Went to visit my mother yesterday, and we were talking and she said her cousin was cleaning out some old accumulated stuff at her house and she had an old tv I could have if I wanted it. Ma's cousin said it was the first tv her parents had and was working good when they took it out of service. (no tv untill late 60's)
They were old farmers and watched very little tv. This set has instant on and the switch on back was set to on. I thought for sure picture tube would be weak but it tests great. Came up into the good within 30 seconds.So here it is,
This is my first tube color set.
http://i.imgur.com/jDxHTVIl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/0RFCVPjl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ck6scZrl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/az7KlQMl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/pKc8ZDhl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/xhlzTDRl.jpg

Nice, my first (and only so far) tube color set was also an Admiral.

'69 is my guess for this one. Mine is a '71.

Looks like one of the rare small screen consoles. It may work if powered on a variac, my 67' model sure did.

Thanks, I think it was built in 1968.
Could I use a 300 watt halogen bulb as a dim bulb tester? Tv is rated at 250 watts. My variable power supply is only rated at 1.5 amp.

here is what I would do:

pull the horz out and the vert out tubes (I assume its not a string filament set).

use the variac you have and start out low like about 30vac for 10-20 min

feel the can caps for heat (should be none). If you can find the B+ and hook up a meter to it to make sure the power supply is working (will be low with the low 30vac).

if all good (b+ there and no heat from cans) then go to about 60vac, again leave it be and monitor the B+ and heat.

if everything is looking good, leave it there for an hour, this will help the filter reform if needed.

the current will be well within the range of the variac (no sweep tubes and low B+). after all the above replace the sweep tubes do put a meter in the horz out tube cathode lead (should be about 200ma max) and go for a full power no variac startup. watch for the current on that horz tube to not go to high. If you are not sure about how to do that, just put the tubes back in and watch the horz out for any red plating, while waiting to hear the crackle of the HV.

if it runs just let it go for a min or two. then turn off and check the heat from the tire of the flyback, but really you should go the cathode current check.

Thanks, I think it was built in 1968.
Could I use a 300 watt halogen bulb as a dim bulb tester? Tv is rated at 250 watts. My variable power supply is only rated at 1.5 amp.

The breaker on mine is only rated for 2A, and I have ran 500W TVs on it several times. As long as you don't run a variac or isolation transformer too far above it's ratings you can often squeeze half an hour to 2 hours out of one without damage. Just watch that it don't overheat.

Thanks for the advise, I will follow your instructions and I do have an in circuit horizontal output tube current checker and no problem checking B+. I'm going to let it sit untill tomorrow. It sat in the bed of my truck overnight and had alot of condensation when I brought it in the house today after work.

One thing that I find helpful is to take a nice slow moving video of the insides with all the wires going to different points on the pcbs, tuner, pots, etc..

with the age of the set often you find the wires will break easy and its nice to have a clue where they go. you can freeze a video and see stuff easier than a bunch of pictures (but they are good too).

Good idea to let it dry out too.:thmbsp:

I've long had a soft spot for late 60s color Admirals. Interesting: the EIA on the crt comes back to Motorola.

Hopefully this one uses shunt type HV regulation (aka 6BK4 tube) and not the nefarious pulse-feedback setup that eats flybacks and H output tubes.

apart the green cataract, this tv looks like new. Congrats Paul. Indeed a farmer has no time to watch the tv..I Worked on Many Farms and After 12 hours I was too tired to watch tv..

I've long had a soft spot for late 60s color Admirals. Interesting: the EIA on the crt comes back to Motorola.

I have a Motorola that has that CRT. The tube is totally wasted and was a rebuilt. It seems like a very high hours set.
I worked on a few GE, KE chassis sets, that used that CRT, as well.

Yeah, my admiral gets little run time because even with a brightener the CRT is so weak the chassis can barely drive it to make a recognizable picture....I've been thinking about buying one of Bob G's CRT but I'm having a hard time talking my self into shelling out that much cash.

