Does anyone know anything about this Zenith set?
 

Does anyone have any opinions on this set?

http://www.boxcarcabin.com/zentih-25cc50-tv.jpg
http://www.boxcarcabin.com/zenith-25cc50-chassis.jpg

Not my pictures. I don't want to like to the advert because I REALLY REALLY want this set if I can get it!

Examine the convergence coils closely. The plastic has a habit of becoming VERY brittle and falling apart. I had a similar set that the convergence coils decided to fall apart on the 3 hour ride home, and I ended up being left with a huge tangle of wire on the chassis.

I will probably not be the one getting this set so I can't really examine this set. I will *hopefully* have a friend from this forum pick it up, but I don't know if they will be able to...

Kamakiri, what is your opinion of these sets?

An easy TV to deal with, made in '72 or '73.
Built like a tank & a reliable set back then.

73 Zeno:smoke:

It looks like it was from a heavy smoker's home. The set needs a lot of detailing.
A few, on this forum, wouldn't even consider it. :D

Well a chassis can be washed and HV areas cleaned. I have washed chassises before without incident... But as I said that is NOT my set, I don't want to link to the advertisement for it because I REALLY want to get it and I don't want to risk anyone buying it out from under me... I was just asking for opinions on the set as the one I found has I believe the same chassis in it.

A lot of people seem to like them and have had great success with them. I had two of them back in the mid-1990s, and they were fantastic sets. However, I've also had two of them within the last year, and both were headaches.

Those Zeniths with the "$ervice $aver" chassis are super easy to work on, but that horridly brittle plastic both on the convergence coils and the yoke componentry is a turn off for me. Although, I'd still probably get it :yes:

Wuss. The set's about 45 years old, it's old enough to smoke :smoke:

Kidding aside, I'd agree.....heavy nicotine tar is nearly impossible to get rid of in an old TV. And with the tube heat the smell comes back in spades when the set's in use.

I'm probably going to get it even if I have to drive the 750 miles a month early to get it and miss spending Christmas with my family... :p
Tubed color sets are rare as hens teeth here in Texas.. Small Honda with no basement and puny attics makes old things harder to find in any cindtion... Same problem up I'm California...

The seller in Craigslist just emailed me and said they would hold it until Christmas!!!!!!! B
I am buying the set for a measly 10.00 even though I offered $50.00!!

Where are the dancing bananas when you need them?? Lol

For 10 beans I can't go wrong!

That set I believe is 99% the same as the 20cc50, which I have, as a 23" set. They produced awesome pictures, and are very good tv's. I recommend this tv as being the one tv I would save if I had to pick only one out of my floor model tv's to save... ( you know fire and can only save one, or other sci-fi related bizarre scenario where you have that strange option... ) Good luck, I think the picture tubes were also quite good long term performers...

Another little heads-up regarding the plastic parts that habitually disintigrate.
The horiz efficiency coil. The coil's adjustable, and its function is to tune to the sharply resonant 'dip' in plate current of the H output tube.

When the plastic form holding the windings lets go, the resonant point is lost and there's no way of limiting the plate current. In terms of lethality, that's equivalent to a burst aortic aneurysm. :eek:

Well, if anyone wants to see it here is a link to the craigslist ad. It will probably be gone soon as the seller said they were going to take it down...

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/fuo/4156411488.html

shame its gone.that is one fine piece of electronics.saw many of these sets.rarely needed repairs.billy would grab every one he could for resale."the picture will sell it and they never came back."billy made millions in an econimically repressed area of columbus

So how common is it on these setss for the plastic to crumble on things when they are touched?
According to the seller they liked the set so much in the early 90's they had it completely re conditioned but it apparently stopped working some time in the early 2000's and has been sitting ever since because they could not justify the cost of having someone come out and repair the set in house.. I am guessing that since this is a tube set that a few of the tubes got weak and died, that or a bad tippler would be my best guess.... Could be the HOT aswell...

