Hi guys ! Good Day Gentlemen,

I need help Schematics/Service Manual help with two GE PortaColor sets:

First is the one in the first picture. It looks a lot like the one in pix 2, except for the outer frame Black/White esthetics. The one in the photo had the following chassis number : 10AB3402V. I am hoping that mine is close/the same.

Why not a photo of my true chassis ID sticker? - well, the PortaColor is currently in storage, nicely bubble wrapped + food film plastic from the shipper & protected from humidity and i would like to keep it this way until i start the actual restoration job.

Portacolor #2 is a unit purchased a this year's ETF by friend Christophe the videographer. Wiser this year, i noted all the label info:
Last Photo shows the TV.

PortaColor - Montgomery Wards
Chassis ID : CGV12209C
S/N: 5H3D05627-AA-D
Service #12209 D01
Manufactured: May 1978

TV works - Thanks! to the lone UHF NTSC UHF TV Ch-19 Transnmitter remaining in the Columbus area but Green gun seems outta commission. Bad CRT PCB contact, dead G-Drive transistor or true gun failure, we do not know yet.

Both models seem relatively recent & all transistor or hybrid powered.

Anyone having SAM's or GE or Montgomery-Wards service data schematics and/or full service manuals please quote by PM please.

Many Thanks! in advance for any help,

Best Regards

jhalphen
Paris/France

...

An AA chassis GE - born in Portsmouth, VA, like me! Another American in Paris, oh gee....

Andy is correct - the little box would be about 3x4 inches, and can only be accessed by removing the back, as you have to unclasp it from inside the back. I'm not sure if the 13" sets had the box, but the 17" and 19" had it.

Attached is a PDF of the common AA/AB/AC chassis problems. They are all close cousins, and the griplet (Eyelets) problem plagued them and their earlier cousin, the EC chassis. We bypassed the griplets with 30 gauge wirewrap wire, attaching it with little dabs of RTV to hold it in place. Others have a scrape-and-solder method. Your choice.

Parts? I've got some. Sorry, no CRT or CRT board. EP##X## is the part number format, and if you don't have what you need, well, lemme know. I can zoom 'em to Paree like them 2SC1034's - I still have a couple should you need them.

Cheers,

I probably have the Sams, but will not be able to check until tomorrow afternoon, as I have a church breakfast in the morning.

Furthering my earlier post, the two griplet repair methods (not my authorship!):

* Method 1: Clean the coating from around each griplet on both sides of the
board to expose the surrounding copper pad. Apply liquid solder flux to the
cleaned copper. Solder so as to bridge the griplet to the cleaned copper.

* Method 2: Do the above but desolder the griplet and place a wire through it
so that the wire extends beyond the griplet to the copper foil and solder
the wire on both sides (this was the final fix GE used in this chassis).


There were Lots of problems with resistors opening up with no exterrnal symptoms. GE later switched to a less forceful insertion method on the AC and PC chassis to solve the problem. Check the resistance on the CRT cathode resistors and the G1/G2 resistors - they could be the only problem....

Cheers,

I might have the schematics that were in the back of the sets if yours are missing. Guilty technician as charged..lol.:nono:

Actually these are pulls from junkers. I have several in a drawer in the shop.

I might have the schematics that were in the back of the sets if yours are missing. Guilty technician as charged..lol.:nono:

Actually these are pulls from junkers. I have several in a drawer in the shop.

What's to feel guilty about? Just about all of us kept them until we had the whole AA/AB/AC chassis line. I've got a PC-A Chassis mini-manual right by the computer, and it says nothing about returning it to the set, but instead offers "Service Infromation for Technician" right under the words "Mini-Manual"

The owners would be surprised for sure to know the service lit was included with the set...

Remember Motorola Quasar sets that had the alignment tool clipped to the chassis by the convergence board? Very few sets remain, and I bet only a few have their tool still clipped to the chassis.....

Cheers,

thats the exact TV i had when i was a kid, the same TV that would randomly loose focus on some days, and other days be fine.

