I almost have a '76 Zenith 19" space command CCII in my possession

[radiotvnut]

I fired it up today and I'll bet I know what's wrong with it without even removing the back. The circuit breaker was kicked out, I reset it, turned it on, heard the degaussing coil with no audio or HV, and the CB tripped in a few seconds. Ever Zenith I've ever seen that behaved that was had a shorted oil-filled capacitor in the power supply.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

Actually, the early electronic remotes ran on a 9V battery. The J-battery remotes were from the early-to-mid '80's.

That's interesting. Why didn't Zenith design their electronic remotes to use 9-volt radio batteries from the beginning, rather than using the J battery in the 1980-'85 remote, then switching to the more readily available 9-volt transistor radio battery from '86 on? Was the J battery becoming scarce by the mid-'80s?

I doubt if any battery manufacturer even makes J batteries anymore, so anyone with a Zenith TV that uses such a battery in the remote would be out of luck--unless there is a way to modify the remote such that it could operate on a standard 9-volt battery. Was there anything special about the J batteries that would preclude such a modification? I'm thinking the J battery was something like an 8.4-volt mercury cell that could not be replaced by a standard 9-volt battery; that or else the J batteries were so much larger than transistor batteries that they simply would not fit in the battery compartment of the remote.

[TVTim]

I just picked up a J battery a couple of weeks ago.

Radio Shack still sells them too!

[Robb]

Originally Posted by TVTim

I just picked up a J battery a couple of weeks ago.

Radio Shack still sells them too!

Alot of smoke detectors use them.

[legenbass77]

I used to have one of those sets that I got from my Grandparents. Unfortunately a few years later it got tossed in the dumpster without my knowledge It worked great for many years, but the focus went south right before the dumpster incident. I do still have the remote in case I ever find another one.