"Some fools never learn", a favorite song of mine, a favorite saying as well. Well, this was on freecycle today and I let the guy talk me into taking it. 1988 RCA CTC-148/149 (I didn't look hard enough to find out which, that is what it says on the chart inside) a decent console with swivel base. It has an intermittent power-up problem. It doesn't matter whether you use the switch on the set or the remote, hitting power does nothing, not even a click. After hitting the button a couple dozen times I saw a flash of yellow light on the board in the general area of the power connection and the set powered up fine. After that I took it through numerous cycles with both remote & set switch and it always did fine.

My first guess is a bad solder joint, but I thought I would inquire here to see if the pros have found something else to be a common problem. I don't want to put much into this set as I will likely just give it away. (assuming I can find someone to take it!) Any advice, as always, is appreciated!

Oh, and if anyone wants this set just let me know. No charge!

Bryan,

Here's what I have in a repair database from the late 90's, don't know the source...

www.talonix.com/images/RCACTC148.doc

Its in two columns, with the fault in italics, the cure immediately below it. It's an excerpt from a 94 page list.

Hope this helps...I haven't worked a CTC-148 chassis set in a long time.

Cheers,

Thanks! Looks like a bad trace will be the first to check.

you will probley find a cpuple of leaking capacitors toward the flyback. change those. you will see where they are leaking. if memory serves me they are 220uf and 470uf caps. that is a great chassis. steve

I'll second rcaman's opinion on the caps. My neighbor has a CTC149 that never had a service call until about 6 months ago. It started having power on problems and it was caused by leaking electrolytic caps. It's now going strong again. In fact; he says it's got a better picture than his friend's new expensive plasma TV. I told him to keep that set as long as it could be repaired.

From what I have seen, the signal to a plasma or lcd TV makes a lot of difference. At the local Wal-mart, they either have a very bad signal or very poor flat screen TVs. All of the flat screens up to the highest resolution look out of focus. The CRT tvs that they are selling(and they still have quite a few CRT models) look better.

However, at the local Sears store and at Fry's the flat screens look great.

From what I have seen, the high resolution HDTVs are essentially worthless (look like crap) unless fed a very good signal. The local Radio shacks also have the bad signal or bad TV problem.

I pulled the chassis over the weekend and immediatly spotted something. Both leads had broke loose from the thermistor. It makes my brain hurt, but I'm trying to think...doesn't that have to be there for the set to work? The leads were still close enough in contact for an arc to be drawn so maybe that is what was happening. I wonder how close to the specs I need to get? I wouldn't be scared to try the wrong value on a tube set but solid state sure isn't my cup of tea. I have had limited success fixing broken leads on these but would rather just replace it. Advice welcome!

I pulled the chassis over the weekend and immediatly spotted something. Both leads had broke loose from the thermistor. It makes my brain hurt, but I'm trying to think...doesn't that have to be there for the set to work? The leads were still close enough in contact for an arc to be drawn so maybe that is what was happening. I wonder how close to the specs I need to get? I wouldn't be scared to try the wrong value on a tube set but solid state sure isn't my cup of tea. I have had limited success fixing broken leads on these but would rather just replace it. Advice welcome!

That thermistor is in the degausing circuit and will not keep the set from powering up. Most any thermistor from a junk '80's or '90's set should work.

Overdue, but I wanted to thank everyone again for your help. I got that set going just fine. Initially I replaced the thermistor from something from my junkbox. It looked close but when I powered the set up the fuse blew. I was going to order an exact replacement but then one day I took a back road home and there was a junk tv in the ditch. (1990 Zenith 19") It was trashed but the thermistor was intact so I did a transplant and it worked fine. And, yes, there was a bad cap, I think it was 330uf but not sure. I then had to clean around the ultor connection real good due to corona from all the dirt in this set. So, it's all wrapped up now, working great...now if I can just find someone who wants it! It figures that about the time I figure out how to fix sets like this, they would become worthless! I now have someone wanting to give me another RCA console with a color problem. There is a perfectly good Toshiba 27" going begging right now on freecyle-I won't get that one, at least.