Me Likey ! VERY much...(grin)

I followed Davewm instructions on the slow power up, no heat on filter caps and B+ came right up. Did full power power up after the 1.5 hour slow power up. Watched cathode current on 6kd6 as set came on. 200 ma. Tube is rated at 260ma. This is what I had at that point. Contrast control was terrible and picture bad.
http://i.imgur.com/iNEIUM6l.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Eo9jnLul.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/rAVoH59l.jpg

Swapped out 6af9videooutput burst amp tube and things improved to this. contrast works much better now also. Still have a ways to go yet but I think it will make a good picture eventually.
I havent tested any tubes yet . I'll do that next. Or does anyone have any suggestions that i should check next? Thanks all for the help and comments so far.
http://i.imgur.com/yOMPaj8l.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/q9ghmeFl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/A1SyToal.jpg

This is what I had at that point. Contrast control was terrible and picture bad.


Bad? :screwy: For original parts, and only a vague idea on the usage/repair history of the set that's a damn fine picture! :yes:

Can't wait to see what it looks like after it gets some prodding with a hot soldering iron.

looks like some hum or maybe ground loop effecting the pic. what is the video source?

for snow look at cleaning the tuner, removing the shield and q tips with contact cleaner. work carefully, you dont want to break wires to the tuner, nor do you want to just soak it. Some tuners have wafer switches others use the strips on a turret, those are easier.

Snow can also be a weak RF tube in tuner of a blown balun.

turn the color down or get some black and white programming on, observe the quality of the pic. check for color fringing. check focus, little things slowly make a better pic.

get a cross hatch and check for linearity, use dots for center converge, cross hatch for edg convergence.

weak contrast can be a weak video out cathode bypass cap, but it looks pretty good to me. I would focus on proper setup (grey scale, degauss,linearity,purity, focus,converge). Don't expect it to get a lot better, hard to tell if the focus is off.

that's better hey ! :)

[QUOTE=NoPegs;3125013]Bad? :screwy: For original parts, and only a vague idea on the usage/repair history of the set that's a damn fine picture! :yes:

Uhh, YEAH...These Bad Boys are 40 + years old....Maybe closer to 50 than they are to 40...I doubt if they were ever INTENDED to last this long, "El-Cheapo SMALL console" or not...

Since it appears you are using a computer as a video source I'd recommend installing VLC media player. It gets rid of that annoying under scan mode on video cards if you play the video full screen.

I agree on that being a decent picture for a set that has just been woken up. The vertical linearity/size might be off too far for the controls to compensate, but aside from that, honestly I think that set is only a bunch of knob turns away from running as good as new...

That's a cute little "Admir-a-ble" console, great score! Very nice picture for beginning, looks like a decent emission CRT, as well, congratulations, and best wishes on your restoration!

Great work.. I love the picture so far.. A screen with Brian Williams in it, always makes for an excellent picture :yes:

Oh waao. That is amazing. A virtually 'working as found' time-capsuled set.
There's a quick-and-dirty check that can assess the overall condition of critical tubes, the "7 seconds off" test.
With the set running and warmed up, turn it off for about 7 seconds, and then back on. Watch for slow width fill-out, slow H sync lock, slow vert fill, slow color lock-in, slow clearing snow etc. Borderline weak tubes will show up.

One question. Is the 6KD6 is holding steady at 200 ma., and not rising with brightness increase?

The reason for asking is - if the current does go up with brightness, it means the set uses Admiral's pulse-feedback HV regulation which historically was very trouble-prone.
But if it uses the traditional 6BK4 shunt regulator, no problemo.

Very nice find.

Just to touch base on the mentioned Motorola CRT in this set: Motorola had a very short lived color CRT operation going in Franklin Park between 1966 and 1970. When the CRT plant opened in early 1966, it was only to supplement CRT supply from National Video Corp who was Motorola's exclusive supplier at that time. NVC couldn't keep up with Motorola's production demand during the big color TV boom years between '66 and '68. By 1969, color TV sales slowed down (a trend that continued through 1971). National Video Corp, also in Chicago had dissolved in 1969 and Motorola's CRT operation also became unprofitable compared to other purchasing options. By April, 1970 Motorola closed the Franklin Park CRT complex as they were now able to purchase complete CRT's from Sylvania for much less than Motorola's production costs. No big deal for the 2000 workers at that plant, they were all given options to be transferred to either of Motorola's numerous huge production facilities in the area at the time. How nice things were...

