Probably just needs a tube - Videokarma.org TV - Video

bandersen · #1 11-27-2009, 08:19 PM

I've heard this from just about every seller I've dealt with. Well, I put this to the test over the last few weeks.

When I was a teenager back in the early-mid 80s, I pulled and saved tubes out of every TV and radio I saw while riding my bike all around town. I still have over about a thousand of them and started testing and re-boxing them last month.

I've tested several 100 so far - the novelty wears off real fast

About 5% dead and 10% weak. The others test good to strong. I realize that running them in a real set is the best test, but am still surprised at how many are good.

I suppose many sets were tossed because they were just obsolete or only one tube died.

What do you think ?

Dan Starnes · #2 11-27-2009, 08:57 PM

I think you make a good point. With Tv's of the 1960's becoming obsolete at that time, they were probably tossed due to any failure. And by that time, sets of the 50's were dinosaurs already.

Tubejunke · #3 11-27-2009, 09:36 PM

I remember seeing a lot of 50's sets in Goodwill back in the early eightees. Really, I guess finding my first set, a 1956 Philco in a Goodwill back then is what got me started. It worked well and was only like $10. It still works well, although I finally had to change the crt after around fifty years of use.

I also remember a lot of round tube color sets being sold second hand AND still in use back then. I never thought much of those back then as they were fairly common. I was instantly attracted to the neat looking 50's sets....

bandersen · #4 11-27-2009, 10:32 PM

As I'm testing these tubes, I've been trying real hard not to think about the sets I took them from

I'm sure some of them were real gems, but what did I know back then ?
I was just on my bike usually far from home

David Roper · #5 11-27-2009, 10:45 PM

Ya, I hope you didn't pull any 6AH5G, 6AL6G, 6Y3G, or 1851 tubes!

bandersen · #6 11-27-2009, 10:55 PM

Ah, those are rare tubes I assume ?

Well, I pulled loads of 6AU6s, 6GH8s, 6AL5s, 6AQ5s and so on. I do have a few tubes the audiophiles seem to drool over. Maybe I toss those on eBay someday.

I just wish I had pulled few CRTs! I'm sure I could have managed somehow

David Roper · #7 11-27-2009, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bandersen

Ah, those are rare tubes I assume ?

None of those tubes are nearly so rare as the prewar sets you would pull them out of!

bandersen · #8 11-27-2009, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Roper

None of those tubes are nearly so rare as the prewar sets you would pull them out of!

LOL I got it. I did a little googling to educate myself

matt_s78mn · #9 11-28-2009, 12:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bandersen

I still have over about a thousand of them and started testing and re-boxing them last month.

Where did you get all the boxes?

bandersen · #10 11-28-2009, 12:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt_s78mn

Where did you get all the boxes?

eBay. There are a few sellers that target the audiophile market. Search for 'tube box' or 'tube carton' and look for a deal. They'll mention they're for 12AU7s or 6V6s or whatever - just check the dimensions.
Others I just had leftover from hamfests and previous purchases.

matt_s78mn · #11 11-28-2009, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bandersen

eBay. There are a few sellers that target the audiophile market. Search for 'tube box' or 'tube carton' and look for a deal. They'll mention they're for 12AU7s or 6V6s or whatever - just check the dimensions.
Others I just had leftover from hamfests and previous purchases.

Nice, I'll have to check that out. I'd sure love to have my tube stock as organized as yours is.

bgadow · #12 11-28-2009, 10:28 PM

I suspect it was mostly capacitors that killed sets back then, same as now, and folks didn't want to dump any money in them. That should mean that most "pulls" have plenty of life left in 'em. A few years ago I brought back to life a Motorola color set from which all the tubes had been pulled. I have been blessed with a very nice pile of tubes (could there be 10,000 of them?) and could have filled that TV with all NOS from my inventory. Instead I used all used tubes, just for the fun of it. Set works fine.

old_coot88 · #13 11-28-2009, 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgadow

I suspect it was mostly capacitors that killed sets back then, same as now...

Actually at that stage in time, capacitors in TV sets had not aged to the point of epidemic failure as they would 30-40-50 years on. The most common failure was indeed tubes, most frequently the damper, hor.output, and rectifier.. in that order. Filter caps were the most frequent non-tube components to fail. Bill(oc)

marty59 · #14 11-29-2009, 11:29 AM

Riding on my bike around the neighborhoods back in the sixties-early seventies, the age of most sets averaged around to be 10 years old. I'd be pulling tubes out of 'em too.
I'd believe the other cause for throwing out was bad CRT's....Sure saw lots of brightners hanging, plus folks wanting newer sets with that newfangled UHF.

Robert Grant · #15 11-29-2009, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgadow

I suspect it was mostly capacitors that killed sets back then, same as now, and folks didn't want to dump any money in them. That should mean that most "pulls" have plenty of life left in 'em. A few years ago I brought back to life a Motorola color set from which all the tubes had been pulled. I have been blessed with a very nice pile of tubes (could there be 10,000 of them?) and could have filled that TV with all NOS from my inventory. Instead I used all used tubes, just for the fun of it. Set works fine.

I have to strongly agree with you on this one.

When I was young, I had found a few TV sets and many a radio with the infamous AC power hum when plugged in.

Whenever I showed such a set to a repairman, he would always saw "its a FILTER, that's not worth fixing" (never telling me that the "filter" was a $ 1.50 capacitor I could have replaced with my soldering iron).

A tube was available at many drug stores (in the day), and could be easily replaced by the user, but a capacitor could not.

I must also add, the resemblance of these life experiences is just uncanny. I remember trash-picking old electronics in 1979-80, fixing a set with one or two tubes, and soon filling the house with fully functional B&W console and portable sets!

As for B&W sets, my mom said "NO MORE!"

And for color sets, my success rate was far smaller. The last one was a 1968 Philco 25" color console, with a beautiful pix for a few seconds after power-up, followed by a sparking flyback. I laboriously replaced the flyback (which, to a teenager, was not cheap, either) and still had the same problem when I powered it up. This soured my taste for TV repair for a long time (in retrospect, I suspect that there was some HV anode short in the 25XP22 that was making the HV short).