Outa-Space

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by KV-1926R

Nope, no tubes in this Chromacolor; it's the sets with screens smaller than 25" that are hybrids.

Wrong. Zenith did make 25" screen hybrid sets (I know your set is solid state). I have a Sam's folder that shows that my hybrid chassis was used in both 23" and 25" sets.

[Username1]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

The CCs were hybrid sets and the CCII were 100% solid state...It had nothing to do with screen size as both were available in 23V and 25V CRT models. CC was IIRC originally Zenith's trade name for the Black Matrix CRT's they started using around the time they came up with the name.

And in case your wondering what black matrix is, it is the process of applying a grid of black non-transparent material to the face of the tube such that light can only be emitted from the individual phosphor dots but not the area in between. It improves contrast, sharpness, and to an extent convergence IIRC.

Thanks for going over this..... I have I think it's a 23cc50, 1971-72, or 73 I forgot now for sure, it's a 23" mostly tube set, with a few what looks like 7 pin IC's round like a 2n2222 transistor. I don't have a sam's yet, so I'm not sure what's in it, it works, so not been into it electronically.... But anyway, the picture tube says in nice big colorful letters Chromacolor, and some references here to both CC and CCII have had me confused as to exactly what CC meant. I never thought it may have meant the picture tube design.... So thanks for this bit of information.... It's a great set anyway.... And for all the sets I have seen from this time period, these Zeniths have in my opinion the sharpest pictures....

PS I thought Black Matrix, and Black Stripe were references to the material between the color dots, and tri-color box groups, being a black non reflective, or light absorbing color, as opposed to being reflective to try and transmit more light out the front of the screen.....

I had a Toshiba hybrid set where the material between the dots looked silvery, it had a poor quality picture, and colors were not that great either.... Those were the years when tv ads had the tv at one end of a football field, and they were making a point of how bright they made the picture.....

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by zeno

Holy smokes you really scored on this one ! Best damn sets
ever made IMHO. Congrats.....

When you get inside,
Motor not stopping. On the back of the tuner there is a wheel
with tabs you twist to skip or stop each channel. on the
side of it is a rocker that works switches. The rocker sticks
so clean out the old grease & relube.

Age. Model or chassis # gives you model year. Model will
start with SC, SD or SE. S means Space Comand 2nd letter
is model year. Chassis # starts 25C***, 25D*** or 25E***
same idea. Date of mfg use 4 number date codes from major
parts. Build date is a month or two after the latest date.

Remote. Other than swapping rods nothing simple.

HV caps. This set has 5 seperate caps instead of one. They
should be changed if they havent yet. I dont think this chassis
can even cut a neck because of design of the vert output.
On newer sets the process is:
4-lead cap opens & HV goes up to 40KV +
Things start failing.
If the vert fails the yoke gets DC on it & heats up cutting
through the neck. Most of the time the HOT would short
& kill the set before the CRT went. We were a big Zenith dealer
& only did 3 or 4 CRT jobs IIRC.

73 Zeno

After much struggling I got the set turned around and the back panel off. I just found a very faded sticker on the back with the model and chassis numbers. The sticker itself is discolored so badly it almost perfectly matches the rear panel. There's another one with a run number.

So Tom (zeno), what do the stickers tell you? I'm still a bit confused. I'm not sure what year the Chromacolor came out; I think '72 was the first year for the flat chassis Super Chromacolor. BTW, where's the volume stepper in this thing? I've got to find out where to shoot the DeOxit once I get some.

EDIT: Well, finding the problem with the tuner drive didn't take long. I was trying to find the rocker you spoke of when I noticed that the tab wheel was missing its screws. I don't have many around here, but I managed to borrow one from my 600X remote. That was enough for testing before it went out of alignment. The 600X remote works everything just fine, I just have to think of the button layout of a 500 when I use it. The orange button does nothing on this set, check. I guess it's off to the hardware store to get proper screws and lock washers.

[zeno]

Originally Posted by KV-1926R

After much struggling I got the set turned around and the back panel off. I just found a very faded sticker on the back with the model and chassis numbers. The sticker itself is discolored so badly it almost perfectly matches the rear panel. There's another one with a run number.

So Tom (zeno), what do the stickers tell you? I'm still a bit confused. I'm not sure what year the Chromacolor came out; I think '72 was the first year for the flat chassis Super Chromacolor. BTW, where's the volume stepper in this thing? I've got to find out where to shoot the DeOxit once I get some.

EDIT: Well, finding the problem with the tuner drive didn't take long. I was trying to find the rocker you spoke of when I noticed that the tab wheel was missing its screws. I don't have many around here, but I managed to borrow one from my 600X remote. That was enough for testing before it went out of alignment. The 600X remote works everything just fine, I just have to think of the button layout of a 500 when I use it. The orange button does nothing on this set, check. I guess it's off to the hardware store to get proper screws and lock washers.

OK there are the usual "IIRC's" here but...........
Chromacolor came out in 1969. Flat chassis sets were referred to as
Super Chromacolors but I dont remember if the sets were marked that
way. Supers were also an improved Chromacolor CRT but I think its
only the HV went from 25KV to 30KV & maybe better phosphers.

