[Raleigh]

Does anyone know anything about the dimensions for the battery for a Philco 46-350 portable? I have the service package from Chuck, and it just lists the Philco battery part number P-841A. This battery has a 9 volt "A" and a 90 volt "B."

I have a battery from a 41-81, which is a Philco P-41A-4G. It has a 1 1/2 volt "A" and a 90 volt B. This battery is the largest size that could possibly fit in the 46-350, but obviously has the wrong "A" voltage and the wrong connector.

The 41-83 battery will just barely fit in the 46-350, but obviously it has the wrong "A" voltage and connector.

[RadioDave]

Not sure about the Philco battery dimensions but I have an Eveready and a Zenith with identical dimensions and an earlier Zenith with slightly larger dimensions, all are 9V A and 90v B.

The dimensions are 14" long by 4" wide by 2 5/8" high for the two identical ones and 14" by 4 1/2" by 2 3/4" for the earlier Zenith. The battery connection is in the face of the smaller dimension. The connector is the four pin type as seen here: http://home.comcast.net/~morrised2006/radios/radio8.htm

I gutted them and used 6 D cells for the 9V and 60 AA cells for the 90V like it shows in the link. Works great.

[Raleigh]

Thanks, Dave. Those batteries are too for the 46-350. The battery I can just get in the radio is 9 7/8 x 3 3/8 x 2 3/8. I have a chart of Eveready battery dimensions, and all the ones with 90 "B" and 9 "A" are either large like yours or quite a bit smaller.

The P-41A-4G battery fits in the 46-350 like a glove, so I assume the one intended for it is close to that size. The connecter on the 46-350 is a lot larger, and judging from the length of the DC leads on the radio, the connector is closer to one end than to the middle.

I might just make a box the same size as the one I have for the 41-81 and put the modern batteries inside. I don't know how to make the printed covers, so it won't look right, but I can probably make it work.

I don't know where to buy or how to make the female terminals in the battery to fit the ones on the radio. I got the other ones by removing them from the old battery.

Thanks for linking to that site for reproduction batteries. I'd like to have one of those for my Transoceanic.

[WyTex]

Philco battery part number P-841A in my 46-350 is 9 1/2" W x 4 1/4" T x 2 5/8" D.

Thanks,
Paul

[Raleigh]

Paul, thanks for your help. That's exactly what I needed to know.

One more question: can you tell me where the connector is? Like measure from the center of the connector to the edges of the side it is on. I don't yet know how to make a connector, but when I do make the box I'd like to put it in the right place.

[WyTex]

The 9 hole circle connector is 1" in diameter. The center is 1" from the right side box edge and 1 3/8" from both the upper and lower box edges.

I can get some pictures if that helps.

Thanks,
Paul

[Raleigh]

Paul, thanks for the info. Pictures would help, if not too much trouble.

I'll build a box this size and equip it with some modern batteries to make the "A" and "B" voltages. It'll be fun to make the radio truly portable. Then if an original comes my way I can use the cardboard to make it a true restoration, as I have with a couple of other batteries.

[WyTex]

[attachment=3984][attachment=3985]    

[Raleigh]

Wow, Paul, thanks for the great pictures!

[WyTex]

You bet. Let me know if you need anymore.

[Raleigh]

Paul,

Thanks to the dimensions you sent, last weekend I made a box the right size, put in some connector pins from a computer power supply, and wired up 6 C-cells and 10 nine volt batteries for the A and B supplies. It needs the printed cardboard for the outside, but it is a working battery. (Just kind of ugly.)

One of these days I'll either find an original I can get the cardboard from or else I'll figure out how to print one for myself.


Thanks again.

[Raleigh]

Thanks to Paul, who sent me the right dimensions, I built a box for my repro battery and connected it to my 46-350. My first experiment in posting photos will either work or it won't. Edited: It Works!

Here is the basic box from outside. The black and white circle on the side is a paper I glued over the connectors to prevent shorting and to cover up the ugliness of the riveting.

[Image: http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w539...0a621b.jpg]

Here is the box from the inside, showing the 9 volt and C cells for the "A" and "B" batteries.

[Image: http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w539...70def7.jpg]

Another favor Paul did me was to alert me to a sale on eBay of an original battery. Here it is with my repro battery box inside:

[Image: http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w539...7da8fc.jpg]

And, finally, here it is in the radio, working well and looking more or less like it did originally.

[Image: http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w539...ba44dd.jpg]

Note the two visible modifications. 1) the inline fuse, which is too ugly to live, so I'll probably take it out one day, and 2) the connector for the antenna wires. For a while I was soldering and unsoldering these connections a lot to get the chassis out, so the connector was a great help. I'll probably leave it in.

Also notice that the electrolytic filter in the top center isn't original. The original was bulged and cracked, and so brittle that it fell apart in my hands. What you see there is PVC pipe almost exactly the right diameter, stuffed with new 'lytics, capped with a piece of plastic file folder, and painted with lovely ACE Hardware aluminum spray. It wouldn't fool anyone for long, but at a glance it looks OK.

[Raleigh]

Paul mentioned in a PM that he hadn't seen the guts of one of these batteries before. Here are some pics of the P-841-A for the 46-350.

The cellophane was fragile and tore easily. I've not seen one wrapped in cellophane before. I think the plug from the radio was just stuck through the cellophane into the connector. Note the cardboard on the end was just a loose shim.

[Image: http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w539...db9054.jpg]

This one has the end shim removed, showing the six cells of the "A" battery stacked together and stuck in place with tar. I think the cells are size F cells, about 1.5 times the length of a modern D cell, and about 1.2 mm larger diameter. From the white powder it looks like at least one of them corroded and leaked.

[Image: http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w539...3327c0.jpg]

The "B" battery is in the 2 boxes to the left of the "A" battery. Both are facing the same way, with the tar side toward the camera. Note the shim that covered the open end of the tar-packed cells. I think these are size A cells (not the same as the "A" battery). The A cells were just a tiny bit bigger diameter than modern AA cells, but are just 2.5 mm longer, about .1 inch. They fit in the same AA battery holders that we use, but are a little snug.

[Image: http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w539...6adea6.jpg]