 1500 kWh per month usage (for Nov-Apr, slightly more both tiers May-Oct). The juice comes from Bonneville Power Administration, who raised costs in December. I assume the month range reflects the seasonal hydro changes. My main heat is electric based (room heaters and a pellet fire place insert), which bump up my usage in the colder months but also all-electric kitchen (no gas in the house except for my portable gas tank for the bbq).