The best solid state color TVs ever made

[JohnCT]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

So what’s the story about Sony tvs and brownouts? Certain years, certain designs killed by brownouts?

jr

Sony TVs of the 70s were pretty reliable but they didn't like running at 90V or below - in fact, when the voltage went down the current went up and they'd blow. They eventually revised the design. Before they did, rolling brownouts in New York city particularly would cause a power supply failure on an otherwise properly working TV. I can't recall the chassis involved any more - maybe someone else remember them.

What caught a lot of techs back then was that when SS electronically regulated power supplies came out, a Variac was a useful tool when troubleshooting them. Many manufacturers like Zenith, RCA, Sylvania, Motorola, etc. had flowcharts that would often recommend starting the chassis at 60V or so and bring them up to 130V measuring for current and voltage regulation after the supply was repaired and to test the performance of the regulation.

Bringing up these Sonys on a variac would destroy them even if they were properly repaired.

John