One of the last 19" "REAL" GE's

[radiotvnut]

A friend found this 19" GE "PC" chassis color TV in the trash and brought it to me. As expected, it exhibited the usual vertical problems caused by that 100 uf cap that is always bad in these sets. After replacing the cap, cleaning the controls, and making some adjustments; this TV has a decent picture. The CRT is a little tired; but, it could be much worse. At one time, this TV had one of those service manuals in the back; but, someone helped themself to it already. They also tore off all model tags and date stickers from the back cover. According to the date code on the CRT, this set was made in '85. I think GE made this set right up until the end ('86-'87). IMHO, this was probably the best solid state color set that GE made.

Back in '97, I bought 20 of these from a local Motel 6 that was getting new TV's. I gave them $5 each and I fixed 19 out of the 20. Some were like this set, with the dark tinted CRT glass. Others used the older type CRT. Personally, I think the older style CRT's held up better and produced a better picture.

Does anyone know exactly when the PC chassis came out? I think I remember seeing a very early one where the whole cabinet lifted off, like the older GE's from the '70's.

[classictv80s]

Nice save. I have always loved the style of 1980s TV sets, especially the ones with woodgrain finishes.

[Geoff Bourquin]

I always liked those. I must have replaced a thousand of those 100uf vertical caps. I also went through a lot of B+ filter caps....33uf/160V I think.
The last couple years I saw those, most had weak CRTs.

[radiotvnut]

Yep, that's the cap that will burn up the horizontal centering control and possibly the HOT if not careful. I think most shops just lifted the control so it's case wouldn't short to the heatsink. I have actually replaced it with a couple 250 ohm resistors.

There was, IIRC, a 10 uf cap by the vertical yoke plug that would cause vertical problems and, IIRC, a 4.7 uf cap in the B+ line to the video output stages that would cause the video to be smeared and one half of the screen to be darker than the other. In many cases, I've seen these sets where the two vertical caps, the B+ cap, and the cap in the video output circuit would all be bad at the same time. And, I've rejuvenated a bunch of weak CRT's in these sets. That's really about the only trouble that I've had from them.

[Dude111]

Very nice!!

From your images it looks like a wonderful picture

Thanx for sharing!

[bgadow]

One of the things I dug up the other day was a repair kit for the PC. Bound to be missing some stuff; I noticed an IC in one compartment. Cheap, if anyone wants it.