Flat chassis probably started in 1971 B line but probably only
used as a test & show set, not known to be sold.
C line 1972 (25CC55) first year.
D line 1973 (25DC56) saw change in power supply.
E line 1974 ( ? 25DC56 again ?) last year, was replaced by upright
chassis (25EC45) part way through the year.
Stickers give the important details but I dont know the run #
scheme. Maybe a minor change in suppliers etc. to pinpoint
problems. I do know the 4 lead caps were only on sets
run 401 & higher E line uprights. before that they used seperate
caps like yours.

Volume stepper is only exposed relay in box on L side of set.
I dont remember them getting dirty so a little light tapping
around should pinpoint it. BTW The rocker is under the cardboard.

Caps: 2 on FBT & 3 underneath IIRC. Marked 22-5001. White bad,
orange good. Bad ones are hard on the HOT, tripler, focus divider &
CRT socket. If enuf go you get a spectacular arc show !

73 Zeno

[Jon A.]

Yup, got to replace those caps for sure just to be safe. At least that's one thing I don't need specialized equipment for. What exactly would I replace them with, and how much voltage is running through them? Should I just short them to drain the charge?

[zeno]

Originally Posted by KV-1926R

Yup, got to replace those caps for sure just to be safe. At least that's one thing I don't need specialized equipment for. What exactly would I replace them with, and how much voltage is running through them? Should I just short them to drain the charge?

No charge to worry about. Find OEM Zenith caps (22-5001), they are out there still & will be orange. Post a WTB ad here.
If you need to substitute get advice from the cap expert here, but I
dont remember his name. You HAVE to use the right thing unless
you want to see fire trucks...........

73 Zeno

[Jon A.]

Yup, I certainly don't want to burn up this set. The replacement caps will have to wait for now as I'm pretty broke from moving expenses, and I would like to find a local source for leaded solder. Of course I'll avoid running the set until the caps are replaced. In the meantime though, it would be nice to know the substitute cap number. BTW, are these caps polarized? I don't want to swap ends and blow it up even with the right caps.

[Jon A.]

Alright, I received the OEM safety caps recently, bought out the last of Talon Electronics' stock. They had just enough. Does it matter which way these go in?

[zeno]

If they have a stripe match it but the are not polarized.
Will work anyways......

73 Zeno

[Jon A.]

At long last I got some Kester and installed the new safety caps. There's only one under the chassis. I also cleaned the crud off the back of the CRT and the 2nd anode cap and cleaned the volume control and now the set works fairly well. I hooked up a pattern generator and finally got vertical size and linearity adjusted properly. There is one issue: the whole picture is shifted slightly to the right. I can't find a horizontal centering control.

The picture doesn't do the set justice.

Edit: Got rid of the Garfield DVDs and re-took the picture when playing an episode of Corner Gas. I had to have a more adult version of infantile.

Great, the first pic was sideways and this is worse. What gives?

[zeno]

For shift look at the 9-57 board for a 330 ohm.
Change it to a 1 watt film if it hasnt been.
Upright chassii with the 9-90 board have the same issue.
Recheck that you changed ALL the 22-5001 caps. I am
sure these had 5.
Check for a 1.5 ohm at the HOT base, they drift.
Be sure the hoz hold is centered. Pix should snap right in
on channel change & not show lines. If its at the end pull
back on the sleeve & move it past the stop.
I dont remember either size or centering on these.
And last it could be what you are feeding it.

73 Zeno

[TUD1]

Very, very nice Zenith. My 1973 Zenith set uses the 25DC56 chassis, only it is not Space Command.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by zeno

Recheck that you changed ALL the 22-5001 caps. I am
sure these had 5.

73 Zeno

I re-checked thoroughly, no more white caps. I noticed a couple more orange drops but they're smaller than the 22-5001 caps and I couldn't read what was on them.

Originally Posted by TUD1

Very, very nice Zenith. My 1973 Zenith set uses the 25DC56 chassis, only it is not Space Command.

That's very nice too. I don't know about yours but my Zenith's cabinet is mostly plastic. You're not missing much, not having Space Command 500 like my set. No mute or remote UHF tuning, not to mentioned combined power and volume which is kind of a pain.

Here's a photo of yours from my brochure. It's a Canadian brochure, hence the odd advertised screen size.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by zeno

For shift look at the 9-57 board for a 330 ohm.
Change it to a 1 watt film if it hasnt been.

73 Zeno

I see only one film cap on that board; is that the one I'm looking for? (see pic). Also, is there any way to add a direct video input to this thing? The picture I get through that cheap Radio Shack RF modulator is rather disappointing.

[zeno]

Originally Posted by Jon A.

I see only one film cap on that board; is that the one I'm looking for? (see pic). Also, is there any way to add a direct video input to this thing? The picture I get through that cheap Radio Shack RF modulator is rather disappointing.

I think its the blue one but heat changed the colors fro org-org-brown
( 330) to r-r-org ( 22K).
I remember where it was on a 9-90 but not a 9-57.

You can put video in just after the detector. It usually works
good but sometimes not. Audio I would have to see the schematic.
Try using a VCR as a modulator first.

73 Zeno