View Full Version : I found a GE Porta Color!
legenbass77 05-10-2013, 09:19 PM I found it at a local estate sale yesterday, and it's a non-smoker set. Model WAHE5223RW Chassis 10HE. I have been wanting a tube set ever since my RCA CTC 53 got tossed years ago. I don't have a lot of room, and thought a Porta Color would be a good choice. Never thought I'd stumble onto one so quickly, and so close to home! This is the first Porta Color I've owned, so what are some things to be on the lookout for with these sets? Does anyone have a schematic for the 10HE? It works pretty well as found, but did turn down the screen controls, and contrast. Someone had them nearly all the way up for some reason. I figured that was just driving the crt too hard, and have them about a 1/2 turn up or so from minimum, still have plenty of brightness, backed off the contrast 1/4 turn from max, and it still looks decent. It does have a color problem as seen in picture 2. The redder part of the screen slowly scrolls from bottom to top then the blue section appears at the bottom followed by the red section again. I can clear it by turning down the color to minimum, then maxing it out, and back to normal range. About a minute or two later it begins the color scroll again. It quits doing it after around 15-20 minutes of operation, and plays flawlessly. Very happy with it though! I've been watching it the past two evenings, and heard two snaps yesterday, but none at all today.
Sandy G 05-10-2013, 09:40 PM Porta-Potties DON'T know that they're basically "Cheap 'n' Nasty" sets, they just TRY hard to work nearly 50 years on..The all-tube version was made up from late 1965 til about 1980, best we can decipher..
legenbass77 05-10-2013, 09:53 PM LOL, thanks Sandy. This one is from 1975, so it's still got plenty of life left!
zenithfan1 05-10-2013, 10:00 PM The things to watch out for are the white ceramic tubular caps in it, there are only a few. Look around by the high voltage and horizontal sections. (towards the back left of the chassis). I have a 10HE and those things exploded on me and others have had it happen too. Can you please post a pic of the chassis? I'll show you what to look for, other people may chime in too. It's been a while since I've worked on one so I can't remember what the values are.........scotch whisky don't help me remember either:D Once you change those, clean the tuner and stuff, the damn thing will last, like, 50 more years without anything done to it LOL!
BTW Does anyone else own a Porta-Potty that has a black cabinet and no handle from the factory or do I have something rare?????
legenbass77 05-10-2013, 10:19 PM Thanks for the info! I'll pull the back off this weekend, and get a picture of it. Too sleepy tonight to mess with it! Just peeking in the top vent with a flashlight I saw a white .047 mfd @ 400 volts to the right of horizontal hold control.
zenithfan1 05-10-2013, 10:46 PM That's one of 'em!!:)
DaveWM 05-10-2013, 11:58 PM The setup for a portacolor G2 screens is a bit different than most sets, the sams has you turn them all up full, then adj so when the brightness is turned down the low lights are not tinted, at least one control should remain at full. Then adj the green/blue (by the contrast pot) so when the brightness is back up to full the highlights still lack any hue (adj with a b&w program or a grey scale pattern is best).
The moving color bar sounds like a HK short in the difference amp tube or maybe something wrong with the degauss circuit (if its the auto one anyway).
Try subbing in a new color difference amp tube 1st.
radiotvnut 05-11-2013, 12:22 AM I believe whisker shorted pots on the rear of the chassis was another common problem.
DaveWM 05-11-2013, 12:47 AM Thanks for the info! I'll pull the back off this weekend, and get a picture of it. Too sleepy tonight to mess with it! Just peeking in the top vent with a flashlight I saw a white .047 mfd @ 400 volts to the right of horizontal hold control.
there is one more, think its a .1 boost filter also on the back corner near the flyback, pretty sure its 1kv could be higher.
legenbass77 05-11-2013, 01:25 PM The setup for a portacolor G2 screens is a bit different than most sets, the sams has you turn them all up full, then adj so when the brightness is turned down the low lights are not tinted, at least one control should remain at full. Then adj the green/blue (by the contrast pot) so when the brightness is back up to full the highlights still lack any hue (adj with a b&w program or a grey scale pattern is best).
