My mom has an old tv, believe its an RCA, made around 1986, and i just uncovered it. I've been using it with a couple friends in this old shed in my friends back yard and it works fine. The only problem is the brightness. We cant watch any movie that has dark parts, which sorta takes away the whole point. Its difficult to make out faces, scenery, etc. Also looks cartoony at times. Would there be anyway that i, a 16 year old with little knowledge of electronics or the inner workings of old tvs could improve this scenario? I am willing to learn. I assume there was a time when the TV was able to handle darkness. Do i just need to replace a tube or a bulb of somesort? Or is the TV garbage? I can get more specific specs if needed, just dont feel like running over atm, especially if nothing can be done to improve it.

Thanks, sorry if this is a stupid question.

welcome to AK Scotty. The problem your experiencing is just wear in the picture tube, and can most of the time be easily remedied with some simple adjustments.

The thing you need to be most aware of is the tremendous voltage inside the set used for the picture tube. It is essential to your well being that you use the utmost caution when working on the innards of a TV set. The High Voltage lead (big red wire to the top of the picture tube), the flyback transformer (small unit that the other end of the HV lead attaches to), and the deflection yoke (yoke on the neck of the picture tube with lots of copper wire) all carry in excess of 600 volts, 25,000 volts at the flyback and picture tube.

That being said, you can still adjust the picture controls to get the brightness back to normal, here are some steps about doing this.

1. purchase insulated alignment tools or a small plastic screwdriver set. You don't want to be holding metallic tools when working around high voltage.

2. open the back of the set, and blow out the dust. This can be done with compressed air, a "can of air", or the back end of a vacuum cleaner.

3. Look for a control on the circuit board or rear of the set labeled any of the following:
--sub bright
--sub brt
--s bright
--s brt
that would be the sub-brightness control. NOT ALL SETS HAVE THIS, so be aware yours may not have it. If so, you have it easy. In this case, turn on the set, let it warm up for 5 minutes, set the brightness control in the setup menu (or rotary control if this set still has one) to the mid setting. Now do the same with the 'picture' or 'contrast' setting --whichever your set has. At this point it is helpful to have a good video source with alot of black --like a letterbox movie. Now you would slowly advance the sub-brightness control until the black areas just start to show light, then back off until it turns black.

However, if your set does not have a sub-brightness control, move to step 4.

4. You need to adjust the picture tube cutoff levels. This is known as a grayscale procedure. Here's how:

--1st, go to your setup menu, or control door with knob controls (whichever you have) and set brightness and contrast to midpoint, set color to MINIMUM. Use a video source with no color if at all possible (I.E. black and white movie) Also try to use a movie in letterbox format, as you need alot of black.

--2nd locate the cutoff controls on the back of the picture tube. They will be on a small circuit board. They may also be labeled " red G2, Blue G2, Green G2, OR red scrn, blue scrn, green scrn" you may also see two or three of the following controls blue drv, grn drv, red drv. These are Drive controls --ignore these at this point. please also note that some RCA sets of the late 80s had them on the back panel, so look at the back of the main circuit board for the controls.

--3rd, park the set about 3 feet in front of a mirror if at all possible. You don't want to be reaching around trying to adjust controls in the HV region of the set while looking at a screen.

--4th, Commence with the grayscale procedure shown below:

6-1: turn up the red screen (or red G2, whichever you have) until the blackest part of the screen (like the black bar above the letterbox movie) starts to turn red. Now back it off until that red just disappears.

6-2: turn up the blue screen (or blue G2, whichever) until the blackest parts look blue, now back it off until they are black. THE REST OF YOUR PICTURE SHOULD NOW LOOK MAGENTA.

6-3: turn up the green screen (or green G2) until your blackest parts turn green, then back it off until they are black again. Now the greys of the picture should be gray and have No tint at all. If so GREAT! if your grays look tinted, carefully adjust the screen controls to relieve the tint (if purple, increase green, if turquoise, increase red, if amber, increase blue) its all about mixing colors. IF YOUR WHITES (bright parts of the screen) ARE TINTED, PROCEED TO STEP 7.

