[Salvaged] 1978 Electrohome Electrocolor 13 inch TV

[VintageLove]

Hello, fellow TV lovers

Well, I happened to get lucky last weekend. After not having a very successful month of June, "blasted yard sales!" I went down to one of my local used electronic drop off depots, I didn't think I would have any luck this time, but I was in for a surprise! After rummaging through the plastic crap I found this very nice 13" 1978 Electrohome Electrocolor TV set. Unfortunately some moron had cut the power cord off! why do people do this?... anyway luckily I had a spare 70's 13" B/W Panasonic at home so I ended using that cord, I wanted to keep it as original as possible. I had to take the cover off to solder on the cord and decided to plug it in and it came back from the dead The CRT was made by Hitachi and the Speaker by JVC. The picture I included that shows it working doesn't do it justice it looks a lot better than that There's a couple of things I would like to find out now, for instance in-between the Pull Knob and Auto Push button there is a light labelled "EE"??? when I open the side cover it lights up green. Also at the bottom there is a earplug jack and one that has a picture of what looks like a cassette tape? thanks for any help on that.

[Jon A.]

That's a pretty nice set. It's from before the Mitsubishi takeover, but I see that it's still foreign-made. Seems that a lot of North American companies started outsourcing production of portables in the 70s. At least Electrohome chose Japan, RCA and Zenith went with Taiwan. Better than mainland china anyway.

My guess about the jack with the cassette icon is that it's a line-out for a tape recorder. Not sure what the "EE" light is for.

[dr.ido]

This set was made by JVC. The PAL 240V version was sold here as a JVC. I've had other JVC sets with the "EE" light. From memory it was some sort of auto contrast/brightness setting that used an ambient light sensor (on some models, not sure if this one had it). I think it would light red/orange or green depending on the setting, so you may have a bulb out. It may change when the door is opened so it doesn't interfere when you adjust the manuals controls - much like the door switch that turns off the AFT when the door over the tuning controls is open.

Cut power cords are usually taken by scrappers. When scrap prices are high enough they'll often break sets open to get the yokes, transformers and even internal wiring.

[zeno]

Yup its a JVC. Good sets & yours looks quite nice.

BTW on your screen shot the right is darker than the left.
If its like that in all scenes its an easy fix. Usually a 4.7mfd 350V
cap in the 200 volt supply. Happens to all brands,
put many steaks on the table

73 Zeno

[TVTim]

That is such a beautiful set! Why would anyone just toss it?

[zenith2134]

Haven't seen a JVC rebadge in a long time. Did JVC ever make their own CRTs? I have seen JVC sets with an RCA tube in em, and this one has a Hitachi. By the way, I have a few color sets with a Hitachi Japan crt from the 70s and 80s and the tubes are always strong.

[Sandy G]

Originally Posted by TVTim

That is such a beautiful set! Why would anyone just toss it?

'Cause people nowadays are IDIOTS, & think that anything that's NOT the "Latest & the Greatest" ain't worth having... Good for US, though..

[Robb]

Nice ! Just got an electrohome myself !

http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=261995

[dieseljeep]

Cut power cords are usually taken by scrappers. When scrap prices are high enough they'll often break sets open to get the yokes, transformers and even internal wiring.[/QUOTE]

I was at a metals recycler and there was a 55 gallon drum, filled to the top with cut-off power cords. Wire with insulation on it isn't worth the real market value of scrap copper.
What is the scrap value of a power cord? Like $0.02.

[dr.ido]

I don't know what the current rates are, but back when solid copper was approaching AU$8 per kg cable (with insulation) was bringing over $2 per kg - a 200 litre drum full was around $1000.

When scrap prices peaked the number of scrappers exploded. Prices have since dropped, but many of them are still doing it.

[Fairlane500skyliner]

Unfortunately some moron had cut the power cord off! why do people do this?...

I know that around here, if you dispose of electronics, you're supposed to cut the mains lead off. That prevents someone with no electronic knowledge taking a potentially damaged item home, plugging it in, and getting electrocuted or burning their house down. I think it's a great idea, as if you know what you're doing, replacing the mains lead is a two-minute job - and gives you an opportunity to check out the innards of the set for damage and potential hazards.

'Cause people nowadays are IDIOTS, & think that anything that's NOT the "Latest & the Greatest" ain't worth having... Good for US, though..

It's the sad truth. There are some people who recognise the historical and monetary (sometimes) value of vintage appliances. The majority though, probably just see vintage sets as "dusty junk, taking up space".

Chris

[snelson903]

i wondered that to ,why was i finding cords cut off of everything SCRAPPERS ,last year i found a new dehumitfier cord gone , i thought maybe dead short problem in the compressor ,nope worked great just had a bad rattle was'nt clipped all together inside from the factory , i took the one i bought 10 months earlyer and sold it on CL for 120.00 what i payed for it.

[dr.ido]

I've heard the safety argument for cutting leads before disposing of items, but I think it causes more harm than good.

Someone finds an item with a cut lead and wants to try it. Whether they don't know any better or they do it as a quick temporary measure "just to test it" they twist the wires together and tape them up. If the item now works the temporary patch job is left in place until it fails, potentially catastrophically. I've seen variations of this many times.

Also frustrating when it's not a power lead you have to replace, but a data/signal cable with a nonstandard and impossible to find connector on it.