32 Volt and 6 Volt Farm Radios

[Console User]

Have a couple of 32 volt and several 6 volt Farm Radios. Do not know what they are worth? Some of them have been restored both mechanically & physically. They all worked at one time. I sure wish I knew of someone that wanted some of them as I have too many and don't really want them anymore.

[WISCOJIM]

I'm sure they all worked at one time, or they never should have left the factory.

You'll get better results if you actually test them, to let the buyer know he isn't getting one that has been fried on 120 volts.

Restored mechanically & physically (and should also be restored electronically) are often in the eye of the beholder. Many "restored" radios are simply partially repaired sets or poorly refinished cabinets. Also it is important if it has been recently restored as opposed to being restored sometime in the past where it actually needs a fresh restoration again.

Place an ad in the classifieds either here or over at the Antique Radio Forum which has much more viewership when dealing with radios. Use good pictures and descriptions. Price them as what they are worth to you. If they sell, you've done okay. If they don't, either they may be undesired or overpriced (or both).

Better yet, sell them in person at a local radio club meet. That way the buyer can see firsthand what you are selling and you don't have to ship a radio and deal with an unhappy buyer when they've discovered that your description did not meet their reality.

Good luck.

[Olorin67]

A lot of collectors seem to ignore them, since they are a bit strange.. But then there are probably a few of us oddballs that like figuring out how these things worked. They seem to go for less money than similar 120V sets. But if you can show they are in working condition that should improve the situation. I think a lot of collectors just stay away because they are not familiar with restoring them. I have Fairbanks Morse 6 v set, and a Sentinel bakelite set that was modified later with 12 volt tubes and a scary resistor line cord to run on 120V. Never tackled restoring that one, since whats there is so different from the original schematic or a conventional all american five. Its weird, with a triode-Hexode mixer-converter and a strange output stage. Either whoever converted it chose odball tubes because they had the same pinouts as the original battery tubes, or it was done during WWII when many common tube types were unavailable and the serviceman had to be creative.

[radiotvnut]

I've got a Philco 32V tombstone that I bought out of the old ARC magazine, years ago. After getting the radio, it had a standard AC power plug with a big red tag hanging off the cord that said "32 VDC ONLY!" Well, after examining the radio, it was evident that someone didn't pay attention to the tag and plugged it into 120 VAC. I guess one of these days, I'll pull it out and try to fix it.

A lot of collectors shy away from any kind of battery set because they don't want to bother with a battery pack or building an AC power supply.

[Console User]

What I should have stated is that I had them all working at one time after purchasing them & having them worked on.

[dtvmcdonald]

I might be interested in a 32 volt table model ... no consoles. What do you have?
If selling, it should go in Classifieds. I like oddball schematic types.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by dtvmcdonald

I might be interested in a 32 volt table model ... no consoles. What do you have?
If selling, it should go in Classifieds. I like oddball schematic types.

The consoles are usually pretty small, but I'd rather have the tombstones.
Referring to Rider's, the ones I'd really like are the Wells-Gardner offerings.

[transmaster]

It is very easy to to build battery packs for these radios. There are a number of tutorials on Youtube on how to build to them. These radios are all fairly standard 5 tube radios, and are easy to repair.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

I've got a Philco 32V tombstone that I bought out of the old ARC magazine, years ago. After getting the radio, it had a standard AC power plug with a big red tag hanging off the cord that said "32 VDC ONLY!" Well, after examining the radio, it was evident that someone didn't pay attention to the tag and plugged it into 120 VAC. I guess one of these days, I'll pull it out and try to fix it.

I'm not sure it can be repaired. If the tag was ignored and the set plugged into a 120-volt AC outlet, the set might well be damaged beyond repair. I wonder how it would have been possible to insert a plug designed to fit a 32-volt outlet into a 120-volt one, as the lower-voltage plug should have had a different arrangement of the prongs (round rather than flat, for example), to prevent such accidents from occurring in the first place. Outlets designed for use with 220-volt circuits have what is known as a crowfoot prong arrangement, into which only a matching plug may be inserted. It amazes me that the old 32-volt farm outlets were not designed the same way. If the former owner of your Philco radio had put a standard 120-volt AC plug (with flat prongs) on the end of the cord, he or she was just asking for trouble, even if there was a red warning tag on said cord. Some folks just don't heed warnings, a habit which can and often does have disastrous consequences.

[dr.ido]

The few 32VDC radios that I have seen have all had standard mains plugs fitted to them with the inevitable result. At first I thought that the mains plugs had been fitted after the fact by those trying to test/use these radios, but I've since seen 32VDC wiring in some old houses/sheds and they all used standard mains outlets.

I guess the low voltage plugs with the alternate pin arrangement either came out later or just weren't available at the time. If the only store for 100+km only stocks mains plugs and and outlets that's what you use.

[transmaster]

Did these radios have these plugs because of the Windcharger systems they where often powered with. My Great Grandfather Billings had such system at his ranch in Cody Wyoming I don't remember the details, in 1960 it was a derelict system. But his was a Zenith setup with a Zenith branded Windcharger system, Zenith owned Windcharger. My Dad told me when it was in use it not only powered the radio but thanks to it's batteries was used to power a few 36 volt electric lights. At the time I remember there was still a number of Windchargers still on towers unused. Sure wish I could go back in a time machine a pick up a few of them.

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

I'm not sure it can be repaired. If the tag was ignored and the set plugged into a 120-volt AC outlet, the set might well be damaged beyond repair...

Some people don't know what "120V" vs "32V" means, and likely assume that if the plug fits a 120V socket, it would be correct. The electrician industry nowadays specify plug patterns that won't fit for different voltages, to avoid this mistake.

I would imagine that any filter caps in that radio were blown up, and one or more tube heaters burned out (depending if it's a series string or series parallel circuit). Things like IF transformers and audio output transformers likely survived, but if the speaker used an electromagnetic winding across the 32V, that's likely blown. Use a pm speaker as a replacement. Less drain on your 32V source once you replace the tubes and caps.

[Reece]

The 120V outlets were used on 32V systems in anticipation that the high line would get out to the farm one day, and the house wiring would be already set up for 120V and abandonment of the lower voltage. A bit messy, yes, but it's what they did.