My New-to-Me Colecovision just threw a rod for no reason! (Pics)

[Boschloo]

I saw a guy selling a Colecovision he had brought from Canada, and I was like, cool, I don't have one of those. $20 later it was mine. But I was warned it had color issues.

So I took it home, plugged it in, and it worked just fine...for a minute. After that, it became monochrome black and yellow. Strange. I took it apart and gave it a cleaning. I noticed it had no grounding cable, unlike the USA CVs. Anyway, I sprayed Deoxit into the RF box, cleaned everything else, etc...

 

Then it started looking like this!

I think I broke something....sucks because this was one I really liked due to uniqueness and was going to send over to @Ruggers Customs for TMS mod...

[128Kgames]

Did you try giving it a beer, eh? 🤣

[OurVision]

My two Canuck Colecovisions have the same boards as my patriotic freedom-loving Colecovisions. The only difference is that one of the two Canadian units has both English and French on the outside front case.

Edited January 14 by OurVision

[allansim]

I live in Canada and ya, same as the US really.

 

The CPU looks to be working and same as the display chip.  I'd do the A/V mod and forget about the RF.

[Boschloo]

40 minutes ago, allansim said:

I live in Canada and ya, same as the US really.

 

The CPU looks to be working and same as the display chip.  I'd do the A/V mod and forget about the RF.

Yeah my plan for today is to remove the useless RF modulator box and see if there's anything broken inside. Then test the outputs some more and see if it's worth sending it to @Ruggers Customs.

 

BTW not only the Canadian CV lack the groundwire, it has some extended RF shield tabs under the controller ports. Interesting!

Edited January 14 by Boschloo

[Boschloo]

I did it, I removed the RF modulator box and I found out why the RF out was messed up. The RF output jack held no continuity! It was covered in black oxidation and I had to unsolder it, Deoxit it, scrub it with a wire brush, wipe it with 99% IPA, then polish it with Brite Boy. 

 

The real puzzler to me was, the 8-pin connector inside the RF box was NOT soldered to the PCB up top! In fact if you look at my pics, you'll see the pins just hanging out there!

I put it all back together and now the image is perfect, although it's black and white, which is weird....but there is a loud buzzing sound now that wasn't there before! Bizarre...I tried messing with the little pots in the RF out box and that has done nothing to the audio, although messing around in there occasionally makes some color appear.

[ChildOfCv]

The audio tuning is that hole in the upper right, and the overall channel tuning is in the lower middle.  Theoretically you should get the channel tuned correctly until the picture is good.  But if the audio is tuned wrong it can still screw up the video too.  So it's a game of looking for best quality as you switch between the two.

 

That said, the channel tuner especially has a tuning slug that can be destroyed from using the wrong tool or from excessive wear.  Make sure it's complete and not cracked.

 

Either way, it should be fine to send for RGB modding, as the RF part is not required for that.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

3 hours ago, ChildOfCv said:

Either way, it should be fine to send for RGB modding, as the RF part is not required for that.

Unless you need composite video for using an exp module 1, or plan to use a Genesis 9pin mini off the RGB where the composite is then needed. CVBS is a no go without that modulator remaining in circuit somewhat.

 

[Boschloo]

12 hours ago, ChildOfCv said:

Theoretically you should get the channel tuned correctly until the picture is good.  But if the audio is tuned wrong it can still screw up the video too.  So it's a game of looking for best quality as you switch between the two.

This was the solution! The RF-out looks great now and no more humming, buzzing or hissing! Thank you! 

[CrashTestMonkey]

On 1/16/2024 at 7:40 PM, Boschloo said:

This was the solution! The RF-out looks great now and no more humming, buzzing or hissing! Thank you! 

I can't see from your picture what specifically it takes to do the tuning... do you mind sharing? Is it a screwdriver (flat head or phillips) or something else?  BTW, glad to hear you got it sorted out.

[ChildOfCv]

On 1/18/2024 at 10:11 PM, CrashTestMonkey said:

I can't see from your picture what specifically it takes to do the tuning... do you mind sharing? Is it a screwdriver (flat head or phillips) or something else?  BTW, glad to hear you got it sorted out.

The audio transformer uses a flat screwdriver but the channel tuner uses a hex head.  You would be best off to get a set of tools made for tuning.  The tools are plastic so that they don't throw off the tuning while the metal is near the transformer.  And they are also less likely to chew up the tuning slug.