19inch RCA Dead

Have a 19inch RCA that sometimes will come on when you keep pressing the power button for a long time, but for the most part it appears to be dead. I was going to try and install a toggle switch from the hardware store, but the switch has contacts like in an old car with points & condenser. I can figure out how to connect a toggle switch with this type of switch. Anyway, do you think it's the switch or the flyback transfomer that's gone. The set is 10 years old.

 

You say it comes on? Both sound and picture?
If you have a picture, the flyback transformer must be okay. Were it bad, you wouldn't have any high voltage and the picture tube wouldn't light up. Also a flyback failure is usually accompanied by the burning transformer smell.

Before you try any extensive modifications, let's see if it is the switch. Switch failures are not uncommon in old sets. If you can see the contacts on the switch, disconnect one side of the switch, and reconnect it to the other side. In effect, you now have the set in a permanently on status. Assure yourself you are doing this with the set unplugged, of course. When you plug in the set, does it come on and stay on?

Another quick check is to use an ohmmeter across the legs of the old switch. Check for continuity (zero ohms) when you push the switch. If you have continuity with the switch pushed, chances are that the problem lies elsewhere. Remember to make these checks with the set unplugged.

Smokey