Hi all,

This beautiful morning was pretty much perfect, so I went for a bike ride into Wauchope. I rode up to the rear fence of the waste transfer station, and peered in to see if I could spot any goodies. Not being able to spot much, I rode around to the front and asked if I could have a look at some of the old tellies. The bloke on duty allowed me to, but couldn't understand why anyone would want to look at a pile of old televisions and computers.

Anyways, I found a large vintage PHILIPS Series 78 colour television in the pile, and instantly took a liking to it! It needed a bit of a clean, but it was in great shape, and was in a wooden-veneer case. I spoke to the guy, and he gave me a couple of numbers to call and some advice. I also ran the idea of bringing back some other televisions to swap for it, to which he told me to come back at a later stage (when he wasn't on duty).

Being the eager and enthusiastic teenager I am, I spent most of the afternoon bouncing around the walls about this awesome find, so my mum and I decided to drive back to the dump with some televisions to trade in for it.

The bloke on duty wasn't all that pleased, but eventually allowed us to drive in, unload the televisions, and grab the Philips. Boy, was I happy!

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Now I have the beast safely at home, in my bedroom, where it is sitting on the floor being cleaned. It is an awesome set, and I am hoping to get it working for use as a main television. I have been after a set like this for a while now, especially one with a wood-veneer case!

I have a question though - how do I clean the wood-veneer case? It is a bit 'cloudy' on the top, presumable from moisture or something, but it goes back to being cloudy after being cleaned. What can I do to fix this? Would automobile 'cut n polish' work?

Thanks,

Chris

Chris
Can u Post a pic Of the Damage.
Maybe Get some 0000 Steel Wool And rub it Wet, then Polish With Brasso.
Test On a bit You Cant see
Car Polish Can be A bit harsh.
Ben

Ben, I don't have a photo of the damage yet (and my camera can't take very good photos in artificial light). Would steel wool damage the veneer?

Chris

If this telly has vinyl veneer with a woodgrain print or the cabinet is made of Marviplate then any form of cut/polish will cause irreversible damage.

If the cabinet is dinkum timber with a lacquer finish then cut/polish may help though without looking at the damage it is not easy to say whether this will get rid of the white imperfection.

The upper primary school I went to had one of these in the library, married to one of those clunky JVC U-Matic video tape recorders. Check the back panel for an 8-pin 'square socket' (yes, funny name for a rectangular socket but that's what they were called) and some switchgear for selecting between that and standard RCA/PL259 audio and video sockets. AWA made televisions under the Thorn brand around the same era, similarly equipped, though not all sets had these extra sockets - they were mainly for TV stations, tech colleges and schools - or anyone that could afford a U-Matic VCR, which predated Betamax and VHS.

Nice find, definitely a TV worth keeping and you should be able to use it on a regular basis.

The cabinet is chipboard with a vinyl woodgrain effect applied. Do not use abrasives or harsh chemicals on it. Start off with warm soapy water to try and clean it but don't get the case too wet or the water will get into the chipboard and make it swell up.
If soapy water doesn't work try non-abrasive car polish on a small section to see it it works and that it does not damage the vinyl.

Being fond of Philips TV's a have a lot of information on these sets and a lot of spare parts as well. As long as the CRT is good, there is nothing that will stop you being able to get this set going.

The proper model number for the set is probably 02KJ656 but you can confirm that by looking through the vent slots at the rear upper edge of the TV. On the top edge on one of the two large circuit boards inside should be a little black and white label with the TV's model number and serial number.

Now you know why I told you recycling centres / rubbish piles were the best places to find TV's!

Photo of the back sockets:-

Wow, that model was our first colour TV when I was in high school.Great find!! Home VCR's were unknown at the time but I seem to remember when we eventually got one it had trouble syncing and was always distorted at the top if the picture.

It was all modular with many small modules plugged onto a "mother board" to supposedly facilitate servicing. In my experience all this caused was problems with bad connections. Quite often just removing and reseating the modules fixed a multitude of problems.

