The PHILCO Phorum

Hello every one.I am new to the sight. I am starting a restoration of a Philco 610.I am a retired electrician and I have a little experience restoring an old Philco 38-7 that was my grand parents. I found this radio for sale down the street and I couldn't resist it. While going though it getting  a list of capacitors I would need to start I noticed the type 80 full wave rectifier tube had been replace by a RCA V5E tube. I cant find any info on the tube on the net. It obviously fit the 4 pin socket but I'm hoping that someone hasn't messed this thing up good. Anyone heard of this tube? Any help would be appreciated.

Welcome to the forum, Jim! At the bottom of this phorum is the Philco Radio Library. Open the site and go to Service info, then go to Philco 1928-1936 wiring diagrams. Looking at the schematic the 610 always had an 80 rectifier. 80 tubes aren't that hard to get. If it were mine I would replace the rectifier in your set with what the paperwork shows. Keep in touch and let us know how things go. Lots of very helpful folks here to help you if you get stuck. Take care and BE HEALTHY! Gary

V5E is the RCA date code of the tube which indicates it was made in the Fall of 1945. It should be stamped on the black bakelite base of the tube and is not the type number.. The type 80 marking would be stamped on the glass and is easily rubbed off. Sometimes you can see the number if it is faint by breathing on the glass to fog it up and then hold up to the light.

Here is a link to the official Philco service info:

https://philcoradio.com/library/download...l.%201.pdf

https://philcoradio.com/library/download...20217B.pdf

Did some looking around on the web an found a old ebay auction for some rca 6y6g tubes in the listing was a series of codes on the tube one of which was v5e. Great place for tube info   https://frank.pocnet.net/   Welcome to the phorum. David

This might interest you. I havent put the completed radio in the cabinet on there. Kinda forgot   
https://philcoradio.com/phorum/showthread.php?tid=9048

Thank you folks I was able to make out the tube type on the glass and it is a 5z3.  It was not a type 80 but it was a full wave rectfier type.
I'll be talking to you! Thx!

Hello Jim ,
Welcome aboard and the Philco 610 is a nice set and a fairly easy one except the bakelite blocks

Tv man,
Nice I really enjoy My 610B it really works great and when I got my set the cabinet was painted white with latex house paint, and they used a sheet for the speaker grille even the knobs were painted white.
Sincerely Richard

Hi Jim ! Welcome to the Phorum. The service data for the model 610 can be found in the library of the main site. Here is the link...  https://philcoradio.com/library/download...l.%201.pdf
As you can see, looking at the schematic, the tube used originally is the type 80, a very common full wave rectifier used right up unto the 1940s. It uses a 4 pin base with this pin out...

The 5Z3 has the same 4 pin base and the same pin out, and can be used as a substitute in most cases for a type 80. This was probably done in the 1950s or 1960s by a service man who had the 5Z3 on hand but no type 80 which was by then considered obsolete.

Jim, it would be advisable to replace the 5Z3 with the correct type 80. While they are both full wave rectifiers and pin compatible, the 5Z3 draws considerably more filament current than the 80. 

The 80 has a 2 Amp filament while the 5Z3 draws 3 Amps, and places a 50% overload on the filament winding of the power transformer. The transformer is somewhat small as it is and the less you load it the better.

+1 what Mondial said! Also consider that line voltages are a little more 'robust' than when that set was new. Take care and BE HEALTHY! Gary

Agree with the 5Z3 vs the 80. 80s are easy to find. RCA replaced the 80 with the 5Y3. Electrically the same but the 5Y3 has an Octal base. Think RCA likely made the tube up to the late 40s or newer, as the latest 80s I have found are "GT" style bulbs and look like rebased 5Y3s.

One "Mod" that I make on any electronics using 80s is to disconnect the HV Secondary wires of the Power Transformer from the plate contacts of the rectifier socket and add a 1A 1000PIV silicon diode in series between each transformer HV Secondary lead (But not the center tap) and each plate terminal of the rectifier socket. This is to protect the transformer and electrolytics if the rectifier develops a plate to filament short (and they do, especially the S and the ST style tubes). It is also a good thing to do with 5Y3s, 5U4s and any directly heated full wave rectifier.

Wow. You guys are great. I definitely have found the right site.

Hello Jim,
Far as the bakelite blocks you will find a post on here about taking the innards out and replacing the parts with new one .

Sincerely Richard

Here's the link JimB is referring to from our Library:
https://philcoradio.com/library/index.ph...soldering/

There are other discussions as well in the Phorum posts about this. I usually desolder them to gut them but the link has all the relevant info. The library also has data about the capacitance values and wire diagrams for various blocks. Looks like the link is broken so I'll report that to Nathan. https://philcoradio.com/library/index.ph...lock-data/

Hi Jim and welcome.

Thought I'd stop by and say howdy after the flurry posts. You'll find that the 38-7 and the 610 are just about the same circuit wise. Just it uses the older standard base tubes vs the newer self centering tubes. The 6J5 and 6K5 are all incorporated in the 75 tube. It also doesn't use that pita chassis in chassis design which makes the 610 much nicer to service.

You didn't mention which cabinet it came with B,F,PF, or other? I had the F (console) back in the '80s. Good sounding player sensitive and selective.
 
Lots of sage advice here to guide you along.