Posts: 2
Threads: 1
Joined: Jul 2011
City: Iowa
Newbie here, I have acquired a Philco 39-72 and a Zenith 5r-312. I am just educating myself . What is a source of a variac? Also, how about the three batteries that are going to be needed for the Philco, are they still available? The antenna has some insulation falling off, only from the loop to the connections, how to correct that?
Some photos attached, any comments are welcome!
Note from site admin: Sorry, but the photos which were attached to this post are no longer available.
Posts: 160
Threads: 36
Joined: Jan 2006
Build your own batters you need 1.5 volt "A" and 90 volt "B" dry cells batter "D's" work good and ten 9 volts I can run my vintage portables over 50 hrs on Dollar Store batter's cost you around $10
Posts: 7,301
Threads: 269
Joined: Dec 2009
City: Roslyn Pa
Hi Raymond and welcome!!!
Throw some batteries in that bad boy and you'll be ready for the beach or a camping trip!!! One a bit of a more serious note I'd recommend replacement of the paper and electrolytic cap in this guy. If not and you got some leaky ones in there it will run down your B batteries in a hurry. That gets expensive!!!
As for the original battery I doubt you can get it anymore and if you could it would run like $40-50 bucks. There's Bill the Batterymaker. He can build a original looking battery box to snap in your new 9V and D cells and it will plug right into your set. Don't know what it would run but he does nice work!
If you have milliamper meter hook in series with your B supply. If all is good (no leakage from your caps) it should draw about 8.5ma or so with 90V B and 1.5V A volts. The service into can be found here:http://www.nostalgiaair.org/PagesByModel/303/M0013303.pdf That's for a 39-71 there about the same.
Have fun w/it
Terry
When my pals were reading comic books
I was down in the basement in my dad's
workshop. Perusing his Sam's Photofoacts
Vol 1-50 admiring the old set and trying to
figure out what all those squiggly meant.
Circa 1966
Now I think I've got!
Terry
Posts: 404
Threads: 53
Joined: Feb 2009
Sure looks in very nice shape for its age.
tractorforum.com *** I reserve the right to be wrong
Posts: 2
Threads: 1
Joined: Jul 2011
City: Iowa
How many of those batteries do I need, and which components are those to replace?
Posts: 7,301
Threads: 269
Joined: Dec 2009
City: Roslyn Pa
Caps are 3,10,16,23, and 26. Batteries you will need 10 9v batteries and 4 D cells. Wire the 9v batteries in series to give you 90v. Wire the 4 D cells in parallel to give you 1.5v.
Terry
When my pals were reading comic books
I was down in the basement in my dad's
workshop. Perusing his Sam's Photofoacts
Vol 1-50 admiring the old set and trying to
figure out what all those squiggly meant.
Circa 1966
Now I think I've got!
Terry
Posts: 4,902
Threads: 54
Joined: Sep 2008
City: Sandwick, BC, CA
If the battery leads are crumbly I would recommend replacing them or having them replaced, if the are still good you can get by for now. You can run these battery sets either by rigging up batteries like the 9 volt jobs in series, with a pair of 1.5 volt "D" cells in parallel for the "A" side or you can try building a battery eliminator from one of the many plans out there.
Regards
Arran
![[-]](https://philcoradio.com/phorum/images/bootbb/collapse.png "[-]")