The steel wool Ben suggests is very very fine , used in furniture restoration. Get it from a hardware store and use it with furniture polish.

Cheers,

Warren

TV Collector, sadly it doesn't turn on - heck, nothing happens when you plug it in. The fuses are okay, so I'm hoping that the transformer in the PSU hasn't gone open-circuit.

I have definately found some great stuff at this particular waste transfer station - FIrst a Philips 02TA122 portable, 1992 Macintosh Classic and now this! I need to go there more often!

Warren, I found a vintage PYE television when I was just getting into televisions. It was out on the street, for garbage collection, so I parted a few pieces out of it. It used a whole lot of different modular boards, of which I still have a plastic bag full of them in the cupboard.

Chris

Don't worry about it not working, I can talk you through the repair process. I have every spare part for these sets so even if a transformer is damaged, I'll have a spare. These sets use a switch mode power supply so it's more likely a component fault.

I'll get back to you about the next steps to getting it working tomorrow.

A few reasons why the telly may not start.

1. Damaged plug - even moulded plugs flame out internally.
2. Damaged flex - if the cord has had a hard life it may have an internal injury which doesn't always show itself on the surface.
3. Power switch has kicked the bucket.
4. Most likely scenario being a blown winding on the power transformer. A power spike can sometimes blow a transformer before a fuse has time to heat up and react.

Only way to find out is with a mains-rated multimeter - use with extreme care. One good thing to do when working on live appliances is to make sure someone else is around who can raise the alarm if trouble strikes. Working in isolation with mains power is not a good practice and in some workplaces it is also against the law, just to get across the message that electric shocks are not good news.

I seem to remember the other socket next to the aerial was for an extension speaker. The plug had one flat and one round terminal.

Warren

I found the mains filter board, which has a small transformer and ~240v 0.47μF MP cap on it, and have discovered that there is no power reaching it. I'll test and replace the power cable first, then the power switch.

EDIT: I also replaced the metalised paper capacitor, because I don't trust them (ever since one exploded in my Thomson portable!).

Chris

Righto, the mains lead is okay. The switch, due to it's 'unique' design, sticks when you depress it, so it's not making proper contact for the mains to flow through.

I tried it with the switch contacts touching, the degaussing coil partially fired and a couple of sparks shots from the filter board, Now both fuses on it are blown, so I'm not sure what I should start to look for in a set like this.

Any ideas?

Chris

Sorry, been short of free time these last couple of days, so I'll keep things brief. I'll go into more detail when I get a chance.

As you have found, the power switches can be dodgy. Common problem and one that needs to be kept an eye on as the contacts can get hot and burn the switch out. Good news is you can still buy them.

The metalized paper cap's on the filter board are another problem area so you have done well to catch that one before it stinks your room out!

I'm not sure what to make of the sparks from the filter board. Are you sure it wasn't a flash as the fuses vaporized? Are the fuses black and really blown, or can you still see the remains of the fuse wire? The degree of damage to the fuse can tell you how bad the overload was.

Don't go trying to power it up again until I get you to check over the power supply. I'm sure you're itching to get into it, but in this case it is best to proceed carefully.

Let me know the state of the fuses. If you are really keen, you can remove the power supply and get it ready for my next post. BE CAREFUL - the power supply may be storing a charge in it if all the fuses have blown. The big blue cap on the power supply board has 340v DC on it. Do not touch the terminals of this cap until you have measured that there is no stored voltage on it.
The power supply lives in the metal cage in the middle of the base of the TV. Remove the two screws holding the metal plate at the front of the cage and slide the board out.

More tomorrow, but be careful!!

The fuses have blown pretty gently, in fact, only one fuse blew (the fuse on the Neutral line it appears?). The fuse on the active line looks a little messed up (the fuse wire has lost its tension and is a bit bent), but still passes current...

As for the sparks, I had the filter board sitting upside down on the base of the set when I tested it, and am pretty sure I saw a couple of sparks shoot from a solder joint on the board. My only thoughts on this is that I was either more tired then I thought, or there were contaminants on the filter board that shorted it...

Chris