The moving color bar sounds like a HK short in the difference amp tube or maybe something wrong with the degauss circuit (if its the auto one anyway).
Try subbing in a new color difference amp tube 1st.
Thanks for the tips! Very helpful, and will redo the setup. I'll have to do it with a b&w program since I don't have a test pattern generator at this time. Now which tube is the video difference tube? I didn't see one called that in the little tube diagram above the crt?
legenbass77 05-11-2013, 01:32 PM Here are some pic of the chassis. I found 3 of those white capacitors. .1 mfd @ 1000v, .047 mfd @ 400v, and a .039 @25v. Looks like it may have had a crt replacement in 1976, because the crt has a code of 7609, and there are two handwritten dates of 7-21-76, and 9-24-76. I really appreciate the tips!
Username1 05-11-2013, 03:47 PM Good looking tv, nice gray scale on the tube too.
DaveWM 05-11-2013, 04:10 PM 6AC10, color amp.
legenbass77 05-11-2013, 04:55 PM Good looking tv, nice gray scale on the tube too.
Thanks! I plan on giving the cabinet a good cleaning while I've got it apart for maintenance. It should really clean up nice.
legenbass77 05-11-2013, 04:56 PM 6AC10, color amp.
Thank you, got one ordered! Hopefully that's the problem.
DaveWM 05-11-2013, 05:34 PM well it maybe the problem, I have found that if you just use them they often get better. I just picked up another made in 1975, it seems to be working fine, the biggest issue is often dirty controls, but again use will often fix that as well.
One thing about tubes, often new ones are bad so its always a good idea to at least test a new tube for shorts before using it.
bgadow 05-11-2013, 09:14 PM BTW Does anyone else own a Porta-Potty that has a black cabinet and no handle from the factory or do I have something rare?????
I have an early one, 66 or 67, with a tan/gray cabinet, no handle, no antenna-as cheap as they could make it. Loss leader, I guess-get the customer in for the $199 special (?) and upgrade them to a woodgrain model with a handle, antennas, clock timer, etc.
El Predicta 05-11-2013, 09:30 PM Check all the non-power tubes. Especially tuner, color, IF, and the main audio-12BF11- tube.
legenbass77 05-11-2013, 11:45 PM well it maybe the problem, I have found that if you just use them they often get better. I just picked up another made in 1975, it seems to be working fine, the biggest issue is often dirty controls, but again use will often fix that as well.
One thing about tubes, often new ones are bad so its always a good idea to at least test a new tube for shorts before using it.
I'll be sure to check it the new tube. I got in the habit of checking replacement tubes or any replacement part before install. Thanks for the reminder though! Easy to get in a hurry, and forget once in a while. While double checking the value of a capacitor, I noticed R404 looks blown apart 9 Shown in pic). Seems like it should be round. Is it the thermistor? The set does seem to be working better each time I power it up.
legenbass77 05-11-2013, 11:56 PM I would say it's safe to say the TV was made in 1976 based on the click UHF tuner, and the fact that it uses the later high focus voltage CRT.
I assume you meant .039 250V for the last cap. I believe that one is across the power line, so you should replace that one with the proper UL listed cap rated for that application.
Something like this:
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Kemet/PHE840MA5390MA02R17/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMv1cc3ydrPrF85GIl804cbNcg4FJ7EOJD4%3d
Interesting, so maybe the cabinet was made August 75, and the chassis in early 76. From what I can see on the capacitor after wiping off some dust is a very faint 1 before the 25. I'll attach a picture of it. I thought 25 volts seemed way too low. I'll likely replace it with a 250 volt .039 though. Thanks for pointing this out before I ordered parts!
legenbass77 05-11-2013, 11:57 PM Check all the non-power tubes. Especially tuner, color, IF, and the main audio-12BF11- tube.
I'll check 'em out!
DaveWM 06-22-2013, 10:51 PM looks like a blown thermistor, and that caps looks like a 125V AC
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