Philips 26CE2581 - only LED blinks

[Tramwayfreak]

Hello everyone,

I just bought my first CRT, it is a Philips 26CE2581 from 1987 with a 2A-Chassis. Everything worked fine the first time I started it.
A few days ago, Error code "F3" appeared and the Standby-LED was blinking. At this point the picture was still there, but the speaker did not work anymore, and I was unable to change anything with all the keys and buttons.
I started it a few times, until finally the Standby-LED was blinking when powering it up and nothing else happened. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find information on such devices.

I would be very grateful for any advice!

[jayceebee]

Hello and welcome. I'm afraid the manual I have doesn't have a list of error codes so I'm unsure what the error code F3 means. There are a couple of things to check first. The CITAC board which sits along side the tuner and IF strip has a NiCad battery on it which can go flat but also leak and cause damage to the copper traces.

The teletext board has a 40 pin IC on it and if it's fitted in a socket then this can be a possible cause of odd symptoms. Removing and refitting it in it's socket can make the fault go away for a while. If this works consider replacing the socket or soldering the IC directly into the board. Hope this helps.

John.

[Sideband]

I wrote a servicing article for this chassis in 1992. It's here : https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK...on-1992-12.pdf
I think I put the fault codes in the article as well.

Edit: Having just checked, I didn't put any fault codes in. F3....try the teletext board. Oddly I don't recall these giving fault codes....The later 2B did.

Good luck.

[andrewn]

In a fault finding book I have it says check R3643 & R3644 which may have gone open circuit. Symptom "dead - display shows F3".

[Sideband]

I remember there was a chip resistor right in the corner of the teletext PCB that used to go dry jointed. I can't remember if it caused just no text or no picture. I vaguely remember F3 being associated with teletext.....it was sooooo long ago!

[Tramwayfreak]

Thanks for all the answers. the battery is definitely dead, so I have now ordered a new one.

[jayceebee]

A dead battery wouldn't cause the set to stop operating, you would lose the tuning and customer controls memory. If it has leaked that could be a different matter.

John.

[Tramwayfreak]

I replaced the battery today and just wanted to see if it is doing anything. Everything looked fine inside. After starting, F3 came on again and Stand-By flashed. The tube heated up and a few blue lines were displayed. Suddenly there was a sparkover from the flyback transformer to the metal plate on the chassis. I switched it off immediately, but the flyback transformer is now also dead I think.

[Maarten]

The flyback transformer could have caused the fault in the first place.

In any case, the 2A chassis is quite rare (maybe not in the UK but certainly on the continent) so it might still be worthwhile to try and fix it or have someone fix it. Maybe you can find someone on radiomuseum.org as that's probably the largest forum/site in the DACH region. I don't know if Austria has local fora.

As far as I understood, the 2A, 2B, 3A were meant as successors to the K40 chassis, each developed by a different Philips factory. 2A in the UK for low end sets, 2B in Belgium for stereo sets, 3A in Sweden (moved to Belgium when Sweden moved to microwave oven production) for Matchline sets.

The 2A chassis was then quickly succeeded by the CP90 and CP110 chassis, while the 2B and 3A chassis saw a few more years of production.