I found a GE Porta Color! - Videokarma.org TV - Video

legenbass77 · #1 05-10-2013, 09:19 PM

I found it at a local estate sale yesterday, and it's a non-smoker set. Model WAHE5223RW Chassis 10HE. I have been wanting a tube set ever since my RCA CTC 53 got tossed years ago. I don't have a lot of room, and thought a Porta Color would be a good choice. Never thought I'd stumble onto one so quickly, and so close to home! This is the first Porta Color I've owned, so what are some things to be on the lookout for with these sets? Does anyone have a schematic for the 10HE? It works pretty well as found, but did turn down the screen controls, and contrast. Someone had them nearly all the way up for some reason. I figured that was just driving the crt too hard, and have them about a 1/2 turn up or so from minimum, still have plenty of brightness, backed off the contrast 1/4 turn from max, and it still looks decent. It does have a color problem as seen in picture 2. The redder part of the screen slowly scrolls from bottom to top then the blue section appears at the bottom followed by the red section again. I can clear it by turning down the color to minimum, then maxing it out, and back to normal range. About a minute or two later it begins the color scroll again. It quits doing it after around 15-20 minutes of operation, and plays flawlessly. Very happy with it though! I've been watching it the past two evenings, and heard two snaps yesterday, but none at all today.

Sandy G · #2 05-10-2013, 09:40 PM

Porta-Potties DON'T know that they're basically "Cheap 'n' Nasty" sets, they just TRY hard to work nearly 50 years on..The all-tube version was made up from late 1965 til about 1980, best we can decipher..

legenbass77 · #3 05-10-2013, 09:53 PM

LOL, thanks Sandy. This one is from 1975, so it's still got plenty of life left!

*zenithfan1* · #4 05-10-2013, 10:00 PM

The things to watch out for are the white ceramic tubular caps in it, there are only a few. Look around by the high voltage and horizontal sections. (towards the back left of the chassis). I have a 10HE and those things exploded on me and others have had it happen too. Can you please post a pic of the chassis? I'll show you what to look for, other people may chime in too. It's been a while since I've worked on one so I can't remember what the values are.........scotch whisky don't help me remember either

Once you change those, clean the tuner and stuff, the damn thing will last, like, 50 more years without anything done to it LOL!

BTW Does anyone else own a Porta-Potty that has a black cabinet and no handle from the factory or do I have something rare?????

legenbass77 · #5 05-10-2013, 10:19 PM

Thanks for the info! I'll pull the back off this weekend, and get a picture of it. Too sleepy tonight to mess with it! Just peeking in the top vent with a flashlight I saw a white .047 mfd @ 400 volts to the right of horizontal hold control.

*zenithfan1* · #6 05-10-2013, 10:46 PM

That's one of 'em!!

DaveWM · #7 05-10-2013, 11:58 PM

The setup for a portacolor G2 screens is a bit different than most sets, the sams has you turn them all up full, then adj so when the brightness is turned down the low lights are not tinted, at least one control should remain at full. Then adj the green/blue (by the contrast pot) so when the brightness is back up to full the highlights still lack any hue (adj with a b&w program or a grey scale pattern is best).

The moving color bar sounds like a HK short in the difference amp tube or maybe something wrong with the degauss circuit (if its the auto one anyway).

Try subbing in a new color difference amp tube 1st.

radiotvnut · #8 05-11-2013, 12:22 AM

I believe whisker shorted pots on the rear of the chassis was another common problem.

DaveWM · #9 05-11-2013, 12:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by legenbass77

Thanks for the info! I'll pull the back off this weekend, and get a picture of it. Too sleepy tonight to mess with it! Just peeking in the top vent with a flashlight I saw a white .047 mfd @ 400 volts to the right of horizontal hold control.

there is one more, think its a .1 boost filter also on the back corner near the flyback, pretty sure its 1kv could be higher.

legenbass77 · #10 05-11-2013, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveWM

The setup for a portacolor G2 screens is a bit different than most sets, the sams has you turn them all up full, then adj so when the brightness is turned down the low lights are not tinted, at least one control should remain at full. Then adj the green/blue (by the contrast pot) so when the brightness is back up to full the highlights still lack any hue (adj with a b&w program or a grey scale pattern is best).

The moving color bar sounds like a HK short in the difference amp tube or maybe something wrong with the degauss circuit (if its the auto one anyway).

Try subbing in a new color difference amp tube 1st.

Thanks for the tips! Very helpful, and will redo the setup. I'll have to do it with a b&w program since I don't have a test pattern generator at this time. Now which tube is the video difference tube? I didn't see one called that in the little tube diagram above the crt?

legenbass77 · #11 05-11-2013, 01:32 PM

Here are some pic of the chassis. I found 3 of those white capacitors. .1 mfd @ 1000v, .047 mfd @ 400v, and a .039 @25v. Looks like it may have had a crt replacement in 1976, because the crt has a code of 7609, and there are two handwritten dates of 7-21-76, and 9-24-76. I really appreciate the tips!