1965 Motorola Black and white TV, curbside find

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by MRX37

Well even if it's worthless, it's still a piece of history and I didn't want it to suffer the fate of being ripped apart by scrappers. Or end up converted into a damn fishtank.

It's entirely possible this TV displayed the moon landings in 1969.
It's possible that it displayed news of the Vietnam war.
The oil crisis of the 70's, the technology boom of the 1980's, the rise of PC's in the 90's. Who knows how long this TV was in operation.

And for it to end its journey at the hands of some scrapper looking to score $2 worth of copper? No. Not if I can help it.

Now you're talkin'.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was Ann Margret's character in Grumpy Old Men who popularized the idea of ruining TVs to make fish tanks.

[MRX37]

I decided to make another video... just because I could...

https://youtu.be/rQiWICi4-3k

And the camera on my phone, for some reason records in a 16:10 aspect ratio, yet scales the video to 1280x720 which is 16:9, resulting in a squashed aspect ratio. It also records in a resolution much lower then 720p, so in this video I've corrected these faults as best I can.

[MRX37]

Now that the TV works, I should find out its secrets. I'm still hesitant about keeping this TV around, and would *much" rather give it to somebody whose more familiar with tube electronics then I am. However I'm starting to think this is a situation where the thing's adopted me. As far as I know the set's virtually worthless, so selling it isn't happening. Any vintage TV collectors near me likely haven't got the room for a set that's nothing special, and I don't want the scrappers to get it...

So if I'm stuck with this thing, I want to know what I'm dealing with. To that end I plan on replacing the filter cap at the very least. The voltages inside these tube TV's are no joke, and the thought of fifty year old components still handling and regulating these voltages scares me. All I need is for that filter cap or some other high voltage component to go "WELP! I'M DONE!" and cause the set to explode into firey shards and burn my house down...

So, I've grabbed some pics of the chassis. These are the best images that my current camera can take. I'd like to know if there's anything in this TV that should be replaced, and if there are any "OMG replace that now before your set catches fire" components.

Update: I found my old digital camera and got better pictures. Funny how my ten year old digital camera can take better pictures then the camera on a phone I bought a week ago.





I've suspected for awhile that the CRT wasn't original, due to the fact that it's not mounted straight. Now I have confirmation:
http://i.imgur.com/uRIFEJy.jpg

It looks like someone cared about this TV enough to replace the CRT in 1978. 2 year warranty. We're well past that now, but the CRT is in great shape regardless.

[zeno]

That chassis is super clean. At most I would change all electrolytics.
As far as going up in flames NEVER give up freedom for safety. The
odds are you will choke to death on a hot dog before this set will kill you.
It may not be worth any money but it comes from a different time &
country when quality & pride ruled. Display it with pride......

73 Zeno

[MRX37]

I found a power cord that will fit it, so now I can run it with the back off. I got brave enough to do that for a few minutes. I'm pleased to say the filter cap remained nice and cold. I only ran it for about five minutes, but it didn't do anything weird or scary.

I still plan to change the electrolytics. Only problem is I'm not sure how many there are. The filter cap for sure, and that big one that connects to it. What about all those brown things that look like they might be capacitors? And that white thing in the first picture, right below where the power cord plugs in?

Also worth noting is I opened the flyback cage and had a look inside. The flyback looks like it's coated in tar and I saw a few cracks in that tar. Probably nothing serious and I saw nothing flaking off, but thought I should mention it.

[fixmeplease]

Great choice of a video to play on it! Love it!

[MRX37]

Thanks. I thought it fitting given that I brought it back to life.

In time I plan on ordering new caps for it. In the meantime if someone spots something else that should be replaced, let me know.

Also, how often should I run this set to make sure nothing in it goes out of whack from sitting too long?

[Marco-nix]

From the moment where you changed all caps , set & tune all the adjustments, you're ready to run your set daily MRX37..

[DavGoodlin]

Great work for a guy who says he does not mess with old TVs much I got my start on a similar Motorola 2 years older

It was not long after 1965 before the quality of most monochrome sets trailed off, this one is a keeper.

[MRX37]

Originally Posted by DavGoodlin

Great work for a guy who says he does not mess with old TVs much

I didn't say that. I said I don't mess with tube gear often. I've fixed a lot of solid state TV's and recently touched up the convergence on my Chromacolor II, easily the best set I've owned for displaying ruby reds and emerald greens.

Tube gear is still pretty new and pretty scary to me.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by MRX37

I didn't say that. I said I don't mess with tube gear often. I've fixed a lot of solid state TV's and recently touched up the convergence on my Chromacolor II, easily the best set I've owned for displaying ruby reds and emerald greens.

Tube gear is still pretty new and pretty scary to me.

Tube gear is probably easier to tackle than early solid-state.

By the way, if that Chromacolor II has a white 4-lead safety cap, it has to be replaced with the Zenith 800-860 orange drop, stat.

[MRX37]

Oh no worries there! When I got the set from Strawman years ago, the first thing I checked was that cap, and it's nice and orange.

And apart from cleaning the controls and the circuit board plug in contacts, and cleaning goo off the CRT anode cap, the sets never given me any trouble.

[rca2000]

Originally Posted by MRX37

I found a power cord that will fit it, so now I can run it with the back off. I got brave enough to do that for a few minutes. I'm pleased to say the filter cap remained nice and cold. I only ran it for about five minutes, but it didn't do anything weird or scary.

I still plan to change the electrolytics. Only problem is I'm not sure how many there are. The filter cap for sure, and that big one that connects to it. What about all those brown things that look like they might be capacitors? And that white thing in the first picture, right below where the power cord plugs in?

Also worth noting is I opened the flyback cage and had a look inside. The flyback looks like it's coated in tar and I saw a few cracks in that tar. Probably nothing serious and I saw nothing flaking off, but thought I should mention it.

Those "brown things ARE capacitors, likely some sort of "film type" A lOT like brown devils or such. They DO go bad after 50 years.

the "white thing" is ALSO a capacitor, an "oil type" likely an "el-menco". they are MUCH more reliable that paper caps or those brown ones...but they CAN fail.

[DavGoodlin]

Originally Posted by MRX37

I didn't say that. I said I don't mess with tube gear often. I've fixed a lot of solid state TV's and recently touched up the convergence on my Chromacolor II, easily the best set I've owned for displaying ruby reds and emerald greens.

Tube gear is still pretty new and pretty scary to me.

Transistors scared me initially - they could not take transient overloads without destroying themselves like tubes can. You are right to be cautious with the voltages in tube gear.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by rca2000

Those "brown things ARE capacitors, likely some sort of "film type" A lOT like brown devils or such. They DO go bad after 50 years.

the "white thing" is ALSO a capacitor, an "oil type" likely an "el-menco". they are MUCH more reliable that paper caps or those brown ones...but they CAN fail.

I've seen enough bad elmnco and similar white caps that to me they are as bad as paper caps.