All the new technology such as TVs and computers are powered with switching mode power supplies(SMPS). They are
not designed to last since some of the parts have a finite life, notably the electrolytic capacitors. This makes for huge
amounts of electronic scrap piling up in various places of the earth as these units fail. The old style transformer power
supplies were much more dependable and repairable as well, much heavier though. One advantage of a transformer
power supply is that it does not generate any radio frequency(RF) interference like the SMPS supplies do. Almost
every house has a bunch of small "wall wart" units(generally SMPS) which have the potential to cause interference
in the RF region. It's not on one frequency either as they generate a base frequency as well as a bunch of harmonic
frequencies too. We are not immune to these problems as hobby machinists either. Variable frequency drives(VFD) are
basically a switching power supply too containing a number of electrolytic capacitors just waiting to fail. I have a VFD
and I like it today but I know that some day in the future it will ultimately fail. A lot of electronic equipment is not recycled
properly which is pretty sad. We wear our horse blinders and enjoy our modern electronics at the expense of our environment.
Sorry to be on a rant but I have been repairing several old SMPS units and realize that all that glitters is not gold.
If I can keep my own units from gravitating to the scrap pile, so much the better. I'm on a big learning curve trying
to figure out how to repair them so forward progress is being made.
I'm including a photo so that we are all at least aware of the environmental impact.