safely starting a rca rutland

[technicolor]

Originally Posted by Eric H

Is this a tube set? I wouldn't use a dimmer on a Solid State set, low voltage could damage a SS set.

it's a 1949, all tubes

[cbenham]

Originally Posted by technicolor

it's a 1949, all tubes

I would not use a dimmer switch on an older all tube set. You may fry the power transformer. Dimmer switches don't work like a variac at all.

You can wire up a 100 to 250 watt light bulb in series with the ac to the set to avoid putting full power to it when you first turn it on.
If you immediately get a full bright light from the bulb, shut the set off and start troubleshooting and looking for bad power supply capacitors.

Best Luck.