GE Portacolor Repair Tin Whiskers H4 1972 Vintage Color TV 

Several years ago when there were supposed problems with the Toyota Prius accelerating out of control, one of the initial suspicions they had was tin whiskers. It ended up being the floor mats getting bunched up.

I think the space cowboys used parylene coatings to protect from tin wiskers.

Thanks I always wanted to know. Since seeing tin whiskers in a PortaColor 30 yrs ago!

And it is believed to have taken spacecrafts out of commission.

I remember when I just moved to the US in June 1972, I saw an advertise in the News paper (Philadelphia Inquirer) for this color TV for $169.00 on sales at Silo Warehouse store . I was shock to know that you can buy n brand new colour TV in the US for that cheap while the color set in Thailand start with $500.00!

The transistorized chassis proved more troublesome than the tube version, mostly due to intermittent vias in the circuit boards. At the time, I was told you could fix almost any fault in the GE color chassis by soldering all of the vias , which were marked on the board with a W. You can see some of these on the board in this set.

for sure I am not sure what generation my GE tv is but I agree the 1976 line .

Wow. Do whiskers grow in all directions? Solder is a tin alloy. It was okay for space?

Plating deposits layers of charged metallic particles sometimes only a few atoms thick. Seems like dissimilar metals attached under unnatural (read unstable) conditions like temperatures, pressures (near vacuum) and charge distributions not normal results in unstable molecular bonds, potential energy and reactivity. Nature always seeks the lowest energy state possible over time. Galvanic effects, moisture and atmospheric conditions can liberate these energetic materials to react, repel one another, and "grow" surface features disadvantageous to safe operation. A less dramatic and energetic form of this same process is rust/corrosion.

I would further speculate the metals like tin, zinc, cadmium etc. have a similar affinity for attaching in long stable chains preferentially to one another or some atmospherically derived compound versus the base metal or alloys. The way crystalline substances self arrange has a lot to do with their atomic structure, and the viable bonds they readily form with themselves or adjacent compounds. Seems like a fairly easy thing to figure out with the tools we have today (versus 50 years ago).

Lmao space flight's......

@@applanateearth586 lmao apostrophe plural

Strong as a horse now

What bunker tour?

It was an older video. One of the shopping channels mentioned something making a great stocking stuffer.

you cannot stop whiskers with paint, it will just pierce through it

Hahaha, it sure does!

Tin Whiskers is a brewery in St. Paul, Minnesota. No joke.

I was thinking more of a jazz pianist.

Why did they even have pass thru rivets? Single sided board, right? I'm confused...

I had one decades ago that I got from a rummage sale. “Mediocre” is exactly what it was at best. Others have jokingly referred to the portacolor viewing experience as like “watching tv through a screen door”. They were very popular sets and Ge sold a ton of them due to their low price,and of course it being color. I’ve heard the earliest versions had slightly better picture quality,but I’ve never had one of the first models to see if that true.

GE made a bunch of compromises to keep the size, tube count and price down. But the Portacolor did pioneer the inline gun, which become the standard for non-Trinitron CRT sets. When Sony was developing the Trinitron (they were having trouble with a Trinitron precurser with a vertical mask with alternating charges), they took apart a few Porta Color sets to see what they could learn from them.

Flat screen LED TV's of today are like magic compared to the stuff we had to watch TV on back then.

Not necessarily. Later model small CRT tech from Sony, Sharp and Toshiba, plus circuitry stuff like comb filters greatly improved NTSC picture quality in the late 70s and early 1980s.

@@waltschannel7465 Granted, technology in color TV receivers *definitely* improved as the 1970's progressed into the 1980's, but ghosting in urban areas -- and snow in fringe areas -- were still persistent problems. In my opinion, the Sony Trinitrons were *excellent* sets among the smaller TV's. But larger CRT sets seemed, in my opinion, to produce a somewhat inadequate, blurry image, though.

Problem is the metal body is not solder and that is where the majority are forming. Certain alloys just do this. The "solution" is not use material that grows tin whiskers.

@@tarstarkusz You’re right; it’s probably the tin plating on the steel.

@@5roundsrapid263 it is .... i've seen this quite a few times, tin 'fur' covering metal chassis/plates/screens, etc

Any helicrapters?

Grandma?

yep, i've also found the AC1xx types can also be afflicted, shorting to case, and even the supposedly 'better' AF12x types, i've had one go short internally to case, so far i've only destroyed one by current blasting, one of the leads wasnt connected properly and it blew a junction , all others it did 'cure' them ....so far .....

many times i've come across the outside of transistor cans, plus other tinned metal parts, covered in the 'tin fur', it definitely seems to happen more if they get damp, as shango says in the video ...

One guy tried to remove tin whiskers by heating the transistor - instant boom... Its full of grease.

@@mohinderkaur6671 will do in a sealed container, pressure increases until ...... i've found discharging a large charged capacitor into them works in many cases, its kill or cure ....

I'm Dyin' over here.... 😆

You do not need electricity for them to form only the right conditions. Some commonly accepted factors that can impart additional residual stress: Residual stresses within the tin plating caused by factors such as the plating chemistry and process. Electroplated finishes (especially "bright" finishes) appear to be most susceptible to whisker formation reportedly because bright tin plating processes can introduce greater residual stresses than other plating processes. Intermetallic Formation: The diffusion of the substrate material into the tin plating (or vice versa) can lead to formation of intermetallic compounds (such as Cu6Sn5 for a Sn over Cu system) that alter the lattice spacing in the tin plating. The change in lattice spacing may impart stresses to the tin plating that may be relieved through the formation of tin whiskers. Externally Applied Compressive Stresses such as those introduced by torquing of a nut or a screw or clamping against a tin-coated surface can sometimes produce regions of whisker growth. Bending or Stretching of the surface after plating (such as during lead-formation prior to mounting of an electronic component) Scratches or nicks in the plating and/or the substrate material introduced by handling, probing, etc. Coefficient of Thermal Expansion Mismatches between the plating material and substrate

@@randyab9go188 Thanks for the very informative reply, interesting stuff. Everyday is a learning day.

Warmth? The color tones with the heat of the vacuum tubes from our color set growing up is a memory for me.

I have a 1978 SABA, albeit a 26 inch, with a Sylvania tube that's pretty much dead, takes 30 seconds for the red to come up, then the blue joins in like 5 seconds later and then at the 50 seconds mark the green starts coming up and after about 2 minutes it's almost watchable. On this set, the convergence gets randomized every time I turn it on. FUN!

Not long before the gas lines, though! 25 Cents/gallon sure was easier on the wallet!

Great music!

I think the song started out being Blue Monday by New Order (1983) but I won't be surprised if it has been sampled and remixed many times by other artists.

@@f114163 Yeah, I think you're right. I get mixed up with those bands often.

All those GM abs modules are bad. No one fixes the abs on a 97 buick, pull the fuse

Up to 1978

The dot pitch of the screen might be too coarse to read fine text.

Gamers choice!😂

I should think so. They are so thin that the surface area is extremely high. Like steel wool. But it won't prevent them from growing again. From what I can find, neither will paint. They should just make them from regular steel or aluminum. They probably chose the alloy to prevent corrosion.

Paint won't completely stop whisker formation but it will slow it significantly.

It would, but they would regrow after some time (years?). They grow because the plating is from pure tin and there is mechanical stress on the element.

Great vid, thanks Shango.