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Old 05-05-2018, 08:57 PM
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Jeffhs Jeffhs is offline
<----Zenith C845
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Fairport Harbor, Ohio (near Lake Erie)
Posts: 4,035
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vintv49 View Post
This is my Sony CRF-5100. It was perfect until a few days ago, when I fried it, thinking I could use a non-standard cord (shown in photos). I already punished myself enough for doing this most stupid thing, but I thought(here we go…)that I used this electric cord before. But it has been months since I fired it up. Now, it's dead. It was perfect. What to do - thinking of just buying another as I can't repair it, and the cost to repair is probably as much or more as buying another. Older here didn't yield wiser. Anyways - nice to see all the other radios here.

Mine is at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/413857...7648929352304/
OUCH! Sorry to hear of your bad experience with your CRF-5100. However, I wonder. Are you sure the radio is permanently damaged? How would the use of an incorrect power cord "fry" the set? I would look inside the radio, at the chassis, to see if there isn't a fuse in there that blew when you connected the non-standard AC cord. I would think the CRF-5100, like most AC/DC transistor multiband portables, would be designed to use literally any type of power cord, as long as that cord would fit the AC input socket on the back of the radio. (I have a Zenith R-70 AM/FM portable with an AC input socket on the back of the cabinet that will accept the coiled cord from my electric razor; said cord is a perfect fit, and of course it works, every bit as well as the stock AC cord would.)

I looked at the photos of your CRF-5100 and saw the type of power cord the radio is designed to use. I didn't see anything special about it, unless the stock AC cord had fuses or special circuitry to protect the radio from power surges, etc. I cannot otherwise imagine how using a so-called "non-standard" AC cord could damage the radio beyond repair.

Your Sony CRF-5100 looks very similar in appearance to Zenith's model 3000-1 Trans-Oceanic; same rotating drum dial linked to the band switch and all. The only difference between the two sets that I could see, aside from the volume, squelch, etc. controls located below the tuning dial, was the tuning meter, which the Zenith TO doesn't have, and of course the brand. Was the design of the CRF-5100 a deliberate take-off on the Zenith 3000-1? Doesn't seem likely, as I am sure Zenith had no affiliation, association, etc. with Sony at any time during the former company's existence (Zenith closed its Chicago factories and transferred its remaining operations to Korea some time in the 1990s, leaving only its business offices in Lincolnshire, Illinois, outside Chicago).
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Jeff, WB8NHV

Collecting, restoring and enjoying vintage Zenith radios since 2002

Zenith. Gone, but not forgotten.

Last edited by Jeffhs; 05-05-2018 at 09:27 PM.
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