Resistor or jumper at hv rectifer socket: Zenith 25mc30

[Tubejunke]

OK, it's official! My HV is back. The surgery was a success thank goodness. I was a bit nervous of what new surprises may arise, but the only changes were definitely positive. Good, stable HV with no corona hissing and/or related screen anomalies.

I did use Electronic M's advice and paralleled a .47mfd cap across my meter leads measuring cathode current at the horizontal output tube. The readings were the same and unfortunately still a bit higher than I want, or Zenith wanted for that matter. The spec is 200mA and at line potential upward of 120VAC I get about 220mA. So I still run the set on my Select a Volt at about 110VAC and can maintain 200mA. Once an older tech said that they used to dip all the Zeniths at 210mA as a rule, but I feel that I should be able to achieve the spec. Now I do believe that the fly is now running much cooler for whatever reason. VERY happy there!

I probably just need to change out the HO coupling cap to get the 200mA. That should be next because for whatever reason I have to throw a bit more line voltage at the set before the color will come in. Once it comes in I can back it down. The color problem has been with the set since I brought it home. Actually, there was no color for a long time and I changed out the 6GH8 one day and had a DVD player hooked up and wa la. Great color!

For now though I'm just glad to have a playable set again. Many, many thanks to all for the help on this!