Advice needed- Zenith Z 4517-06. My first tube color set

[andy]

This really doesn't make sense because there is nothing to arc between the pins of the socket. They normally don't have any special insulation between them. The coating is probably to prevent corona, not arcing.

[fsjonsey]

Is there anything that would cause arcing in the HV rectifier socket then? Im completely stumped. Mainly due to the fact that the set worked fine when i first recieved it, but began arcing the next morning after I adjusted the G2 controls, played the set for a while, and turned it off. when I turned the set on again awhile later, the arcing started almost immediately. Before this, all was fine.

[fsjonsey]

Today I pulled the chassis and found the source of my arcing. Andy was right on in his assumption, there is an almost microscopic pinhole burned through the plastic rectifier cup. The only way i found it was the carbon deposited on the metal cover behid the cup. Can the cup be repaired? Could I use my soldering iron to try to melt weld the plastic to cover the hole?

[andy]

You should be able to fix that cup with a blob of silicone rubber on both sides. It wouldn't hurt to first seal the hole with a soldering iron like you said. Try to scrape all the black carbon away from the hole before you start.

[fsjonsey]

I melted plastic over the hole on both sides, and then spread a thick coat of silicone II on top of that. Everything is reassembled and I was about to put the chassis back in when I noticed that the jumper wires between the chassis and front panel, tuner, AFC, speaker, etc, werent labeled. Would anyone happen to have the sams for this set and be willing to send me a scan of the front panel wiring diagram? The chassis number is 16Z8C50, and the model number is Z 4517-06.

[fsjonsey]

Well, the rectifier cup developed another hole, this time on the side of the cup and not the bottom. I repeated the same process as last time, except I coated the entire inner and outer surface of the cup with silicone. Hope it holds up.

[peverett]

I had a Zenith Color TV high voltage cap do exactly the same thing-arc through. The pictures look almost identical to mine after it failed. Luckily, I had a parts chassis with a good cap.