Motorola only entered the CRT business to be it's own OEM supplier, but seeing that Admiral was the little guy in town compared to Zenith and Moto, it would make sense that they helped supply Admiral with some CRT's. I'm sure Zenith was asked to put in a bid too...but the cheapest guy always wins.

makes sense.saw several of these admirals from that era.the moto crts put out a very good picture.yours looks good.when finished,it will be outstanding.great,great score

I checked tubes in tuner, the 6lj8 was shorted. I also cleaned the tuner. I can't believe the picture this thing is making now!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jlqvfa2tud1oc8a/2015-01-30%2004.55.54.avi?dl=0
https://vimeo.com/user36278910/albums

looking good, crank that color down a smidge.:thmbsp:

Nice. Does it use a 6LE8 demodulator tube? The knock-your-socks-off reds sure looks like it.

excellent!again,a 21 inch console admiral is a major score.

Very nice find.

Just to touch base on the mentioned Motorola CRT in this set: Motorola had a very short lived color CRT operation going in Franklin Park between 1966 and 1970. When the CRT plant opened in early 1966, it was only to supplement CRT supply from National Video Corp who was Motorola's exclusive supplier at that time. NVC couldn't keep up with Motorola's production demand during the big color TV boom years between '66 and '68. By 1969, color TV sales slowed down (a trend that continued through 1971). National Video Corp, also in Chicago had dissolved in 1969 and Motorola's CRT operation also became unprofitable compared to other purchasing options. By April, 1970 Motorola closed the Franklin Park CRT complex as they were now able to purchase complete CRT's from Sylvania for much less than Motorola's production costs. No big deal for the 2000 workers at that plant, they were all given options to be transferred to either of Motorola's numerous huge production facilities in the area at the time. How nice things were...

Motorola only entered the CRT business to be it's own OEM supplier, but seeing that Admiral was the little guy in town compared to Zenith and Moto, it would make sense that they helped supply Admiral with some CRT's. I'm sure Zenith was asked to put in a bid too...but the cheapest guy always wins.

I replaced a CRT in a 1968 Motorola TS918, that had an Admiral sourced 25ZP22. That tube was really sick. The Admiral CRT's weren't really known for their longevity. :sigh:

looks like some hum or maybe ground loop effecting the pic. what is the video source?

*** For the color bars i was using the computer hooked to my Blonder Tongue. Other pics were antenna and digital stream dtv box.

for snow look at cleaning the tuner, removing the shield and q tips with contact cleaner. work carefully, you dont want to break wires to the tuner, nor do you want to just soak it. Some tuners have wafer switches others use the strips on a turret, those are easier.

Snow can also be a weak RF tube in tuner of a blown balun.

***6lj8 mixer osc. tube was shorted. Swapped balun.No change. Cleaned tuner and picture looked great.

turn the color down or get some black and white programming on, observe the quality of the pic. check for color fringing. check focus, little things slowly make a better pic.

get a cross hatch and check for linearity, use dots for center converge, cross hatch for edg convergence.

weak contrast can be a weak video out cathode bypass cap, but it looks pretty good to me.
***Yes contrast work great ever since I replaced the 6AF9 video output tube.

I would focus on proper setup (grey scale, degauss,linearity,purity, focus,converge). Don't expect it to get a lot better, hard to tell if the focus is off.
***Thanks Again, for the help.
Electronic M Since it appears you are using a computer as a video source I'd recommend installing VLC media player. It gets rid of that annoying under scan mode on video cards if you play the video full screen.
***Thanks, useing VLC media player would have worked better. Good idea for next time.


