First tv I ever bought.

[Lazyfan]

Howdy all today I start the first tv I've ever bought $20 at the thrift store. It took me hours to figure out it. Is an admiral. I'm totally guessing,1951. I have tube experience and tools but I've always stayed away from crt tv. I can't find any numbers except two chassis serial numbers. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Tnanks Rob

[Sandy G]

Advice, eh ? Well, me dear boy, DROP this foolish, ridiculous, insane hobby NOW, whilst you only have 20 bux invested in it.. YOU STILL have a chance in retaining yr Sanity, friends, spouse, family, financial wherewithal, but if you continue down this treacherous road, you can ASSUREDLY kiss ALL that "Goodbye"...You have been Warned..(Grin)

[Electronic M]

Chassis or model number is the only positive identifier.... serial is like the vin on a car only there is usually NO information encoded in it. Chassis number is better since it IDs the electronics...makers would offer 1-4 chassis any model year and stick each chassis into a wide variety of cabinets (each cabinet style/color receiving it's own number), and sometimes models got added late in the model year or custom ordered and didn't make the service literature index books.

A picture can sometimes ID a set. If you can get a tube layout there are books that help ID make/model based on tube layout. Take off the back and look for a tube layout inside and at any numbers ink stamped on the back of the chassis you may find chassis or model number on it.

Before you invest money in replacing all the electrolytic and paper caps (which you need to do if you plan to run it for more than a minute) first find a CRT tester and make sure your CRT is good or at the very least has some emission (most testers set the good-bad scale for color CRTs which need more emission to get a picture)...A replacement CRT could set you back more than the set is worth. If it is initially a dead CRT give it an hour to sit running on the tester...CRT cathodes can go to sleep if left dormant for over a year, and when they do they take a bit of time to wake up.

Early post war Admirals into the mid-50s typically make good starter resto TVs (it is good to work on radios and or audio first) and are easy to work on with good performance when restored.

[Lazyfan]

Good advice ben. I have a crt tester but one of the digits on the crt. Is illegible.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Lazyfan

Good advice ben. I have a crt tester but one of the digits on the crt. Is illegible.

If it's an Admiral from that era, it probably has a 17BP4, 16TP4 or similar.
That's where the chassis number come into play. The CRT number should be on the tube location diagram.

[Lazyfan]

I don't have a tube location chart. It very well might be a 16tp4. I tested it as a 16ap4. But. You may be right. I'm gonna test all the tubes in a minute.

[Kevin Kuehn]

With rare exception most CRT's from that period used the same basing and tester settings, so your results testing as a 16ap4 should be fine.

[Sandy G]

...And, of course, you DO Realise I was just Messin' w/you, doncha ?!? This IS a lovely hobby, typically, what you will get OUT of it way ordinarily exceeds what you put into it. The sense of PRIDE & JOY you'll receive when you bring yr Admiral back from the dead is almost indescribable. MOST of the people I've met in this hobby are top-flight, 1st class. You have a FEW "Pooterheads"-Like MOI-but thankfully, they're in the tiny minority..

[Electronic M]

One other thing to be aware of if you need to separate the CRT and chassis or work on the HV is that most sets of the time used 9-25KV of HV with very low current. It should not cause injury unless you have a heart condition, but is on par with the meanest static electricity jolt you've ever taken. Glass CRTs have an integral capacitor that can hold HV charge for days (metal cone CRTs typically have a doorknob cap that does the same in the HV cage)...If the HV works and you need to service the set within a week of running it you may need to discharge the HV...To do so (with the set off) take an HV meter with it's negative connected to chassis and measure and measure the HV or connect one end of a 1M ohm resistor to chassis and the other to the metal shaft of a well insulated screwdriver and slip the tip under the HV connection suction cup on the side of the CRT and he it there for a count of 10.
You could dispense with the resistor and short HV to chassis but that tends to cause dielectric bounce back where the cap recovers a portion of it's charge a moment after discharge... that can be almost as bad a jolt as not discharging (says someone who has experienced both).

If you ever get a set that used a 60Hz transformer to supply HV (only a few 1940s sets were made like this) those have very lethal HV supply systems and great caution should be observed.

[Lazyfan]

Thanks for the advice. I forgot to mention the crt was replaced with a 67 vintage. I tested the tubes today and one failed. The crt passed everything but the life test,assuming I'm using the right number. The vertical output tranny is bad.

[nasadowsk]

Bad vertical output tranny? I'd be surprised, but there's a first time for everything...

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Lazyfan

Thanks for the advice. I forgot to mention the crt was replaced with a 67 vintage. I tested the tubes today and one failed. The crt passed everything but the life test,assuming I'm using the right number. The vertical output tranny is bad.

That thing doesn't look like any Admiral I've ever seen!
Is it a US Admiral or a Canadian model. Also, the cabinet and control panel doesn't look Admiral to me.

[Lazyfan]

The vertical tranny is. Broken I guess dry rot. Maybe mice but there is no indication of mice. I may be wrong but I'm thinking it is an old admiral. The writing on the front. The tuner configuration. And by looking at schematics of that era. This is why my vote is admiral.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Lazyfan

The vertical tranny is. Broken I guess dry rot. Maybe mice but there is no indication of mice. I may be wrong but I'm thinking it is an old admiral. The writing on the front. The tuner configuration. And by looking at schematics of that era. This is why my vote is admiral.

I don't remember seeing an Admiral using two chassis for the TV. The pre-1950 models, some had a separate power and audio amp, but the TV chassis was a single unit.
In the early-50's, many smaller manufacturers used a form of design that Admiral and a few others used. I have a Muntz TV chassis that is very similar to an Admiral.

[Kevin Kuehn]

It's a nice looking set. The channel knob and split chassis makes me think Philco, but I've never seen a Philco with that style CRT bezel. There's got to be a tell-tail sign of the manufacture hiding somewhere on it.