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NotTaR of Television Sets : What is a posistor?                     
 Copyright © 1994-2007, Samuel M. Goldwasser. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this document in whole or in part is permitted if both of the following conditions are satisfied: 1. This notice is included in its entirety at the beginning. 2. There is no charge except to cover the costs of copying. I may be contacted via the Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ (www.repairfaq.org) Email Links Page.

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What is a posistor?

A posistor is a combination of a PTC (positive temperature coefficient) resistor and another resistor-element to heat it up and keep it hot. Sometimes, these will go by the name posister or thermistor. The heater is a disk shaped resistor across the power line and the themister is a disk shaped device in series with the degauss coil. They are in clamped together to be in close contact thermally. You can pry off the lid and see for yourself.

The most common failure mode is for the part to short across the line.

Its function is to control degauss, so the only thing you lose when you remove one of these is the degauss function on power-on. When you turn the TV or monitor on, the PTC resistor is cold and low resistance. When heated, it becomes very high resistance and turns off the degauss coil but gradually - the current ramps down to zero rather than being abruptly cut off..

Computer Component Source stocks a wide variety, I believe but it may be cheaper to go direct to the manufacturer if they will sell you one.