I agree on that being a decent picture for a set that has just been woken up. The vertical linearity/size might be off too far for the controls to compensate, but aside from that,
*** I havn't even touched any of the conrols on the back yet.
honestly I think that set is only a bunch of knob turns away from running as good as new...
***I think your right.
Marco-nix that's better hey !
BigDavesTV That's a cute little "Admir-a-ble" console, great score! Very nice picture for beginning, looks like a decent emission CRT, as well, congratulations, and best wishes on your restoration!
tvcollector Great work.. I love the picture so far.. A screen with Brian Williams in it, always makes for an excellent picture
***Thanks,
old_coot88 Oh waao. That is amazing. A virtually 'working as found' time-capsuled set.
There's a quick-and-dirty check that can assess the overall condition of critical tubes, the "7 seconds off" test.
With the set running and warmed up, turn it off for about 7 seconds, and then back on. Watch for slow width fill-out, slow H sync lock, slow vert fill, slow color lock-in, slow clearing snow etc. Borderline weak tubes will show up.
***Thanks for the tip,Seems pretty normal to my untrained eye. i'll put up a video if problems come up.

One question. Is the 6KD6 is holding steady at 200 ma., and not rising with brightness increase?

The reason for asking is - if the current does go up with brightness, it means the set uses Admiral's pulse-feedback HV regulation which historically was very trouble-prone.
But if it uses the traditional 6BK4 shunt regulator, no problemo.

***Current goes up with brightness and jumps around depending on image on screen.http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/images/smilies/no.gif With snow on screen and brightness maxed it will go to exactly 260 ma. Any tips on keeping it from failing? Thanks for the help.

You actually want to minimize the HO tube cathode current. To do that you need to adjust the Horizontal Linearity/efficiency coil....I recommend looking up the sam's horizontal adjustment procedure for your set and doing that first. It will prolong the life of the flyback.

Very nice find.

Just to touch base on the mentioned Motorola CRT in this set: Motorola had a very short lived color CRT operation going in Franklin Park between 1966 and 1970. When the CRT plant opened in early 1966, it was only to supplement CRT supply from National Video Corp who was Motorola's exclusive supplier at that time. NVC couldn't keep up with Motorola's production demand during the big color TV boom years between '66 and '68. By 1969, color TV sales slowed down (a trend that continued through 1971). National Video Corp, also in Chicago had dissolved in 1969 and Motorola's CRT operation also became unprofitable compared to other purchasing options. By April, 1970 Motorola closed the Franklin Park CRT complex as they were now able to purchase complete CRT's from Sylvania for much less than Motorola's production costs. No big deal for the 2000 workers at that plant, they were all given options to be transferred to either of Motorola's numerous huge production facilities in the area at the time. How nice things were...
Motorola only entered the CRT business to be it's own OEM supplier, but seeing that Admiral was the little guy in town compared to Zenith and Moto, it would make sense that they helped supply Admiral with some CRT's. I'm sure Zenith was asked to put in a bid too...but the cheapest guy always wins.
*** Interesting, Thanks for the insight.

sampson159 makes sense.saw several of these admirals from that era.the moto crts put out a very good picture.yours looks good.when finished,it will be outstanding.great,great score
***Thanks



DaveWM looking good, crank that color down a smidge.
*** Yeah, I got exited over how clear and great the pictue looked i guess i had color over cranked.http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
old_coot88 Nice. Does it use a 6LE8 demodulator tube? The knock-your-socks-off reds sure looks like it.
How you would know that by looking at the picture is beyond me , but your absolutely right.

You actually want to minimize the HO tube cathode current. To do that you need to adjust the Horizontal Linearity/efficiency coil....I recommend looking up the sam's horizontal adjustment procedure for your set and doing that first. It will prolong the life of the flyback.
Ok Thanks, At normal brightness and with programing on, current hovers between 180-220 ma. After an hour and half of play, flyback tire is barely
warm. Acorrding to Sams it says current should be about 280 ma. not to exceed 300 ma with a .47 mfd cap across meter. I'm not sure if my meter has a cap across it or how that would effect the reading. So do you think its ok were its at?

