Color Zenith rescued from trash!

[Carmine]

Just when I thought the supply of trash-night tube TVs had dried up, I am proven wrong...

Swear to God, my wife and I were headed to her parents house, and I noticed it was trash night. (The neighborhood is prime for trash picking... Large, late 50s ranch homes in the Detroit suburbs.) I jokingly said to her "Ohhh, maybe we'll spot an old TV." Less than 30 seconds later, I see the outline of a console, mixed-in with a whole bunch of other stuff.

The number of ventilation holes say "tubes!" A glance in my side mirror says "Zenith!" Long story short, you CAN fit some console sets in the trunk of a Chrysler Fifth Avenue. (Why didn't I drive my truck?)

Last night, I was anxious to try it out, so I plugged it in. TA-DA! It worked. Pretty good even! I'll bet those heartless SOBs who cleaned the house out never even tried it!

In the darkness of my garage, I noticed the Horz. Output was a little gassy (blue). So today I swapped it with one from my tube-box.

Everything was good, and I got ready to to some basic adjustments. Suddenly, I hear a quick ZZEEEEZZZEEE noise and the picture disappears! I quickly shut the thing off.

So I calm down, and power it back up. All the tubes light, no smoke/noise but no HV or sound either!

I dug through my tube box, and replaced the dampner. No change. No change from re-installing the old Horiz Output either. I couldn't immediately find a Volt Reg. (6HS5) so this was the end of my trouble shooting (for tonight).

Am I on the right track here???

Here's a pic, Chassis number 20Y1C48

[Chad Hauris]

Check the B+ voltage from the power supply and the fuses, first.

[Sandy G]

Carmine- Congrats !! Looks like its in great shape as well. You got yrself a find, there.-Sandy G.

[Carmine]

Thanks Chad, right on about the fuse. It did blow that little belfuse. I jumpered it, and things seemed OK for a little while. Then I noticed some "static" in the picture... Something was shorting, so I snapped it off real quick.

I guess the fact that the tubes were lighting, along with the channel light, made me forget about any internal fuses.

Now I just have to find out what is shorting.

[Charlie]

Cool Zenith, Carmine! It's amazing what we can fit in the trunk of a car! It's also amazing what can be found on the side of the road! A side of the road sale always has the best prices! FREE!

I love the way we describe the various noises we hear from inside a set when it shits the bed! "ZZZEEEEZZZEEEE" is one that I haven't heard so far, but very cool.

Good luck finding the culprit in there!

[Chad Hauris]

This sounds like it might be HV arcing. The HV filament leads to the rectifier or the anode lead to the CRT can arc to the chassis if the insulation has broken down or cracked. As a test, you can use a plastic insulator, such as a cassette case, to move the leads away from the chassis (with power disconnected and HV discharged) to see if the arcing stops. If you find that there was arcing, the ultimate solution is to replace the HV leads. Make sure you use appropriate safety precautions when dealing with the HV leads.

Also, it is not a good idea to jumper the fuse---where there is a dead short, more damage can be caused if there is no fuse protection. If you don't have the belfuse, wire in a fuse clip and put in a regular fuse (probably 1 amp would do.) I think that there are two fuses in this set in the B+ secondaries of the transformer, one is for the high b+ for the tubes and another is for the 24 volt supply for the transistors.

[Carmine]

Honestly, I do know better than to jumper a fuse. But here's the other side of the story...

I'm in the middle of a HUGE house/yard remodeling project right now, and I can hardly justify any spare time messing with this TV (one reason it's still in the garage). I've also got another Zenith with the exact same chassis and poor CRT that I haven't touched in years. The bad CRT set is near-mint condition with a beautiful danish-modern walnut cabinet. I've also got a Zenith roundie with VERY weak color (but great CRT). I figured this thing might donate a few 6KT8s to the cause of better color.

In other words, this poor sucker will eventually become a parts set. (The cabinet is just fake wood.) To save time, I jumpered the fuse just to see where the smoke comes out of the wire, hopefully something simple and low-voltage.

But upon further thought, I should at least take some precautions with the HV stuff, if only to save the flyback. Rest assured I will before anything further.

[captainmoody]

Check the Horiz out and Damper tube sockets, They arc on the bottom through the round insulator, Used to get sets in with that problem, Check for carbon trails on either one of them, If so, Remove the insulator and try again.
If the set works ok, Replace the socket.

[drh4683]

carmine, NICE FIND! Kind of interesting what happened regarding your tv quiting on you. Dont turn it into a parts set! I will take it off your hands! Even though im tight for space, I can make room for a nice zenith! What model have you got there?
Doug