Transitone Line Cord Replacement - Printable Version
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Transitone Line Cord Replacement - Schroeder - 08-11-2025
Any advice on how to secure new line cord without the molded in strain relief on the orginal for transitone 46-250? Also I'm planning to use a polarized plug and thinking of switching the line side vs the neutral side so the chassis is at least coupled to neutral through the .1uF cap. Is this reccomended or is the norm to leave as is?
RE: Transitone Line Cord Replacement - RodB - 08-11-2025
Switching the hot Line is preferred since this excludes any line voltage beyond the on/off switch. Better to have the X1 safety capacitor after the switch. Then no components have any power applied until the switch is turned on. I've noticed many, but far fewer than there should be, manufacturers did this even though polarized plugs didn't get much attention in the late 40s.
I've used a tie wrap on the inside of the chassis for strain relief.
RE: Transitone Line Cord Replacement - MrFixr55 - 08-11-2025
Other than possible AC Hum (and I don't think that that is an issue), for the life of me, I don't know why every manufacturer switched the neutral on AC-DC sets, even clock radios (OK, the clock was AC but the chassis was still AC-DC) switched the neutral. This leaves a condition that no matter how the plug is inserted, there is a condition where the chassis is warm (when cap / resistor coupled to B-) or hot (when thechassis is directly connected to the line..
On any set where I can rewire so that the switch is on the hot side and the neutral wire goes to B-, I do so.
Exceptions include the one set that I own with a working curtain burner power cord and some of my Line / battery sets.
On one Transitone I repaired, I was able to save the strain relief by drilling out the wire, passing the new wire through it and securing with a zip tie. On my 48-206, the rubber line cord and original plug, complete with UL band is in sufficiently good condition to use. I did rewire the set for switching the hot line and modified the neutral pin of the plug by cutting the end and widening it, closing the loop with soler.
RE: Transitone Line Cord Replacement - Arran - 08-12-2025
If this is one of the rubber cords with a glans where it goes through the chassis, I usually just cut them off, run a new cord through the hole, and knot it on the inside of the hole so it doesn't pull out. It may be an idea to add a washer so the edge of the hole doesn't cut into the knot, but I never bothered. One way to cut down on current leakage via the coupling cap between the B- and the chassis is to use a smaller value capacitor, this takes some experimentation as the set will motorboat and squeal if the cap is too small. It's not something a generally worry about since most AC/DC sets are in wood or plastic cabinets, with wood or plastic knobs, and most have a back.
It's like the repair and restoration books always recommended using an isolation transformer when working on AC/DC sets, I did not have one, so I would normally pull the power cord, except when I was performing an alignment, and not standing on a concrete floor was always a wise precaution. The largest shocks I received were usually from AC radios they had a fault, I had a Victor 118 that had a short between the speaker basket and either the output transformer or the filed coil, if you touched that, and the chassis you would get a nice thump, much worse then the 120 volt line voltage.
Regards
Arran
RE: Transitone Line Cord Replacement - GarySP - 08-12-2025
Call me a Heretic, but I just add a grommet to the hole, push the wire through, and knot it inside the chassis. Take care, - Gary
RE: Transitone Line Cord Replacement - bridkarl - 10-06-2025
I do pretty much what Gary does.
Another alternative is using some nylon washers and hot glue if you don’t want to tie a knot in the cord. I mention that mainly because some jurisdictions (Australia??) have banned the use of knots in line repairs.