[captainclock1988]

I have a similar model, actually a couple, just not a combo. Do a thorough visual. checking for chewed wires, missing tubes, other obvious things. I also suggest that if you have a CRT tester, test the big tube 1st. Good? Proceed, Dead? Well - not good. Be very careful removing the socket. I suggest prying apart gently with a screwdriver, cause you really want to keep the base on the tube rather than the socket. Don't panic if it doesn't register immediatly, it may need some time to "wake up". Yes, SAMS! Your roadmap! 
Against what some may say, I usually do a slow powerup using a variac, dim bulb and isolation transformer. I like to see what's there before I start messing around. I usually pull the H-out tube cap to disable the HV. Take your time. That bulb will tell you the status of things, and you can increase the size and bring up the voltage as the caps reform and things come back  to life. A short will illuminate the bulb brightly, if that happens (and it stays bright), then you got to check for shorts, the B+ caps, etc. Monitor B+ voltages and use that thing in the middle of your face to check for anything getting too hot. Feel the big caps, etc. 
I DO NOT recommend shot-gunning caps, etc on a TV. Too much chance of making a mistake and then - where do you start? I get the power supply working halfway 1st, then move to the the horizontal to get HV and sweep, then usually the vertical, and finally a good going through on the rest of the set. Ya know, paper caps, electrolytics. 1 section at a time, try, it, work out any problems, then move on to another section. Keep the brightness down while starting cause more often than not, you wont have any vertical sweep or very little and you don't want to burn a nice dark line across your hard or impossible to find picture tube. Others may disagree, but I recommend watching a few Shango066 vids on YouTube when he brings up a sleeping set. Some don't like his techniques, but our troubleshooting methods are very similar, exc maybe I err on the side of being a little more cautious & thorough.
Edit: I also suggest a solid state replacement for your LV rectifier (5U4, etc) during the initial stages of your power up, since it'll send voltage to your caps at a lower setting when the tube wont conduct, however, don't go full power with it since it passes more voltage, switch back to the tube at about 75% since the tube will conduct then and gives some protection, a softer start, and puts your voltage closer to where it should be. I also suggest using a worn or 'beater' tube that you wont lose any sleep over if it gets blown, save the good one for the final. Just my 2 cents :-)

I love Shango's videos, and yes, I agree, the way I tend to troubleshoot I partially learned from him and his videos, except for the fact that I don't use a dim bulb tester, I have an isolation transformer (a large 20# 350 VA unit, with 3 different voltage taps/outlets) and a Variac that was made by Powerstat, a model 116B.)

I do have a picture tube tester and I did test the picture tube, and the weird thing about my picture tube tester is that it has two different settings for the meter Normal and Special, and in Normal mode the picture tube doesn't respond to the tube tester, but in special mode the picture tube tests fine, the weird thing is that the picture tube filaments are glowing nice and bright, almost like brand new. 

I removed the chassis out of the cabinet (all three of them) and looked at the underside of each of them, and they all look virgin yet, like they have never been worked on before, and the majority of the tubes (including the picture tube) are all the original Philco branded tubes, meaning this is more than likely a very low hours set, also I took a closer look at the radio tuning dial and it looks like its actually just AM (Broadcast) only, but I think if this set is anything like my Meck, or any of the other TVs from the 1950s, I think FM radio Reception can be achieved by Tuning the TV to Channel 6 and then turning the fine tuning knob to scan through the FM Broadcast Band.

I know that at least the Power Supply Filter Caps will need to be replaced, because the person I got this TV from plugged the TV in to show me it partially worked, and I heard the dead giveaway 60 Cycle Hum, come through the speaker. I quickly shut it off as soon as I heard that and had her unplug the set immediately.

This TV has mainly all Bumblebee capacitors in it, which I thought Zenith was the main company at that time that used those in their electronics, but I guess Philco loved them too.

 
Posted by captainclock1988 - 12-08-2025, 12:56 AM