1950's Zenith L2258E console b&w rescued yesterday

[Olorin67]

Definitely dont just plug it into 12O volts, bring it up slow on a varaic at least, smelling for smoke and monitoring the rectifier tube for overload. Big chance the filter caps need replacing on any set that old. Or just replace the main filter caps before even trying it. If they havnt failed yet, they would still be at high risk for failure once the set is used again. They just dont last 50plus years. Just normal maintence for this old stuff.

[Phil Nelson]

I would count on replacing all of the old paper capacitors as well as the electrolytics. That's standard procedure if you want to make the TV safe and reliable to play. Here are a couple of articles to get you started. The first one explains recapping and the second describes some other restoration basics:

http://antiqueradio.org/recap.htm

http://antiqueradio.org/FirstStepsInRestoration.htm

The next page lists a number of TV restoration articles. None of them is exactly like your set, but if you skim a couple of the B/W articles, you'll get an idea what it usually takes to get one working:

http://antiqueradio.org/televisions.htm

Regards,

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html