Zenith Chromacolor II - chassis 17EC45

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by TUD1

I used to have a set with this chassis, and I loved that set. It had the best picture I had seen on a shadow mask TV. It could look good sitting next to a Trinitron. One thing to look out for on these is the big run capacitor. If it hasn't already been replaced, it will certainly fail in very short order. An A/C supply house will have it. Also sometimes the picture can look a little bit grainy, if it isn't crystal clear, you can tweak the AGC delay and it should clear up. I'm pretty certain this set has vertical height and centering controls.

Think you just had bad luck. Of the 5 original CCII sets I've had 0 have needed that cap changed...

[Jon A.]

That's a nice set, good to know it's in good hands.

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Think you just had bad luck. Of the 5 original CCII sets I've had 0 have needed that cap changed...

No kidding, my 1976 Electrohome used a Zenith-supplied run capacitor which I ended up changing needlessly in an attempt to remedy random brightness fluctuations. I thought it might be going bad because it was getting quite warm, but that will happen to anything mounted on a plate on top of the VRT, doi. I chased that problem around most of the time that set has been in service, finding the cause only a few days ago by accident. It had been holding up well for quite some time, then I tried to get a Sylvania remote tuner to work in there but no dice. I had been using a temporary tuner while the original awaits repairs, it's just sitting in there. Once I reconnected that the brightness started dropping out again. I finally traced the problem to a poorly grounded IF cable; I bent the tabs slightly inward on both ends, shoved the connectors back on and presto, normal brightness.