I finally found another 1991 Colortrak 2000, with S video! - Page 3 - Videokarma.org TV - Video

MRX37 · #31 11-01-2008, 03:15 PM

Okay! The colortrak is alive again! Here's a pic!

I took the thermistor from a 90's Magnavox, as well as a new fuse. This thermistor is encased in a plastic shell, I guess to protect it. Bit of a PITA to fit it in, but lengthening the leads worked.

I've been running the TV for about an hour, and I've powered it on and off a few times during the hour just to be sure.

I also replaced a few caps. They didn't test bad, but they had seen some heat (shrunken wrappers), so I changed em out with some Nichicons that were in better shape.

Also, no Sanyo caps in this set that I've found.

zenith2134 · #32 11-01-2008, 07:51 PM

Guess I was thinking of a later chassis regarding the Sanyo;s. Regardless of brand, you did the right thing if they looked crispy. Nice pic, congrats.

Jeffhs · #33 11-06-2008, 01:26 PM

I have an RCA CTC185 XL-100 19" table model, bought new in 1999. Great picture on cable. I had only one repair done on this set in all that time; other than that, it's been fantastic, and it is used every day with my VCR and DVD player (I don't watch much else except news and a couple of favorite shows on cable).

As others have mentioned regarding these sets' picture quality, mine makes an excellent picture, comparable to my 1995 Zenith Sentry 2. I also noticed quite a while ago that my set has the inline phosphor CRT and probably inline electron guns as well, which very likely explains why the picture is so very good.

Once the onboard tuner issues were resolved on my set (I'm sure the tech who worked on it to repair the problem I called him for resoldered the ground points around the tuner as well), that was the end of the problems; it's been almost nine years and haven't had anything else done with or to the set, and it still works as well as when it was new. I expect to be using mine well after the digital transition.

MRX37 · #34 11-13-2008, 09:27 PM

The XL 100 line seems to have lower quality CRT's then the Colortrak line. Not surprisingly as Xl-100's are lower end.

I found an 1989 XL-100, almost identical to my 1991 Colortrak. The CRT has a green tint when the color is turned all the way down, and retrace lines are visible. CRT's pretty much shot.

However, the chassis seems to have a lot of interchangable parts with my 1991 Colortrak, so I'll definitely be keeping it.

freakaftr8 · #35 11-13-2008, 09:32 PM

Wonder if Colortrak and XL CRT's are the same brand... Rebadged mid 90's Zenith CRT's possibly? lol jk

radiotvnut · #36 11-13-2008, 09:47 PM

I think by the time this set was made, the XL100 was nothing more than a designation. During the '80's and '90's, the XL100 and ColorTrak chassis were basically the same. The main difference I saw between the two was that the ColorTrak's had a light sensor and the XL100's did not. In my experience, the worst RCA CRT's were from the late '70's and early '80's (found in both XL100's and CT's). In fact, my parents owned a circa '77 19" ColorTrak that used a delta gun CRT and a modular chassis (CTC87, IIRC). The picture tube went bad somewhere around '82 or '83 and my Dad had it replaced. The set was trouble free after that. I've seen a few Thomson CRT's that were bad; but, not that many. The bad ones that I saw were usually in sets with ten zillion hours on them.

zenith2134 · #37 11-13-2008, 11:05 PM

Coulda been a ctc-89, radiotvnut. Picked one up from 77 witht he colortrak badge and a weak-weak crt overall. Green was totally dead.

Modular though.

nd yeah, it doesn;t stand for X-tended life, 100% Solid state anymore. After the Thomson sellout its just another name like you say.

Still, they last long and make a nice raster!

zenith2134 · #38 11-13-2008, 11:06 PM

Also, During the 80s, the Colortrak sets had the light-sensing photocell which adjusted the brightness in accordance with the room's ambient lighting. Cool feature but got annoying sometimes. My CTC-117A has it. Thats a colortrak from 83 with OSD and remote, bulletproof set.

MRX37 · #39 11-13-2008, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zenith2134

Also, During the 80s, the Colortrak sets had the light-sensing photocell which adjusted the brightness in accordance with the room's ambient lighting. Cool feature but got annoying sometimes. My CTC-117A has it. Thats a colortrak from 83 with OSD and remote, bulletproof set.

They had that sensor as far back as 1978. It could be annoying at times. Speaking of that damn light sensor, there's one on this 1984 Colortrak I have. Shining my laser pointer at it produces a beautiful picture.

How can I bypass this sensor? Could I just short the leads together?

radiotvnut · #40 11-13-2008, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRX37

They had that sensor as far back as 1978. It could be annoying at times. Speaking of that damn light sensor, there's one on this 1984 Colortrak I have. Shining my laser pointer at it produces a beautiful picture.

How can I bypass this sensor? Could I just short the leads together?

That sensor is a light dependant resistor (LDR). I think I would disconnect it from the circuit, connect my ohmmeter to the leads, and then shine the laser pointer at the sensor. Just use a fixed resistor somewhere close to the reading on the meter in place of the LDR. Of course, you could always try it with the LDR disconnected or it's leads shorted to see what picture suits you best.

I think those sensors were big selling points during the late '70's and early '80's. Zenith had their "color sentry" and RCA had their "color trak". At least the feature could be switched off on the Zenith. I had a 27" '91 colortrak that had it. I think they phased those LDR's out soon after that.

MRX37 · #41 11-14-2008, 12:22 AM

The one on my 1984 Colortrak is somewhat recessed into the speaker grille... So my overhead lighting doesn't really hit it!

I want to bypass it so it doesn't tamp down on the brightness. After all, there's a perfectly good brightness knob behind a little panel on the front of the TV.

zenith2134 · #42 11-14-2008, 01:01 AM

Magnavox was the first to use this system in the 50s or 60s, with b&w sets IIRC Dont wuote me though..

MRX, I'd try physically relocating the cell or bypassing it.Try shorting it and see how the range on the brightness pot becomes. Like radiotvnut said, experiment with resistor values til satisfied.

radiotvnut · #43 11-14-2008, 01:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zenith2134

Magnavox was the first to use this system in the 50s or 60s, with b&w sets IIRC Dont wuote me though..

MRX, I'd try physically relocating the cell or bypassing it.Try shorting it and see how the range on the brightness pot becomes. Like radiotvnut said, experiment with resistor values til satisfied.

I can't believe I forgot about the Magnavox B&W sets, especially since I used to own one. It was a big TV/radio/phono console from the early '60's (all tube) and it had a light sensor located at the bottom of the left speaker grille. I think Magnavox introduced it again with their "videomatic" solid state color sets from the early '70's.

MRX37 · #44 11-16-2008, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zenith2134

Magnavox was the first to use this system in the 50s or 60s, with b&w sets IIRC Dont wuote me though..

MRX, I'd try physically relocating the cell or bypassing it.

I removed the cell and twisted the wires together. I ran the Tv for a few minutes, and it has a much better brightness range now. Brightness and contrast knobs work fine.

Is there any danger in leaving this short in place? I'd like to keep it in place, and the TV seems to work fine.