It's gone because I bought it silly! :D:D I got it for the princely sum of $10.00 and moving it down a flight of stairs!

Cool looking set. Good luck with it!

I will post the picture from the craigslist ad in a few...

Here is a picture I pulled from teh ad before it was taken down.

:yes:

thats a good looking cabinet on that set.should be an excellent performer.good find!

Mr Squirrel has seen this in a 1973 model, but the one in post #20 above is a Top-of-the-line 1971 model. Thats when Zenith was mopping the floor with all thier competitors.:D
My grandma had one with the same knob layout and swing open controls below the speaker, 25V picture tube, it was a 12B14C50 chassis.
It required few repairs and got lots of use in the first 12 years. The tuner was incredible for DX reception IIRC
I kept it going for another 7 but it became a bench-tech challenge, replacing electrolytics, varistors and other odd components.

Like a high performance car, these had odd symptoms and "special items" (thanks, Old Coot!) you had to watch out for to avoid disaster.
The crumbly plastic as noted above (thanks for the warning, Tim) is an age issue as much as heat issue.

Amen to that, I sold many of these in the early-mid 80s, found at curbs with a minor issue and excellent CRT, advertised from $100-150 in the "pennysaver", got me through school

Still have the 12B14C52-23V in a similar plastic-front cabinet to Joe's, safe in my attic, that my folks bought when I was 8, future project

So how hard would it be to find plastic parts that are crumbling.. From what I can tell these sets are pretty hard to find here in Texas...

I believe I may have a complete yoke for one of those still if you need it.

For Zenith Late 60's Early 70's. You could get Hybred first early 70's. This was solid state with High Voltage Tubes. Then 1974-5 all Solid State . Zenith waited & did modual only for each circuit. This way like a tube, problems in vertical change modual. You could repair modual or put in New one. Fix later or send back for refurbish.

RCA did XL 100 First Solid State TV, but one one big board. Big board had lots of bugs in it. Both come out saying no more Vertical & Horizontal Hold control ever again. RCA did modual soon after big board bugs. Modual had epoxy or somthing covering parts.

Of course The hor. efficiency coil was a standard circuit component ubiquitous to other brands besides Zenith. Zenith was the only one using the notorious plastic coil forms (AFAIK).
Correct. It's seen most frequently in old roundies and 19" metal cabinet table models with marginal cooling. And in very high hours sets.
But upon acquiring any Zenith tube color set, the very first thing to check is the H efficiency coil to be sure it's intact. If it's come apart, you can't run the set without burning up the H output tube. Hence the earlier ("burst aortic aneurysm" metaphor).

A discussion here (the OP used the term "H. Oscillator tube", meaning to say "H. Output tube")...
http://videokarma.org/showthread.php...fficiency+coil

I remember the listing. It was listed for a couple of months. IIRC It's not in the worst part of town, but not the best either. I would make sure you go there in the daytime.

Yeah, I noticed :p
I have lived next door to millionairs and have lived in the ghetto (that was a house that was inhereted in a preveiously nice neighborhood...) that house is the last hold out on th block to have painted wooden sidelong, and a flower bed... Incidny it has been robbed twice in the past few years :p
Basically, I'm good in almost any environment and yeah, I wouldent meet any Craigslist seller at night for obvious reasons...

Not to worry. There are ways IF you have the problem. It
happens but not on all of them.

73 Zeno:smoke:

I've got 4 1970's color Zeniths and have not encountered any crumbling of neck components....Granted I have only disturbed said neck hardware on one of them.

There was one verry common problem with later Zeniths using pulse regulator tubes (6HS5 or 6HV5) for HV regulation. That's the big fat puppy without a top cap that sits near the HV cage. Failure of that tube was the most common problem with these sets back in the day (in my experience, at least).

Symptom was loss of width, loss of focus, and low HV.

The tube would fail in service but test good on a tester. Subbing with a known good tube was the only real test for it.