07-26-2013, 02:18 PM
The capacitors will have the voltages printed on the side of the body. Generally, radio restorers use 630 volt caps for almost everything, so the original voltage isn't very important. Suppliers to the old radio hobby generally stock this voltage in non-electrolytic caps, and 450 volts in electrolytic caps.
The only reason to use lower voltage caps would be size, but modern 630 volt caps are so much smaller than old paper caps in any voltage that you shouldn't ever need to buy voltages lower than 630.
There are a few places that Philco used 1000 volt capacitors. You should check caps in the final output circuit to see if they have 1000 volts printed on the side before you order capacitors. There may be 2 of them in the 40-190 , possibly #52 and #55. It should be easy to find capacitors with greater than 1000 volt ratings in either the poly or ceramic styles.
I buy most of my caps from justradios.com. They have everything I need for tube radios. I usually use the yellow axial poly type, but some people like the orange drops (or dips.) Just Radios also has capacitors in the old pre-WWII capacitance values, like 20 uF instead of 22 uF and so forth. Not that this matters much, but I still like to use original values.
The only reason to use lower voltage caps would be size, but modern 630 volt caps are so much smaller than old paper caps in any voltage that you shouldn't ever need to buy voltages lower than 630.
There are a few places that Philco used 1000 volt capacitors. You should check caps in the final output circuit to see if they have 1000 volts printed on the side before you order capacitors. There may be 2 of them in the 40-190 , possibly #52 and #55. It should be easy to find capacitors with greater than 1000 volt ratings in either the poly or ceramic styles.
I buy most of my caps from justradios.com. They have everything I need for tube radios. I usually use the yellow axial poly type, but some people like the orange drops (or dips.) Just Radios also has capacitors in the old pre-WWII capacitance values, like 20 uF instead of 22 uF and so forth. Not that this matters much, but I still like to use original values.
John Honeycutt