7. Drive controls. Now we finally get to the drive controls that we ignored earlier. These control the whites (bright areas of the picture.) On some sets there may be only two drive controls, most have three --one for each color. again, they are labeled Red Drv, Blue Drv, Grn Drv.

If your set only has two (Blue or green only --or blue and red only) you need to set them to equal the color that does not have a drive control. For example: if your set has only blue and green drive, the red is fixed with the screen control meaning there is NO RED DRIVE ADJUSTMENT. So simply adjust the green and blue to make the whites look white. Let's continue:

7-1: back off all the drive controls. If your set has three drive controls (one for each color, bring each one up one at a time to make a picture. If the screen looks one color already, let's say red for example, bring up the blue drive to make the whites purple, then green to make the whites white.

At the end you should have a complete black and white picture. bring the contrast or picture control up until your whites are an acceptable brightness. Now play a movie with good color and lots of faces. bring up your color control until flesh tones look natural and not saturated. If they look green or purple, adjust the TINT control in the setup menu or control.

Your picture should rock now.

you make this sound easy :rofl:

Jordan, you condensed that so neatly, you must NOT write for a living, 'cause you would starve getting paid by the word!

Scotty, I hope you realize there are no dumb questions, just stuff you have yet to learn - and the guys around here are happy to hook someone new into the joys of playing with old gear and seeing it work right again. Keep us posted on your progress!

A 1986 RCA will have a single screen control and 3 drive controls, one each for R,G, and B...
if the controls don't do it the CRT may be weak.
Here is a good TV repair guide especially for sets of around your age...
please make sure you heed all the safety warnings.
http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/tvfaq.htm

Jordan, you condensed that so neatly, you must NOT write for a living, 'cause you would starve getting paid by the word!
:D guess i'm just used to giving advice too quickly. it sure didn't seem long while I was typing it ;)

I've been to that site Chad recommended. It is definitely an excellent place to get started if you're new to this

Hey guys,

sorry it took me soo loing to reply... ive had internet problems. I am infinitly indebted to you for that ridiculously good reply:thmbsp:. I am performing the procedure this friday. Wish me luck. I will reply and let you know how it turned out. Thanks agian. That reply was so crazy. Thanks. I feel very welcome to your forums.:banana: also are insulated/ plastic screw drivers 100 percent necessary? Will i have to use them to adjust the various settings? Or can i take it apart with the power unplugged and then toggle the knobs with my fingers after turning the power back on? Thanks

you can't really estimate with the power off. If the adjustments are plastic instead of metal, you may be able to use a small screwdriver, but its much safer to use plastic tools. I would most certainly NOT USE YOUR FINGERS. You are a path to ground. If your resistance happens to be less than a circuit nearby, dangerous voltage could travel through your fingers and your body, possibly causing death.

Always play it safe around high voltage, your life is worth much more than a small inconvenience. :yes:

Hey guys,

sorry it took me soo loing to reply... ive had internet problems. I am infinitly indebted to you for that ridiculously good reply:thmbsp:. I am performing the procedure this friday. Wish me luck. I will reply and let you know how it turned out. Thanks agian. That reply was so crazy. Thanks. I feel very welcome to your forums.:banana: also are insulated/ plastic screw drivers 100 percent necessary? Will i have to use them to adjust the various settings? Or can i take it apart with the power unplugged and then toggle the knobs with my fingers after turning the power back on? Thanks

You can find plastic screwdrivers sets online (shipped right to your house). and if youre lucky Radio SHack (they used to have them, may still). They arent as hard to find as you would think.

As a sidenote these guys on here are an awesome crew. I lurk a lot and dont post too often, but with the information ive got here i bought an old radio off ebay (from the 1950's) and restored it to working. Im a mechanic with almost no real electronic knowledge outside of car computer systems/electronic engine controls. These guys are incredible in what theyve seen, what they know, and what they are able to explain (as you have seen already). Once i got the old radio working i was hooked, and ive done 3 since. I wish you luck and hopefully you will stick round here and be part of the AK crew.

Thanks. Mission accomplished. Your directions were perfect. It was quick and easy. I also didnt die which is a plus. Thanks agian TV looks awesome. Watched Snakes on Plane on it last night. Shitty movie, great picture though. lol. Thanks agian.

Glad to hear you got it looking good again.

SOAP was a great movie...