Hi, I have acquired a 1968 RCA Color portable. Seems to have all the original tubes and does work although I get arcing in the HV cage. Only turned it on twice and get a raster but shut it down as soon as it starts arcing (when the picture comes up.)
Any suggestions on how to proceed? I have the Sams for the TV.
Thought it was a '67 but doesn't have the slide rule UHF tuner.
Thank you,

Holey mouse nest Batman!... I'd get rid of the nest first and check for chewed wires.

With the set unplugged clean the inside of the HV cage(be careful not to break off any wires on the flyback) and HV lead with rubbing alcohol and the CRT around the HV connection with glass cleaner (before cleaning HV related items discharge the HV by shorting for a few sec the HV to ground thru a 1M or higher resistor to avoid a shock). Then see if the arcing goes away or is easy to find....If you can find the arcing you can probably fix it.

Do you have the sams or RCA service manual? That is important to have to diagnose troubles.

Good TV by most accounts and personal experience. The 15LP22 appeared to have a better picture than larger CRT's using low-focus voltage. I liked working on these more than the tubed 19" RCA portable color sets because you knew when it was "done".

Open HV box, power up, turn out the lights and snap a picture of what arcs. Look for purple lightning or arcing flares. A loose-missing ground wire-spring to CRT dag coating may also exhibit arcing. The trick is to see where that arcing is happening.

I have not seen one of these in years and forget the HV rectifier tube socket arrangement, but always clean everything real good like Tom advises.

If there is an arc-hole burned through the HV tube socket-cup assembly, it is probably available from Moyer's Electronics.

Fixing a carbon-tracked cup is possible and I have done it using a Dremel to remove burned/tracked material then covering with RTV silicone.

The 5GH8 tubes are used for multiple functions in this set and may be an issue but the other tubes rarely needed replacing. Either way, those may need attention AFTER fixing the arcing issue.

Yes get a raster BEFORE you spend money on it.
Dont forget the HV filament wire often arcs too. Anything from there to the CRT conection can arc. You will probably have to pull the chassis. Be very careful
not to pull off any wires going to the tuner or controls.
If you pull the 5GH8's for testing be SURE to mark them & put them
back in the same place ! And DONT spray clean the tuner.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

Good TV by most accounts and personal experience.

We had one when I was a kid. We had two color TVs when many people had none, but being in the business has at least one advantage.

Ours was a very good performer, better than it's schematic would indicate. It was not trouble free and I recall as it got older it had a lot of crystallized solder on the tube sockets that needed painstaking attention.

John

We had one when I was a kid. We had two color TVs when many people had none, but being in the business has at least one advantage.

Ours was a very good performer, better than it's schematic would indicate. It was not trouble free and I recall as it got older it had a lot of crystallized solder on the tube sockets that needed painstaking attention.

John
I spent alot of time soldering these RCAs when they got to be 14+ years old. They were truly worth the effort. There were other mostly tube 15-inch color portables from Sylvania and Admiral that seemed OK but I saw few of them.

I never bought myself a TV either, just CRTs and other major investments where warranted:smoke:

I still have the ctc 53 that I suspect melted the hv cup based on the smell and smoke in the house when i awoke. The set was working very well with no arcing sound until I fell asleep. The thing that gets me is that part was little more than 50 years old. Could they design it better for those of us that need our money's worth? I bet I won't be joking if the flyback is melted which is more likely because my large apt was filled with smoke and awful stink. Stupid me didn't want the service plan for $15.00!

I still have the ctc 53 that I suspect melted the hv cup based on the smell and smoke in the house when i awoke. The set was working very well with no arcing sound until I fell asleep. The thing that gets me is that part was little more than 50 years old. Could they design it better for those of us that need our money's worth? I bet I won't be joking if the flyback is melted which is more likely because my large apt was filled with smoke and awful stink. Stupid me didn't want the service plan for $15.00!

You are extremely fortunate that burning HV cup or the flyback didn't start a fire, especially if the failure occurred when you were asleep.

BTW: The fact that your TV's HV cup, and the rest of the set for that matter, is 50 years old and the set was still working before the cup started to melt is a testament to how well your CTC-25, and all other TVs made before the flat screen era, were built. Today's flat screens would be all but unrepairable under the same conditions, that is, if anything burned or melted, and certainly if anything happened to the display panel itself, but that's the way today's TVs are made, unfortunately. I would keep that CTC-25 as long as possible once you get it working again, as they don't make them like that anymore.

Jeff has a great point. Its amazing the sets I sold starting almost 50 yrs ago
could survive til today. That was never the goal of the makers. A cheap set may have been made to average 5 yrs & a premium set 8 yrs. After all
these years its still easy to get most parts & do most repairs. Never
would have believed it back then :scratch2:

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

You are extremely fortunate that burning HV cup or the flyback didn't start a fire, especially if the failure occurred when you were asleep.

BTW: The fact that your TV's HV cup, and the rest of the set for that matter, is 50 years old and the set was still working before the cup started to melt is a testament to how well your CTC-25, and all other TVs made before the flat screen era, were built. Today's flat screens would be all but unrepairable under the same conditions, that is, if anything burned or melted, and certainly if anything happened to the display panel itself, but that's the way today's TVs are made, unfortunately. I would keep that CTC-25 as long as possible once you get it working again, as they don't make them like that anymore.

I think the name brands' goal was about 10 years at 2000 hours per year. Sets get used more heavily today.

I think the name brands' goal was about 10 years at 2000 hours per year. Sets get used more heavily today.

That prodded one of my old timey stories from my aging memory.

Back in the last few years of Thomson Consumer Electronics ownership of RCA, we still used to physically go to service seminars. For us CT guys, it was in Kearny N.J. I remember when the field rep told us the next model year of VCRs were crap and they were literally built to last 90 days - the warranty period. He told of us a big drop in prices on new VCRs and to figure the VCR repair end of the business would end soon. He was right on the money.

John

Yes, I got out of consumer electronics in 1985, when I could see the "handwriting on the wall".

Yes, I got out of consumer electronics in 1985, when I could see the "handwriting on the wall".
Yep, so did I about that same year. Never dreamed that someday I'd be 'doing it' again vicariously via a yet-uninvented magic medium.. and actually enjoying it.:tongue:

Yes, I got out of consumer electronics in 1985, when I could see the "handwriting on the wall".

I was in it for another 2 years but yes, I realized the average TV was becoming un serviceable unless someone had a projection or some other expensive model. From then to the present, electrical distribution design and construction management became my profession.

Until VK, I had no idea there was any general interest in models and servicing tales of old, but yet kept my stuff anyway.
I continued to install antennas on my own and work on whatever someone was interested in having repaired, usually less than 10 years old.

Hey GaryC, how goes the repairs? That's a pretty cool set and we haven't heard from you since your initial question. I think I'm not the only one curious to know how things are going/wanting to help you succeed.