Zenith 13" chromacolor 2 with the SC100 remote
 

I expected this to just turn on and work ... almost, but it's got no color. Everything else works. Came with the owner's manual, hang tags, channel numbers, receipt from 1/2/1978 for $399.00, and the original SC 100 remote. The tinted plastic that goes in front of the screen is still there, and the antennas are unbroken:banana: I've been looking for one of these for a while, it makes a matching pair with my 17". I have almost no free time to work on anything now though.

The manual specifies (chassis 13JC10 in Zenith CM-126) a 9-86-02D chroma module. Is the D significant, or would any 9-86-02 work, or even any 9-86?

This actually came with a SC100 remote? It looks like one of the last to use the 600Z.
Sounds like you're in engineering.

Letter does not matter.
IIRC we didnt stock the -02. It may have been for just the 13" and maybe
the EFL CRT sets too. Dash numbers as a rule MAY sub up but not down.
I think your 17" is an EFL, see if that has a -02.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

I think I have the same set in my warehouse, that I picked off the street a few years ago. The tuner is stuck between channels, so I can't get it to turn on. It's not a big issue, but I never spent any time on it.
The one function remote control only changed the channel and IIRC, you set a blank channel to set the set off. Rather crude for a $400 set. Plus they have the nerve to call this pig a portable!
Pretty sure, it's a "J" chassis. :scratch2:

The original receipt is what makes this even cooler!

If you get sick of yours let me know. I've yet to own an SC-100 set and this model seems like a nice package for it.

I think I walked past the one Adam has a couple of times before he bought it but I never noticed it was an SC set...If I had I'd have probably bought it.

I had one of those, back before the economy crash of 08, same clicker remote. i loved that little set. drh4683 has a nice walk-around video of that set on his youtube channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17bZgsRTSog
I seem to remember mine had a similar issue, in mine it was the little switch on the chroma board i flipped it back and forth a few times and the color came back. YMMV

Back in those days, Men were men. Even portable car cell phone/radios weighed 40 lbs! Lol
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_phone

Get this guy!
When this set was new, I was 30 younger and a lot stronger. Now I can still carry the set, but not by the handle.
I've been retired for 12 years at the age of 62.

My apologies, I'm 53 and grew up with old military boat anchor shortwave radios and tube console stereos. I never trusted any electronics that weighed less than 40 lbs except for those new fangled light weight zenith solid state transoceanic radios. :lmao:

For Zeniths with 9-86 & older flat & hybrid chassii (9-27).
clean, tighten & reset module.
Boards with socketed IC's ( up to F line IIRC) should have IC's
soldered in. The sockets are more trouble than the IC's.
Clean normal-align switch, APC & ACC pots.
Adjust APC in align for fewest color bars. Dont remember ACC procedure.
The IC's are super common & used in other brands.
A few stupid things are color turned down, FT off, dirty Chromatic or
Color Sentry switch ( when used ).
Barely any off board parts will cause no color. Actual fails will
be an IC 95% of time.

BTW ANY Zenith with modules & plug in semi's always suspect the sockets
especially if intermitant. Starting around F-line (1975) they were eliminated
& all Zenith rebuilts had sockets removed.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

I'm not sick of it, but there's a strong possibility that you might be the next owner! I don't have the remote. I'll look into it! It would be trading fodder.

No IC sockets on this board. Flipping the setup switch on the back and forth a few times got me color, but it wouldn't sync. I had another 9-86-02 and so I tried swapping it in and it works, I have color now.

The picture looks a bit washed-out though, not enough contrast. Adjusting the 'picture' control all the way from one end to the other has no effect at all. I cleaned the control, I tried pulling the luma module in and out, making sure it was making contact, no effect. It's a 9-88-03, which I don't have.

The 9-88-03 has a long ceramic resistor pack. Resolder it.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

So I've had this working for a days now, and put it on my desk in the basement. I was watching it while doing some stuff at my desk when the picture started shrinking. I turned it off, but not soon enough. About a minute after I shut it off, I heard something explode inside and awful smelling smoke came out of the back. I identified the problem as that big oil filled capacitor that sits across the power transformer used in low voltage power regulation. It exploded and sprayed oil all over inside the set, and now the whole basement reeks :yuck:

I missed you at the WARCI meet. I hauled a whole crate of CEDs from the basement and now I gotta haul that heavy mess back.

I was pretty busy this weekend and decided to skip it, if I had known you had you were bringing CEDs I would have gone. Let me know what you want to sell/trade, and I can probably come get them.

Be very careful, that oil cap is full of PCB's.

The set is too new to have PCB caps. They were outlawed at least 10 years before the set was built. :thmbsp:

...

It's been a while since I swapped out the run capacitor in my 1976 Electrohome, but I think it was marked "no PCBs" and its date code was 76-01 so it was original to the set. Also, every one I've seen in a TV was 3.5uF, and even the one in my Electrohome was stamped with a Zenith part number so chances are most or all TV run capacitors came from a common source.

Either way, if you haven't already removed and discarded the capacitor have a look at the end opposite the rupture, it'll say "no PCBs" if that's the case.