Don't know if this has been touched upon previously so forgive me if it has...am wondering if after recapping and aligning an early color set, how reliable might it be?

I suppose running it from a conditioned power source and perhaps adding ventilation or cooling of some sort would help.

I'm speaking of tube style sets, 60's and later. My understanding is that the earlier ones are less reliable overall and the picture tube life has to be considered. What say you big brains?

I cant see adding a fan or something. They've survived without one for a long time.

Line voltage is higher now than when the sets were new. Running it on a variac would be a good idea.

My thought about adding cooling is based on the fact that these sets are well over 40 years old and have been through many heat cycles so many components have been "weakened" compared to when new.

Plus the fact that besides excessive voltage, heat is the bane of electronics (and with tubes, vibration as well).

There are all manner of inexpensive and very lower power consumption fans and cooling systems available for computers. Hell, if you have central air conditioning you could even route a hose of sorts to blow into the set.

Reason I'm stuck on the cooling (and stuck on stupid as well) is to extend the hours a day you could run the set and reduce any impact on ultimate longevity.

I see operating older electronics like cars, no use is as detrimental as abuse...and there's an "in between" that actually lengthens the life and improves operation.

My thought about adding cooling is based on the fact that these sets are well over 40 years old and have been through many heat cycles so many components have been "weakened" compared to when new.

Plus the fact that besides excessive voltage, heat is the bane of electronics (and with tubes, vibration as well).

There are all manner of inexpensive and very lower power consumption fans and cooling systems available for computers. Hell, if you have central air conditioning you could even route a hose of sorts to blow into the set.

Reason I'm stuck on the cooling (and stuck on stupid as well) is to extend the hours a day you could run the set and reduce any impact on ultimate longevity.

I see operating older electronics like cars, no use is as detrimental as abuse...and there's an "in between" that actually lengthens the life and improves operation.

I agree the use of a fan is best for the life of these old sets. I have fans on all of mine since the parts can be hard to find for these old sets and I have read on line the guys that use the tube amps use fans and it makes the tubes last longer.

Perhaps I'm living in an insane dream world, but I just play my roundies and don't worry about it.

If you have done a thorough job of restoration, I feel like you should be able to use the set as originally designed. Running them on a variac or other device to reduce the line voltage is a good idea.

Phil Nelson

I agree with reducing the line voltage. Fan cooling might make the eletrolytics last longer if any are near a large tube. I doubt that fan cooling would make any of the tubes last significantly longer.

Some of the coils in my set had the wax bubbled up. I'm assuming from heat. The Sylvania doesn't have the neck of the CRT sticking out in back so it's possible that previous owners had the set sitting right up against the wall. That would be bad. When I make a proper back for mine I might include a fan just so I can keep it close, but not touching the wall.

John

Perhaps I'm living in an insane dream world, but I just play my roundies and don't worry about it.

If you have done a thorough job of restoration, I feel like you should be able to use the set as originally designed. Running them on a variac or other device to reduce the line voltage is a good idea.

Phil Nelson

I don't think your in a insane world for not using a fan I just think it adds a extra level of protection. What is your line voltage? mine is at 122V and the sets call for 120V I know my CTC 38 has a normal High switch on it and I use the high position on it. Seems the line voltage could be lowerd a bit by adding a resister or something to the set. Moving a variac from set to set all the time would be a be a bit much for me. I will have to look and see what RCA used to lower the voltage with the high normal switch.

I am told it's always a good idea to use a small computer style fan on Philco Predictas because of the small enclosed area the electronics are housed in causes components to fail early.

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I have a fan on my predicta, and another console Philco that I watch a lot.

A Predicta is a different breed entirely. The chassis basically cooks in its own juices.

I have always been One about heat. Nothing wrong with a fan when it comes to unobtanium parts like a flyback

Many expensive new homes that feature home theaters use power conditioners. A childhood friend of mine who's dad founded Elektra records had a 19" rack filled with McIntosh tube gear and even an early Dolby unit used a power conditioner and left it all lit up 24/7. He never had any issues that I recall and this was back in the 60's

Cooler is better, especially for 'lytics - their life is directly affected by temperature. I think you have to look at each chassis to see how to get the airflow to the hotspots (maybe not the Predictas or tightly packed portables that are so closed-in that anything could help).

I think *depending* on a fan to protect a flyback is iffy - the current should be within limits first, and in that case it won't burn up anyway. Adjusting line voltage to keep B+ and high voltage normal is also more important than airflow if the flyback isn't getting warm from excess current.

Edit: Bottom line about fans: "it couldn't hurt."

the fly def will prefer the lower line voltage, I can drop it to 105-110 and have no bad effects, and drop the HOT current by 10% easy..

I generally only run the sets for about 1-2 hrs tops anyway.

My experience is the set goes through a 2nd infant mortality. Whats going to fail usually does withing a few weeks. Once you get past that it should be fairly reliable. You can recap it and that will help but then something random like a detector diode or pot will fail.
Im not big on fans, they bring in tons of dust and the HV already attracts enough on its own.
Dave is right on with lowering the voltage. That really helps with the heat.

Also I wouldnt recommend aligning anything that required turning slugs until I ran the set for a few weeks with the new caps.

the fly def will prefer the lower line voltage, I can drop it to 105-110 and have no bad effects, and drop the HOT current by 10% easy..

I generally only run the sets for about 1-2 hrs tops anyway.

One caution - some sets may not like the B+ TOO low, because it may reduce the drive to the horizontal output. Best bet is to monitor the B+ and set it for nominal or only slightly low, I would guess.

Great tip on holding of on the alignment. One possibility to reduce or eliminate dust when using a fan is to take a page out of diesel locomotives...they filter the air that's used to cool the engine compartment. This does two things, not only is the air that's brought into the compressor filtered, it also pressurizes the loco so that ambient dust etc can't migrate in.

Needn't be anything too complicated, even a cheese cloth may suffice. One thing to watch out for would be if the fan failed for any reason the available convection cooling may not be enough.

A big problem I have seen with RCA's and RCA-clone type sets is that wiring gets burned from power resistors under the chassis. After replacing burned wiring in a CTC-28, I relocated a power resistor which was on a burned terminal strip near cooked wiring out in front of the chassis so it is underneath the picture tube. There is a lot more open air for cooling there and it is not near any wiring.

I also found the high line voltage tap on the power transformer and wired it up in the power supply along with adding a 115VAC coil relay to switch the power. I came across a whole bunch of 115VAC relays and sockets and this takes the heavy current load off the power switch.

Great idea Chad on the relay, I'm surprised you guys don't leave the sets on at a predetermined volume and use a power strip for on /off.............:yes:

Great idea Chad on the relay, I'm surprised you guys don't leave the sets on at a predetermined volume and use a power strip for on /off.............:yes:

That's what I do and the fans plugged into it to.:thmbsp:

Why is it not possible to just add a resistor to the live side of the line cord to reduce the incoming line voltage?

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As far as the power switch goes...you just need to the set on at the lines zero crossing point.

PZT !!!:banana:

How about running the sets on a timer with the volume down? Haven't looked, but I bet there's a programmable timer somewhere that'll permit once a week or even once a month activation. I think one of my exes had one of those LOL