Videokarma.org TV - Video - Vintage Television & Radio Forums

Videokarma.org TV - Video - Vintage Television & Radio Forums (http://www.videokarma.org/index.php)
-   Early Color Television (http://www.videokarma.org/forumdisplay.php?f=36)
-   -   New here and to Vintage TV. (http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=252564)

Daave 11-07-2011 09:08 PM

New here and to Vintage TV.
 
Hey all, I just signed up here.

Ive always had an interest in early roundie colour TVs, and have been looking around for an early colour TV for a while and finally found one (in fact I haven't even taken delivery yet).

Anyways its a Zenith 5215 UD model with a 25mc33 chassis. Ive never worked on a tube TV, but have repaired many solid state TVs with the assistance of the Internet ;)

Can anyone tell me anything about this particular set?

Owner says its 1965. Im in Ontario Canada, and this would be one year earlier than colour TV broadcasts started (which also makes even finding these TVs hard here) but perhaps the close proximity to the USA border it was probably used to receive many stations across the lake at the time.

Thanks for your time!

Electronic M 11-07-2011 10:03 PM

Welcome!

The roundy Zenith sets were for the most part very well made and reliable sets. Yours may still work (though it is best to power it up on a variac incase there are any power supply issues). I have two 1964 monochrome Zenith portables that still run well on the original capacitors.

I believe that there are some here that should be familiar with your exact chassis. On Zenith sets with different models, but the same chassis the insides are usually electronically the same (plus or minus the occaisional extra of a HIFI amp or remote chassis).

kvflyer 11-08-2011 04:07 AM

Hello and welcome to the forum. I suspect there will be much help coming your way. This forum seems to be full of helpful info.

zenithfan1 11-08-2011 07:40 AM

Omedetou gozaimasu! Congratulations on your Zenith acquisition. The 25MC33 chassis seems to be one of the best for reliability IMHO. There won't be any wax caps in that one but there are a few of those black beauties in there, only like 2. The cans are easy to deal with on these too, they usually aren't even bad but if you plan to clock a lot of hours, I suggest changing them. Please post some pictures when she arrives. I'll be happy to share any knowledge I have on it. There are a few other Zenith guys that will probably chime in too.

benman94 11-08-2011 10:41 AM

Hey Dave. I wish you the best of luck on your restoration. I'm mid-way through my first. You're right, the color set would've only picked up color broadcasts from Detroit or Buffalo. Just out of curiosity, where are you located?

compucat 11-08-2011 11:08 AM

My Zenith roundie uses that exact chassis. When you get it I will be glad to offer any information. I have had mine in restored condition for four years now. When working right it is a great set but can be a little maintenance intensive at times.

Daave 11-08-2011 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by benman94 (Post 3018002)
Hey Dave. I wish you the best of luck on your restoration. I'm mid-way through my first. You're right, the color set would've only picked up color broadcasts from Detroit or Buffalo. Just out of curiosity, where are you located?

The set was from the Chatham area Ontario so likely Detroit stations, and possibly Buffalo with the right antenna. Erie PA perhaps if they were broadcasting colour at the time. Im in a small town about 30 minutes directly south of Hamilton.

benman94 11-10-2011 07:38 AM

Chatham you say?! Grandfather was born and raised Wallaceburg; moved to the US to work for WJR in the late 40s.

kvflyer 11-10-2011 02:51 PM

I bought a CTC-9 210CK875 locally almost a year ago. It sat for about 6 months and I decided to remove the electrolytic caps. I re-stuffed them and replaced the zero emission CRT and was rewarded with a raster! I used a variac that fed a Kill-A-Watt. That thing is great. You can monitor the voltage, wattage and amperage as you bring the voltage up. Excessive current becomes obvious immediately and gives you a chance to stop.

So, a good place to start. I suspect that if you do the electrolytics, you will be way ahead of the game.

Daave 11-14-2011 09:21 PM

2 Attachment(s)
Welp I finally got the set today. I normally wouldn't jump into powering up a set this old but the owner said he did only a couple weeks ago, so I figured any harm that was going to happen, would have happened already.

So it powers up, all tubes that I can see including the 21FBP22 picture tube glow a nice orange, and after some 10-15 seconds the HV winds up and I see all 3 guns firing to form a nice horizontal white line across the picture tube!! So Im excited, there is no vertical deflection, and I didn't hear any sound either, and the horizontal output tube has a blue arc after the HV started. Also heard some popping. I didn't leave it powered on past that. I think its a good start though. Some of the majors are working!

The cabinet top is rough shape, Quite dirty over all and does need some cabinet work. I think I have a guy that can fabricate new top/side panels for it. It has 45 years of dust in it, but from a non-smoking household. I think as suggested my first move is cleaning it, finding a schematic and the lytics. It is 100% complete though. So I think its a good find especially being in Canada.

miniman82 11-14-2011 09:58 PM

Recap the power supply filters at a minimum, as for the no vertical does this set have a setup switch? I had the same chassis in the house not too long ago, but didn't spend a lot f time with it so I don't remember. It's probably in the wrong position or just dirty, wiggle it if there is one and I bet vertical pops up.

Electronic M 11-14-2011 10:12 PM

You need to turn the brightness to the minimum needed to light the screen when running without vertical sweep or you will BURN the line PERMANENTLY into the phosphors ruining watchability of the CRT.

Phil Nelson 11-14-2011 10:31 PM

A raster and horizontal deflection are encouraging signs (arcs and popping sounds, not so much).

In addition to electrolytics, I think I see a "bumblebee" plastic-coated paper cap hanging off that convergence board. Those are as bad as wax paper caps -- highly suspect.

If I spied any other bumblebees, particularly in vertical & horizontal sections, they would be high on my list for replacement. Ditto for any plastic-coated caps in other clothing, like Big Chiefs.

Have fun,

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

Daave 11-14-2011 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by miniman82 (Post 3018531)
Recap the power supply filters at a minimum, as for the no vertical does this set have a setup switch? I had the same chassis in the house not too long ago, but didn't spend a lot f time with it so I don't remember. It's probably in the wrong position or just dirty, wiggle it if there is one and I bet vertical pops up.


After clearing off the dust on the vertical output tube, its getter is gone all white and flaking off the inside of the tube. Im gonna guess thats bad.

I only ran the set for a few seconds in this state as to not burn anything in.

bgadow 11-14-2011 10:48 PM

Correct diagnosis on that vertical tube. Was the arc inside the HO tube? I'd say replace that and the damper. I forget which tube it uses; if one of the really expensive ones, shop around a lot. Remember to post here if you need any tubes or parts as lots of us have a good stash.


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:07 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
©Copyright 2012 VideoKarma.org, All rights reserved.