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Old 05-28-2011, 12:42 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 Telecolor 3007 View Post
Can you still find 45 V and 90 V batteryes and accumulators?
You will have a difficult time finding them, as these batteries have been out of production for decades. The 90-volt B+ (plate voltage) supply, however, can be obtained by snapping ten (five for 45 volts) 9-volt transistor batteries together, and the filaments can be powered by heavy-duty 1.5-volt alkaline flashlight batteries. The C (grid) supply, if required, can be one or two 1.5-volt heavy-duty alkaline cells.

I'm not sure what you mean by "accumulators", but if you are referring to battery eliminators, I'm sure a suitable one can be constructed from plans in old electronics magazines (Popular Electronics, et al.) and amateur radio magazines such as QST. Note, however, that the battery(ies) used for the B+ supply will last a long time, since the tubes in battery radios don't draw much plate current. Expect to replace the filament batteries more often, as the filaments in these tubes draw much more current than the plates; however, the actual life of the filament battery(ies) will depend on how much the radio is used. Many AC/DC/battery radios had a small flag on the tuning dial or elsewhere on the cabinet, mechanically linked to the power switch, that would indicate whether or not the radio was turned on. This flag supposedly prevented (or at least minimized) situations in which the radio was accidentally left on at very low volume all night, resulting, of course, to the owner's surprise, in very weak or even dead batteries when the radio was switched on the following morning.
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Collecting, restoring and enjoying vintage Zenith radios since 2002

Zenith. Gone, but not forgotten.
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