Acorrding to Sams it says current should be about 280 ma. not to exceed 300 ma with a .47 mfd cap across meter. I'm not sure if my meter has a cap across it or how that would effect the reading. So do you think its ok were its at?

The .47MFD should be added across the meter leads to prevent the meter from loading the tube and giving a false reading. Any DC current meter adds some AC load to circut, and the added capacitor helps smooth it out.

Until you do this, you don't have an accurate measure of cathode current.

Usually this added load lowers the cathode current, but there are a very few exceptions.

James

My ma meter in curcuit current checker is a Seco Hc8. I pulled the cover off and it has a .1 cap across leads I tested it to 200 volts and is good. Would a .47 mfd make much difference?

The .47MFD should be added across the meter leads to prevent the meter from loading the tube and giving a false reading. Any DC current meter adds some AC load to circut, and the added capacitor helps smooth it out.

Until you do this, you don't have an accurate measure of cathode current.

Usually this added load lowers the cathode current, but there are a very few exceptions.

James

Actually, the cap nulls any added inductance (meter coil) and is necessary to prevent ringing which will destroy the HOT or other horizontal sweep components. Jack Darr commented on it, and Margolis' book details it better.

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/...-Page-0061.pdf

The meter's internal resistance acts like a larger value cathode resistor and has some limiting action, but the added inductance can bring about ringing that the tube and sweep components cant handle, so you bypass it with the cap.

I just bypass the milliammeter altogether, and add a 1 ohm resistor (not a wirewound!) in the cathode of the HOT. Using the unity law, the measured voltage across the resistor = cathode current. An analog high-impedance meter works best (I use a WV-98C VTVM) so you can see the peaks and valleys while adjusting the efficiency coil. The Pomona 2712A test socket I have for the 6JS6s has a little booklet suggesting this.

I'm tempted to install a cheapo meter permanently, just to check cathode current often. RCA 113382 flys are not exactly common these days...

Cheers,

My ma meter in curcuit current checker is a Seco Hc8. I pulled the cover off and it has a .1 cap across leads I tested it to 200 volts and is good. Would a .47 mfd make much difference?

Dunno the real difference, but Jack Darr recommends a .47, 600V cap:

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Consumer/Archive-Radio-Electronics-IDX/IDX/80s/1982/Radio_Electronics_January_1982.CV01-OCR-Page-0084.pdf

Sencore's SS105 Sweep Circuit troubleshooter bypasses the meter with a .02uF cap..

Cheers,

Thanks for the article.
I think i'll parallel a .33 mfd cap with the .1 and see if it changes meter reading.

I've been seeing this on eBay for quite sometime.. It's a pretty close model of your set, if it isn't..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-Paperwork-for-Admiral-Color-Picture-Tubes-and-TV-schematic-amp-More-/181655807047?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276

I've been seeing this on eBay for quite sometime.. It's a pretty close model of your set, if it isn't..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-Paperwork-for-Admiral-Color-Picture-Tubes-and-TV-schematic-amp-More-/181655807047?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276

That paperwork has a control panel that looks like a 1969 set with the H12 chassis.
I got a few of those and then sold them, they looked OK (owing to remark about Admiral's CRTs, they did not look great) but were very reliable.

Went to visit my mother yesterday, and we were talking and she said her cousin was cleaning out some old accumulated stuff at her house and she had an old tv I could have if I wanted it. Ma's cousin said it was the first tv her parents had and was working good when they took it out of service. (no tv untill late 60's)
They were old farmers and watched very little tv. This set has instant on and the switch on back was set to on. I thought for sure picture tube would be weak but it tests great. Came up into the good within 30 seconds.So here it is,
This is my first tube color set.


Very nice set. Will you plan to deal with the CRT cataract?

Very nice set. Will you plan to deal with the CRT cataract?

Thanks, I'm not sure, for right now i'll just leave it , i've never tried to remove one before and I would be sick if I destroyed the crt. I've been playing the tv a few hours a week and it's working pretty good.