Brought back a NICE Zenith flat-chassis set !!

[rca2000]

Brought back a NICE Zenith flat-chassis set from the convention. I THINK it is a 25DC56, or so. it does have the VRT tranny. I LOVE these sets and have not had one in a long time. The cabinet looks nice too. It is still in the van, I will get a few pixs when I take it to my new garage, maybe tomorrow. This is the FIRST one of these I have had in a LONG time, they used to be EVERYWHERE, but lately they seem rare.

[Jon A.]

Sweet! Good to see another non-Avante example saved. I bet those like we have will end up being the rarest in the coming years.

[rca2000]

First pictures::

These are NOT real good--it is still in the van, but I wanted to get something to show everyone.

I could not get a good angle. WIll get a good pix once it is in my new garage.

[zenith2134]

Lucky find...that's a clean one!

[Kamakiri]

I remember seeing that set, it was about as perfect as you can get!

[rca2000]

The last one of these I had ANY chance to get--was some years ago, about 10 miles away from here. I COULD have gotten it without getting accosted maybe...BUT the cabinet had been trashed, the back cover was missing, the chassis had been smashed up and the tube was shattered.So--there was no real reason to even mess with it.... what a SHAME !!


I did NOT really expect to come back form the ETF with one o0f these..but I am SOOO glad I did !!

Now--if I can get a 4 tube hybrid with the same type cabinet....I have ONE portable of that type already....I would have taken this home just as fast had it been a 4 tuber...

[Jon A.]

Very, very nice, welcome to the club. I wonder if the safety caps have been swapped out.

[rca2000]

I am wondering that myself. I would like to light 'er up....but am a bit fearful of the safety caps....
I believe I need a number of 22-5001 caps, right ?

[Jon A.]

Yeah, five of them, the orange ones.

[radiotvnut]

Doug Harland recently made a youtube video of him working on one of these sets that was tripping the circuit breaker and the cause was one of the safety capacitors that had shorted.

[Kamakiri]

Originally Posted by rca2000

I am wondering that myself. I would like to light 'er up....but am a bit fearful of the safety caps....
I believe I need a number of 22-5001 caps, right ?

The guy you bought it from is BigDavesTV, why not drop him a PM to find out when it was last powered up?

[sampson159]

the finest set ever made.period.congrats!i ve been looking for one too.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

Doug Harland recently made a youtube video of him working on one of these sets that was tripping the circuit breaker and the cause was one of the safety capacitors that had shorted.

I just actually watched Doug's video; so, there are only three of those caps in the 25DC56? In that case I've got a couple of spares, so I can't complain. Also, does an open cap cause the HV to spike, or was at least one of the other two shorted as well?

Nice '60 Chev at the top of his YouTube page. Not a total restyling, but enough of a change to do away with the '59s fugliness. A 4-door too, there's a refreshing change from the usual classic car.

BTW, how's this for the cause of a tripping breaker? Saw it on ARF a few weeks back.

A customer brought in a table model Magnavox once and it was tripping the breaker so I decided to check the diodes in the power supply, I removed the two large screws holding the chassis down and tried to lift and slide the chassis out...it was stuck, I pulled as hard as I could and yanked up, wouldn't budge, got a large screwdriver and started prying up on one corner of the chassis all of a sudden it popped up and as I tipped it up I saw why it was stuck, customer had added legs to make it a consolette, one of the mounts had about a 2 inch wood screw that went all the way through the winding of the vertical output xfmr. Now I knew why the breaker was tripping.

[rca2000]

I have a couple new pictures--from the set in the garage now. One shows it ON---I took a chance---all seemed ok. I gave it about 45 seconds or so for the tube to preheat--and then powered it on. The raster came on INSTANTLY, snow and white, (NO analog here in years ). I have a BIT of purity issue in the corner--but not bad--and likely easily remedied.

(the black bar in the oix is NOT really there--it must be some sort of shit with my phone--it is NOT there in person).

You have to admit....Zenith started a NICE, but short-lived trend--with the VRT magnetic regulation. For a few years...most mfg's used them, even in one chassis, RCA, (the ctc-74/81). Zenith even used the VRT in the first gen. of the system 3 chassis---but after that....the dreaded 9-160 module and it ALL went WAY downhill...after that.


I DO realize some here will remind me that actually DUMONT in the early 1950's, maybe late 1940's--used the Sola Voltage Regulating Transformer power supply--so Zenith did NOT use it first, but in a SS tv--they DID. They even used them in a few BW chassis sets, including the 19GB1.

[Jon A.]

I wouldn't power it up again until the safety caps are replaced though. The video shows that excessive high-voltage doesn't cause damage instantaneously.