6V Radio Hookup Question

[jcpatrickharrison]

Hello,

I am trying to hookup a 6V Sapphire I ( I THINK) radio. I have a hot 6V wire that goes to power the wiper motor that I am pulling juice off of.

Here's the wire situation on the radio. On one side, there is a metal plug that has 2 wire's coming off of it. One wire is coming from the center of the plug, and the other (though disconnected) is coming from a solder connection to the outside edge of the plug. I re-soldered that connection. I am assuming that these are the speaker wires?

The other wire coming off the radio is a single black wire coming from the inside of the radio. This is the power line... I am assuming.

I hooked up juice to the power wire, grounded the radio to the body of the
car, and was able to get the light to come on inside the radio. I hooked the speaker wire to a regular stereo speaker... but I am getting no sound.

Can you give me some clues on what to do next?

Thanks!

J

[wimkever]

First of all : never switch such an old radio on without connecting it to a speaker. Only "juice" and no speaker connected might destroy the transistor(s) in the power amplifier. (I assume it's a solid state unit).
Secondly there could be a lot of reasons why there's no sound. For example there is something wrong with some parts or connections inside the radio. Get yourself a schematic of the set and a multimeter and start measuring. Some radios have a separate wire for the dial light, thus another wire to power up the radio. So open it and start measuring.
Or find someone who is familiair with electronics.
GL
Wim
_________________
a beetle is like a cocker spaniel, always funny but sometimes not listening

[jcpatrickharrison]

Does it matter what KIND of speaker I am hooking it up to? I have been just trying to tie the speaker wires onto those sticking out of a "BOX" stereo type speaker.... will this work?


There is only ONE power cord though... not two - coming off the radio.

[TimD_66]

seems like the radio is bad.....did you make sure to hook the antenna up too?
_________________
'58 Ragtop bug - 2276T (Re-assembly in progress!)
'65 13 window deluxe bus (SWR/BG)
'04 VW R32 - 3.2L VR6

B.L.T.N.
N.A.G.

[jcpatrickharrison]

I'm gonna bring it to an electronics repair shop. Will it be expensive?

J

[TimD_66]

who knows? depends on the shop, depends on what exactly is wrong with it. if its a quick easy fix, it should cost too much, but it they have to like completely rewire the radio then it would probably cost quite a bit.
_________________
'58 Ragtop bug - 2276T (Re-assembly in progress!)
'65 13 window deluxe bus (SWR/BG)
'04 VW R32 - 3.2L VR6

B.L.T.N.
N.A.G.

[VWLady]

Maybe this will help:

[jcpatrickharrison]

Do you have to hook up all those extra condensors and stuff...? What's the point of them?

J

[VWLady]

The condensors help reduce feedback of the electrical system through the speaker. You can run without them, but you do get some minor noise through the speaker as you increase revs of the engine.

12V is worse than 6V.

[Kris Styes]

SEE:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=256294

If th is helps, request via e-mail.

Kris
_________________
Nothing to say!

[glutamodo]

There are also booklets for the factory radios, including some for Sapphire I, archvied on theSamba:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/radios.php

-Andy

[Mr. Loaf]

2 wires from the radio are for a speaker. They should be brown wires. One wire is for the radio light and the other is for the power to the radio. You can figure out which one is which by grounding the raio and trying one wire at a time to your 6V source. Did you connect an antenna to the radio? It won't appear to work if you do not do that. My radio does nothing when I am in my garage unless the antenna is fully extended.

[DarrylD]

If all else fails, you can have a professional fix it for you. I sent my Sapphire I to this guy in Colorado, I had it back within a week and now it works perfectly: http://home.comcast.net/~vwradio

Darryl D.

My '63 Cabriolet Project