Thorn/BRC 2000

[ppppenguin]

Some time this week I will become the pround owner of a Thorn/BRC 2000 TV. This was the world's first all transistor colour TV. A year or 2 ago David Boynes documented the successful reconstruction of a 2000 that looked as if it had lain in a swamp for years. My set is very much the opposite, in near perfect condition for restoration.

I don't think I'm breaking forum rules by saying that this is the set: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HMV-Colourmast...SwcB5ZLCI3

I would like to give special thanks to 2 people who have helped me with getting this set. I'm not on ebay myself so my good friend and generally excellent chap Pamphonica (Jeremy) bid on my behalf. Mikey405 is another excellent chap. He's local to the vendor and cast his expert eye over it on my behalf. Thank you both.

Not sure when I'll get to restoring it but I'll be writing it up here at GVR.

This is the only vintage colour TV I want in my collection. Partly for its historical significance but also because a 2000 was my first CTV. I was about 18 when I drove up to Flitwick to one of the dealers in ex-rental TVs that advertised in Practical TV. For £100 I came away with a non-working 2000 that was guaranteed to have a good CRT. i got it working, learning a vast amount about CTV in the process. It became our family's first CTV and did sterling service for a number of years.

[peter scott]

It certainly looks in very nice condition.

Peter

[ppppenguin]

My only worry is the CRT. The design is all discrete components, not a chip in sight. The jellypot LOP/EHT transformers are superbly reliable (famous last words) and the unique tripler can be rebuilt if necessary. A few parts such as convergence pots are in short supply but can be frigged with modern components. The mains transformer is a reliable part but if the worst has happened I'm sure Ed Dinning can help.

[Geordie McBoyne]

Hi Jeffrey. Congratulations upon winning the HMV ColourMaster 2700 CTV. Of all the early dual standard colour TVs to this is the one to possess. Was the HMV 2700 the first colour TV to be marketed by Thorn Electrical Industries? The other three Thorn Group brands followed shortly after. Ferguson, Marconi and Ultra.

Geordie McBoyne.

[ppppenguin]

The servive manual and other bits are now in the archive. http://golbornevintageradio.co.uk/forum/...p?tid=6399&pid=69179#pid69179

Thank you to Mike (Crackle) who stitched together a lot of files to make it a lot more convenient to upload and use.

[Mark Hennessy]

Wow - that's a mammoth manual! Thank you both for your efforts in making it available here, and kudos to the folks at BRC who put it all together originally

[ppppenguin]

The manual is certainly very well written and produced. Don't think I've ever seen better for domestic kit. In the professional world it would be hard to beat Tektronix in the good old days. Perhaps a subject for a new thread: "Manuals, good, bad and ugly?"

Hope we don't bust the site hosting, either on total amount of data or on download volume.

This isn't a formal offer but as I now have 2 copies of the paper manual the spare copy could be on offer to another 2000 owner. Consideration to be discussed.

[ppppenguin]

Had a chance for a quick look at the set today. Pulled out all the boards, meggered the mains transformer, checked earth continuity. All OK. Oddly, the earth core of the mains lead had been cut back. Perhaps the set had been used with a 2 pin plug at one time. Switched on, reasonable voltages on secondaries, connected CRT base panel and heaters glowed nicely.

Brushed off copious amounts of dust.

Next step power supply and regulator. The PSU in the set has seen better days but looks easy enough to fix up. Also with the set were 2 spare PSU boards. One looks nice, the other is a parts donor unless your name is McBoyne I'll start with the 2nd one as it looks nicest. Probably run it up on a bench PSU to reform the caps.

I have a spare regulator baord too but the one in the set looks nice enough. Again I may run it up on the bench to see what it's like.

Nothing else in the set has any obvious abuse so fingers crossed.

[ppppenguin]

I've woken up a power supply module. Probably didn't need to do it this gently but I used a bench supply to reform the main smoothers which were all OK. I changed a 1000uF 6V Callins which was likely to be faulty. Also changed the BFY50 and a nearby electrolytic which had suffered mechanical damage. I reckoned it was worth changing the beam limiter preset as the original skeleton part was filthy and likely to be scratchy if not worse.

I also used a PSU to check the 30V zener shunt stabilisers which were both fine, as were their associated Mullard "blue" electrolytics.

Repalced module, switched on. No smoke.

Time to look at a regulator panel. I have a choice of 2. Both look reasonbly OK but with minor mechanical damage. The spare has been a bit damp at some point, has minor corrosion and has more mech damage. The original one is clearly better looking so that's the one I'll go for. I'll replace the odd fractured wire, check out the 3 series pass devices and investigate a resistor that's clearly overheated. Just 1 Callins cap which will be changed. The 3 presets will get some Servisol as a pre-emptive measure.

[ppppenguin]

The boards in the bottom of the chassis (video, decoder, frame/sound) were filthy so I decided to wash them. Just hot water, washing up liquid and a small paintbrush. Much nicer now. Tried to avoid getting water in the coils, don't care about the preset pots as they're easily replaced and probably need to be changed anyway.

I'll dry them in the airing cupboard before trying them.

Probably won't repeat on the vertically mounted boards as they are less dirty. Don't fancy doing the IF with all its coils. EHT and linescan should be OK as the jellypot transformers are well sealed. System switches shouldn't mind a wash but may well want some servisol afterwards. Convergence board is clean as it's mounted upside down. Regulator may get a wash but it's not too bad after a dry brush down.