Quote:
Originally Posted by ctc17
I notice the flyback is exposed on that set where the newer ones are in a basically air tight can. Is that factory or is the cover missing?
On my 16, 17 and 35 the flybacks are all in a solid can and get hotter than I would like.
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Hmmm.
That doesn't seem right to me at all. Why would the flyback be enclosed in a can, with no vents or other means of ventilation? I cannot imagine why RCA, which after all pioneered color TV in the '50s, would deliberately design its sets with the flyback transformers sealed up--and in air-tight cans, yet. What must the design engineers have been thinking?
After all, the KCS-47 chassis, and probably most of RCA's 1950s sets, had the flyback in a metal cage, ventilated, with a hinged cover. The flybacks in those sets didn't have a chance to get more than just hand warm, if that much. I can see today's off-brand cheap color TVs being built so that the components are driven to within a fraction of an inch of their ratings, if not beyond them (it's a cost-cutting measure), but for crying out loud, not sets built in the 1950s; most TVs of the latter vintage were built conservatively, with components of sizes far exceeding what was actually needed. This is why many people kept and used their 1950s TVs well into the sixties and even the seventies, and the sets often worked quite well all those years. My folks had a 1955 Crosley Super "V" 21" console that worked, very well, into the early 1970s.
Unfortunately, however, this is not true with many if not most of today's cheap FP sets. For one thing, the sets are built so flimsily that the least nudge, for example a cat jumping up on the stand, or anything striking the screen, will send them falling off their stands; second, the video driver ICs in cheap flat-panels are molded into the cable between the chassis and the panel, so that if one or more of those chips should fail, the entire TV set will be rendered useless. These FPs are certainly not your grandfather's TV.
The only exceptions to the foregoing may be high-end Sonys or Panasonics. I read on either Pana's or Sony's web site recently that one or the other (I don't recall which) has finally come up with a FP set that will last 20 years in normal usage, and the sets are currently available for purchase at better stores. However, this longevity comes with a hefty price tag, as I do not think you can touch any of these long-life flat panels for under $2000 at this time.