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philco battery radios
11-25-2005, 06:16 AM
How hard are these to restore? I have my eyes on a 1937 model that has a 6 volt battery supply. Where can I find or how do I build a 6volt supply and a 1.5 volt, 90 volt supply. How good of a performer are these battery sets?
thanks Chris 
11-25-2005, 10:18 AM
The only battery-operated Philco sets I have ever restored were Model 38 sets. These were made from 1933 to 1936, have AM and the old "police" band. They play just fine, and the instant-on feature is pretty neat, too - you don't have to wait for it to warm up since the tubes are low current, directly heated filament type.
If the set you are looking at is a 6 volt set, it sounds like it was made to run (only) on a 6 volt battery. So you would only need a 6 volt DC source with a decent current capability. I'm sure it has a vibrator power supply, which introduces problems of its own if it uses a synchronous-type vibrator. What is the model number of the set you are looking at? I would know more what to say about it if I knew exactly which set you were interested in... 
-- Ron Ramirez Ferdinand IN 
11-25-2005, 11:23 AM
I've done several battery radios, and the most difficult ones I've done were a couple of Zenith farm radios, a 5F134 and a 6V27. Leaned plenty from that pair! Had to build some fairly elaborate power supplies for those ones. I'll admit the 5F134 power supply was a bit of overkill (I used a 135V TV voltage regulator and a big transformer), and the 6V27 I'm still working on, with the intention of building a solid state vibrator replacement and run it off of a 6V power supply. A bit ambitious, you think?
Armed with the info I learned from the Zeniths, I've had a better time with the smaller farm radios I've done since, 2 Coronados and 2 Philcos, the latter being a 42-122 (covered in the "Latest Philco Save" thread), and a 40-95. Both are pretty simple circuits and not difficult to power. I've got an AC supply I built that puts out 1.5V and 90V, but I've also built some battery packs that work great. A trip to Radio Shack will yield everything you need. A project box that will hold 10 9V batteries, battery clips wired in series, and a couple of D cell holders wired in parallel. I also use the 4 pin power connectors they sell for easy exchanging of the battery pack or the power supply. If you like, at some point I can provide the schematic for the power supply if the group is interesed. Bill Sent from my Pentium II on the AT&T Dial Network
11-25-2005, 03:18 PM
The model number I am looking at is a 37-34 on ebay right now.
thanks Chris
11-26-2005, 05:26 PM
For a 37-34 all you need is 6 volts DC @ 1.3 amps. And it does use a synchronous vibrator.
-- Ron Ramirez Ferdinand IN
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