My first free find on Craigslist, a 36" RCA console TV
 

... Made in 1991, and boy has it got some hours on it...

The tube is very tired. So tired that even a slight adjustment of the VG voltage brought on retrace lines, and the picture is still too dim. It also has color bleeding.

Lacking a tube restorer or replacement tube, I will probably gut this TV for its speakers and other electronics.

I was given one of those a couple years ago. A monster. Got it off of freecycle, from someone who said the picture kept cutting out. When I got it home I took the back off and found that someone had broken the crt neck. Heartbreaking. When I parted it out I found the crt to be so heavy I could hardly move it...had a heckuva time getting it in the back of my truck by myself. One thing that impressed me about this set was that it seemed to have a lot of the "old" RCA in it, meaning some pride in manufacture.

What chassis (CTC-xxx) is in it? If you get a CRT tester, get a B&K 467 or later, a Sencore CR70, or a Beltron. At any rate, I wouldn't expect a big success story on rejuvenating that tube. The RCA's that I bumped didn't last that long.

Oh yes, it's a monster. I needed help getting the damn thing to the garage.

I really have no use for it. I just grabbed it to either sell it, or gut it for parts, and with the tube as tired as it is, the latter option looks more promising. It has some nice shielded speakers.

PS: it's a CTC 169

PPS: i don't mess around with restoring tubes. If it's too tired for flyback adjustments to help, it's junk.

ctc169 is the best rca ever made. a good bump with a quality crt restorer will bring that tube back up. they were also some of the best crt,s ever made by anyone period. this set wasent that bright when new. but they are a hell of a set. steve

that set also cost about 2 grand new. steve

Ummm... I've seen TV's 20 years older that that one, whose CRT's were in much better shape. I have a CTC 121 from 1984 that has a much better picture.

The dim picture is only part of its problems. The picture also has color bleeding, convergence issues around the edges, and a chip in the screen missing. So the tube is junk.

The 121 was a very solid chassis IMO. I picked up two over the past few years and one had an intermittent red short but I cleared it up and gave it to a friend. They did make great pictures.

Yep, I believe that. The one that I have, I found sitting in wet gress, it had been raining that day so I'm pretty sure water got inside it. I let it dry overnight, then fired it up and it worked fine.

Make sure to save that chassis if you junk the TV. Like has been said, that was a good chassis. The main things that went bad on them were the electrolytic caps in the regulator circuit and the HOT and it's associated parts.

Um... saving the chassis is out of the question as I don't have the tools, nor the courage to try disconnecting the HV wire from the CRT.

I did save the speakers though. They'll make great computer speakers once I find a box for em.

If it was an older or rarer set I'd save it, but I just don't have the room for such a monster.

hi, dont destroy or through away that chassis. i will buy it in a heartbeat. it is no problem pulling the chassis and you are not going to get killed removing the high voltage wire. you can always cut the wire at the suction cup at the tube using insulated cutters and rubber gloves. i have replacement anode caps. thanks steve

You're 5 hours too late. Garbage truck came and got it. And how would you get the TV from me anyway? You're in Mississippi, and I'm in Michigan. Shipping costs would be insane.

And on another note: I had a friend snip that wire, after the TV had been unplugged for a few days, and the electrical shock knocked him to the floor. Those damn wires bite way too hard for me to risk snipping one.

All you need to remove the HV waire safely is a flat blade screwdriver with a wire connected to the CRT's ground. Just slide the screwdriver under the HV connector and it will discharge itself. Even if you're touching the screwdriver, you won't get a shock since it's grounded. It's a lot safer than just moving a set that heavy!

If you're going to repair television sets, you're going to have to learn how to discharge a picture tube. It's not hard, nor is it dangerous. And if you do get zapped, remember, it's low current. It'll hurt like hell, but it won't kill you.

Just ground a screwdriver with a cliplead, and slide it under the suction cup. You'll hear a loud ZAP! Do it again, just to be sure. The suction cup is held to the tube with two little metal tabs that go into the hole in the side of the tube. It's a lot like how the top is held on Christmas ornaments. Squeeze the tabs together and rock them out of the hole.

I typically have a "discharge tool" handy. It's just a screwdriver with a length of lamp cord connected to it, and the shaft wrapped in tape. The end of the lamp cord has an aligator clip on it.

