9-160-05 Rebuild Question

[jstout66]

The filter cap went south on my Zenith System 3.
It uses the 9-160-05 board
Was wondering on the big 2 section cap, if that is what one tries to get when replacing caps on the board (if even still available) or if you just replace it with 2 caps?
Also.. for those who have rebuilt this board, anything else to watch out for, or re-do?

[Gunslinger]

those boards had high failure rates even from Zenith who sourced repairs from Mexico. The small caps (10mfd@315volt) IIRC were a problem.

[Electronic M]

Most folks replace any multi-section cap with multiple single section caps these days.
Only multi-section caps that exist these days are NOS (dead or likely to fail soon), or overpriced custom made audiophool garbage....

[jstout66]

Thanks everyone!
It's been YEARS since I had the back off of a System 3, and that was when I was a kid. At that time, I remember my Uncle (he was a Zenith dealer) had a LOT of warranty claims on the big high-voltage board, and it must have been the 9-160. I remember he was pissed, because Zenith was generally still pretty good in that era, but I remember going on house calls with him for the CC2 recall on the safety cap, and it seemed we went on quite a few for the S3's. They were so new at that time, I wasn't allowed to work on them, and in that era, you just swapped out a new board. This set I've had since new (I was 15) It's the deluxe 19" with the "wood" cabinet and Spacephone. I MUST be old now, because I thought I was gonna keel lifting it.. haha (that sucker weighs a ton) This is the first time in 34 years that the backs been off, so I must have been lucky.......

[zeno]

IMHO the 9-160 gets a bad rap. Remember those sets had
the most complex Hoz/HV design ever. Having it on a
board was a blessing to the tech & customer. Under warranty
changing it was REQUIRED unless they were out of stock.
Out of warranty we fixed many for the common problems
but if it had a shorted HOT we changed the board. In home
almost all were changed. You cant work on one laying
on the floor in the dark with a little dog snapping at you !
Never had the piles of bad ones some had. Once in a while
a bad one but not that many. We kept 4 of each. Two in the
van & two in the shop. Replenishment was 3 times a week if
needed. Two distributors hand delivered back then & we
made a weekly trip to Zenith. Never out more than one day.

BTW sounds like you have an SM1971P. I had one, fantastic
set & sharp looking cabinet. Never liked plastic.

73 Zeno

[jstout66]

That's the model Zeno!
I still can't believe how old the set is, and that all the parts have long since dried up. For some reason, I have about a zillion CC2 modules, but only a few S3.

[Gunslinger]

Those sets were a money maker. The 9-160 series would crap out with just the slightest lightning strike. I always kept 2 or 3 on the truck of the -05 and 06's. There were many times they were bad out of the box.

[walterbeers]

I also changed many of those, back when I was working on TVs for an income. Well, I would get them from the Zenith distributor with exchange (Truesdale Dist.), or there was Omaha Electronics and they carried the re-builts that came from PTS. Many of them that I changed had shorted HO out transistors. My wife's parents had one of those Zeniths, with the 9-160-?? board and I changed the board once, and they used the set up until the time that they were talking about the digital TV change over. Since then my father-in-law has passed away and I have no idea of what ever happened to that set. I'm almost sure it was junked.

[zeno]

Originally Posted by jstout66

That's the model Zeno!
I still can't believe how old the set is, and that all the parts have long since dried up. For some reason, I have about a zillion CC2 modules, but only a few S3.

Used to get a new set every few yrs on a personal use deal.
Abt 10% under best wholesale price sheet. Sold them when something
new came out for what I paid. Started with a 13GC10 remote 13".
First one in the door. I unpacked it & liked it so much it went
right out on the front seat of my Toronado. Then a K1960W
first gen S-3 with power transformer. Next was the SM1971 then
a Y-line 20" advanced S-3 TOTL wood set. Kept it a long time.
When Zenith turned to crap we got a Sony dealership. Last
set was the widescreen 34" Sony. Probably the best color pix
ever on them.

Reason for so many CC2 boards IMHO was the cost & poor
parts management. A 9-160 dud was worth apx $20 vs $5
for CC2. CC2 duds just got swapped for new ones & they
piled up. S3 boards I sent for core credit THEN reordered as
needed. Also any non moving new boards such a the phone
board went back & would be ordered as needed. At the end
we we had almost no S3 boards but tons of old dura modules.

73 Zeno

[rrrhre2s]

I remember attending a training seminar on the system 3 and it covered repairing the 9-160 series boards, within 2 weeks they had a recall on the 9-160 and the 9-160-02 for a safety issue and all repairs were halted exchange only.

Repaired a many of those boards they were quite prone to bad solder connections, even had them to come in with holes burnt in them.

Only had a few bad main filters on the 9-160 but they were quite common on the 9-181 and the 9-214 boards. Same capacitor but I think they changed suppliers.

rrrhre2s