What's to feel guilty about? Just about all of us kept them until we had the whole AA/AB/AC chassis line. I've got a PC-A Chassis mini-manual right by the computer, and it says nothing about returning it to the set, but instead offers "Service Information for Technician" right under the words "Mini-Manual"
The folded schematics in TV sets I remember did have a note on them "property of the customer" or "should remain with the set" or similar. I know I have a bunch of those from Sony TVs that I junked in the early 1980s.

Eckard's old site still has the TIFF file on it for download: http://bs.cyty.com/menschen/e-etzold/archiv/TV/ge/img/GE_portacolor.tif

The folded schematics in TV sets I remember did have a note on them "property of the customer" or "should remain with the set" or similar.

Removed from some "-2" and "-3" suffix manuals, and completely gone with the advent of the "PC" and "PM" series chassis. At one GE Service Training I attended, the lead presenter (who wasn't a tech) said a California legal case (ironically, involving photocopiers) made them remove the verbiage and add a serviceman disclaimer. My PC-A Mini-Manual says "Service Information for Technician Use Only" and "Accessible from Inside TV Set only"

Apparently, the California case was a liability issue, where a customer attempted to fix the copier him/herself and was injured. The accessiblity of the service guide/manual was the key to the case. GE lawyers took note, and the mini-manual became a "for the servicer-only" product.

Ain't tort law just wonderful?

GE stopped putting the manual in the later PC chassis series - cost cutting, I'm sure. Another irony - other than a few Tektronix sales presentations, GE was the only one that didn't charge for the food/lunch provided at the service seminars. The place was always packed...

Cheers,

Eckard's old site still has the TIFF file on it for download: http://bs.cyty.com/menschen/e-etzold/archiv/TV/ge/img/GE_portacolor.tif

That's for the HC tube chassis Portacolor. They were not produced at the Portsmouth plant, but at the Utica or Syracuse plant. What Jerome has is an AA-D chassis, all solid state, often referred to as a PortaColor III - a tech term, not a GE marketing term.

The AA/AB/AC chassis was GE's third attempt at making a universal chassis similar to the Hitachi, Toshiba and NEC sets, where one chassis could drive a 13, 17, or a 19" set. Yokes and CRTs aside, they were all basically the same for a given chassis series. The first two GE attempts were the YA and the EC chassis sets, both modular chassis sets. GE had so many module variants that they had something like 210 different modules - EP93X40's to to EP93X300's. That, plus the Hitachi-based projection stuff they started out with, and it was hell stocking a working supply of modules. We had a three-page module matrix listing at the GE distributor I worked at in 83-84 - it was worn thin by the time it got updated. So much for universality....

Cheers,

I believe my portacolor is an HC chassis...1966

My AC chassis sets have
'property of the customer' and 'Only accessible from inside the set'

And yes i have a spare AB diagarm from a 10" GE i once junked.

Good Day Gentlemen,

Dear Brian, thank You so much for the Scans & various data. I'm sure that it will be great help in repairing both our GE All-Transistor PortaColors.

Unit #1 is safely tucket away in my basement, considering the above various exchanges, i seriously doubt the schematic would be inside the cabinet, considering it's late build date.

Unit #2 is still in NJ, awaiting post-ETF shipment. Once it arrives, i'm sure your data will help pinpoint why the Green gun is not displaing any video.

Question #2:
At the ETF i purchased a "spare" GE PortaColor CRT - a 10VADP22 tube.
Would this model be compatible with our two late-models transistorized units or are they fit only for the earlier tube-model PortaColors.

PS: the "poor thing" was sitting forlorn in an empty former cat-litter box, kind of felt sorry for it & purchased it...

Best Regards

jhalphen
Paris/France

I tried this. The anode cap is on the wrong side. But otherwise electrically compatible.

I have one of these (solid state) Portacolors as a parts set. Let me know what you need. Case is rough and the CRT is broken.