TheSamba.com :: View topic - Old Radio that's been sitting... how to fire it up.

Sat Mar 24, 2012 5:56 pm

An old guy that is a trusted source and knows a lot, told me, "if you turn on a radio that's been sitting a long time, start with a very low voltage and let it run for 10 minutes or so. Then incrementally increase the voltage and run in stages until you get to the full 6 volts."

Has anybody ever heard of this technique before? And I'm talking about a Sapphire 1 radio.

Then he said, "don't run it unless it's hooked up to a speaker!" Another thing I didn't think was a no no.

Comments??

Sat Mar 24, 2012 6:15 pm

Your friend is right. You can run it up to full voltage using a variac to help save the caps, but they might already be bad after 40+ years. You also definitely need to have a speaker hooked up before turning it on.

Sat Mar 24, 2012 6:45 pm

DanM wrote: Your friend is right. You can run it up to full voltage using a variac to help save the caps, but they might already be bad after 40+ years. You also definitely need to have a speaker hooked up before turning it on.

In lieu of a variac could you use d batteries? Start with one, then two, etc