And yes, I've been bitten. By a computer terminal that I _thought_ wasn't producing any high voltage. It was. It hurt, made my arm twitch pretty good, and I felt it afterwards for a good hour or so. But, I'm not dead. And now I'm more careful ;)

-Ian

Yep, you must be able to safely drain the HV in this hobby.

Here's how I do it...

You know those 2-in-1 screwdrivers, with philips and flat, and one type fits into the handle when not in use? I threw the (small) shaft aside and cut a flat-head 2-3 foot shaft from another. I got bare copper wire about 18awg, and wrapped the length of the screwdriver shaft with it. I then stuck in the enpty handle, and it fits very snuggly. It's been my hv drainer for about 2 years, try it.

And as Andy mentions--don't drain HV to chassis ground especially in a modern set since it will likely fry IC's and EEPROMs.

BTW I must be nutso, because I've shipped far bigger things to far more distance places than that 169!

I fix things on TV's that don't have to do with the CRT. That, and those caps with the high voltage, are things I do not touch.

In this day and age, if the tube is bad, it's generally not worth fixing anyway unless you have a spare CRT handy. I mean, are you gonna go through the trouble of replacing the CRT in a BPC Magnavox, or RCA, or Zenith TV, when you have 5 of them already that work fine, and you find another one or two of them every trash day?

I don't mind fixing problems with the board or power supply if I can, but CRT analog TV's are a dying breed sadly, and to me it's not worth messing with them if the CRT is shot.

Never an issue discharging tubes with me. At first I was nervous but there are a lot scarier things to do with a tv set than properly draining the hv. (I still don't like measuring the hv, for instance)

Shipping just a chassis is pretty easy. I've been parting out a number of later model sets lately and have tried to save all the chassis. Somebody on here might need them sooner or later. The chassis that I had for the old 36 incher went to AK member JCFitz, who may still have it for all I know. I don't recall the CTC #

The CTC185 chassis isn't bad either, once the well-known issues with the onboard tuner are corrected. I have one of these sets with a 19" CRT and it's worked great the last eight years (bought it new in 1999). Only had one repair done on it in all that time. I once read somewhere on the Internet that once the on board tuner issues are repaired, the TV will work for years, as this was the biggest major problem this chassis had; the way mine has been going so far (knock on wood), I believe it.

I just soldered the RF connector back on a basic 19" mono CTC185. Even though the set is 11 years old, the picture is as good as anyone could hope for. RCA went back to a regular tuner on the later CTC203's. The early 203's had an on-board tuner just like the CTC175/76/77/85/87. Even though the tuners gave trouble in these sets; I still like them better than RCA's later offerings.

Whatever CTC my 19" Colortrak 2000 was, it was a damn good CTC as well.

Bought new in 1991, and it went from house to house and owner to owner until I finally sold it. It had S video, and a picture so sharp I could use it as a computer monitor at 1024x768!

I'd have kept it if it hadn't had that small nick in the screen...

i have a ct187 in a 31" ge.it was given to me by an old friend. replaced the hot and damper diode,(VERY CHEAP REPAIR-BOTH PARTS =8.00) resoldered around the tuner and we use it upstairs as a watcher.very good crt and the convergance is perfect.really good set!

The CTC 117 and 121 were both great sets when I used them. Neither had any major issues for such old sets. The 117 needed the color coil adjusted.

My bedroom set is a ctc-97 built in 1980 and it looks amazingly good for a vintage inline gun.

I was telling the telephone lineman about me getting shocked spicing telephone wire with my teeth. He said your lucky the line was not in ring mode. If the telephone rings the line produces more voltage. (replying about discharging picture tube voltage)

It certainally does. Not enough to hurt you, but enough to feel real good! When I was about 14 or so, I was rewiring the telephone jack in my room. We had two phone lines, and I was installing a switch to toggle that jack between them. While trying to twist the wires together using uninsulated metal pliers, the phone rang... Very weird feeling. Also something that I don't want to try again. :D

-Ian

My brother was telling me the other day about him calling the boss, and refusing to shut the electricity off on a job. I guess the fuse box was right near a leak in the roof. I told him that touching the fuse box would of gave him instant Viagra!!