Germanium Transistor Tin Whiskers Fix on a Cute Philips MT6 Radio 

This John is a genius and fully deserves all the fame around his name.

That was great Dave. Thank you passing on that tip.

Another radio saved, and by doing something that you would think would blow up the transistor. I am glad you didn't paint it. Even though the colour has changed, it still looks quite attractive and authentic. Cheers.

Great fix - useful to see the process for 'zapping' transistors. I've been lucky so far but... I got a good laugh out of your exploding transistor too !

Hi, I have done the " flash technique " on a selection of old Ac114, and Ac127 germaniums out of old Hacker radios ,and had some success. The resistance between the joined coll,base,and emitters to the case was in some cases just a few ohm to several k ohms. I always keep an old but charged car battery on my workbench, for when I am repairing old valved car radios with vibrator power supplies, and thought I'd try using it as the " flash voltage" . On several occasions, there was indeed a visible flash through the bottom of the transistor case, sometimes not , but in every case, the internal resistance returned to infinity, and the transistors worked well with no noticeable physical induced microphony ( hit them with screwdriver!). The downside was that the " repair" only seemed to last a week or so , so I just replaced them with modern ( ish) equivalents.

Great job on restoring. Never heard that idea of fixing a Germanium transistors with a whisker problem. Thanks for sharing.

WOW!!! I have never heard of Zapping a Germanium transistor like that...I am amazed that it worked, but work it did! I can't really give you a proper answer as to why, but I really don't like working on anything solid state. I love the old Vacuum Tube (Valve) type stuff. Good short video. Thanks for sharing.

Dave, I must have missed this video - I loved the NASA style take off in the first part, it just lacked a 'count down'. Well done to John, Mick and Dave who never took part. Best regards Mark

I vaguely remember my grandpa, who used to work on radios & televisions for a living, talk about how the Soviet Union error germanium transistors to be superior in quality. At the time I had no idea really what he was talking about, but now I kind of have an idea. I might add he primarily worked on vacuum tube stuff, but did have a collection of early germanium transistor radios. The best one in his collection I think was the zenith transoceanic radio. I also remember my grandma having a Zenith vacuum tube AM FM radio. I remember the sound being a matched with most modern radios. This was about 20 years ago, and unfortunately I have no idea what happened to all that stuff after my grandparents died.

I've got a Perdio Town & Country and a Murphy M8(?) which are full of germanium transistors. Neither of them makes a sound. I suspect I'll ultimately end up replacing some or all the transistors in them but now at least I have something I can try first. That Philips looks great and sounds well now. Very informative video, thanks a lot!

Without a doubt that is the weirdest trick in electronics I've ever seen - but I can see how it would work. All credit to Mark for that one. Another vote for the can pop - never seen that before!

NIIIICE! I don't know what I expected, but it's a good one to keep under the hat. Thanks for the video.

The scene with the exploding transistor was hilarious! Great editing.

That was a nice video, I had heard of transistor whiskers but never knew what they were until now. That fix worked out very well.

That's an elegant radio!! Thanks for the video really great

All these years I've been replacing the damn things when I could have fixed them! 😂 David your filming & editing skills are awesome!

Hello David yes I have encountered tin whiskers on tin and zinc plated components in RF equipment in the past. Not so much these days however. I have considered this could become a problem with some of the very small surface mount components as they age depending on their environment. Thank you for a very insightful video demonstration which I will try when needed in a repair.

Thank you for the tech tip! To be honest I thought the capacitor of the transistor was definitely going to blow once you started using a 90-volt source, well done!

Hi in my shop we took out all the black gunked leaded transistors or ic's and put in a little bottle part full of tarnoff and stirred occationaly and checked by pulling out with tweesers till clean then put back in resolving all problems esp in old audio equipment... worked every time. Guess most wiskers are at the base at case enterance.

Very informative, never heard about this problem till today!

Nice going Dave! I think you can change the germanium to silicon with a couple biasing resistor changes as well. Would have liked to see the entire restoration.

The exploding af117 video was a lot of fun! was expecting something like that! but it somehow worked!

I'm working on restoring a Zenith Royal 790 Super Navigator. All tin can transistors, socketed. Easy to remove and place back in.

And another great video on your antics and repair , loved it and you saved another set from landfill.

Glad you discovered the method to flash the tin whiskers. BTW, I picked up a couple of tricks, including the whiskers zapping, on the channel of Shango066. He's a character, but he's also a very nice guy and very skilled.

Very informative video. Going to try this on an old Arvin 1962 vintage portable with flaky germanium transistors in the IF. Thanks David!

Really interesting article Dave. Glad you got the old girl working again. I have a decent collection of transistor radios myself in the UK and enjoy breathing new life into them as indeed you seem to do. The perennial problem of tin whiskers....... I have to drag some of my collection out of the loft on regular basis to short out the little blighters. By the way, I have had some success using a megger and using the procedure you carried out in your video. I Never get a flash on the shorted transistor leads but it always seems to fix the short and start the transistor working again. I Never throw away germanium transistors particularly AF117's as they are very rare to come by and even new old stock can have the same problems. Keep up the good work mate.

Nice, its an antique radio by Phillips. Nice restiration and repair. I had used many Philips electronics. I had seen L5 radio which had been in use of my late father. And also a valve tv.

Good vare good mr. David

Another amazing fix!... have you ever tried "retrobriting" plastic cases ... it does work ...although you do need to be a bit careful to not overdo it.

What a pretty radio! Glad to see it working again and looking good. Great channel! Thank you for all the work you put in making videos and for the little funny stuff you pepper in sometimes :-D they are fun to watch.

Love watching your videos Dave, very informative and so entertaining.

Hi David. The guys in the UK who restore these vintage transistor sets have been using Russian NOS G322B transistors to replace the Mullard AF...... series transistors that are prone to this problem. The Russian transistors are available on Ebay. Check out Grahams channel on RU-vid "Radiocruncher" for lots of info on restoring 60's transistor sets. ATB Doug.

I've seen a similar trick with germanium transistors from a youtuber by the the name of 'radiocruncher', very useful thing to know and thanks for the detailed explanation. In regards to the case and whitening plastic, you can use hydrogen peroxide in some kind of paste form wrapped in plastic and left in the sun, I've tried it and it works with computer type beige plastic that has gone brown, but not sure about older plastic, I'm sure you must have heard of this method, thanks again David.

Another great job David. I have an old Westinghouse transistor radio doing the same thing. I may try this fix.👍👍👍👍👍

*_BRAVO PRIJATELJU._*

Transistor radios of this era were beautiful things in my view. I think its called nostalgia.

Many thanks David (& Mark), for showing me something I never knew. Disappointed with the transistor blowing it's top, but not doing and imitation of a miniature flame thrower as well, ha-ha...

Now that was a guru type repair! Thanks for sharing.

I've blown lots of tin whiskers away and never seen a spark but it works. I suspect the metal is microns thick and a few milliamps takes it out.

Excellent video very informative article thanks for your time 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

fantastic video, i see a lot of Tin Whiskers with silicon transistors in hi fi amps i fix and rebuild

When I was a kid about 1971 my uncle used to fix tin whiskers in a portable radio by switching it on and stroking a front door key along the PCB loud popping and screeching until it started working. I cringed but it worked

Many of the early Brit transistor radios suffered from 'tub whiskers'. I've learned a few tricks over the years including replacing with silicon transistors. Yes you can try firing a capacitance discharge and YES SOMETIMES that WILL work BUT! it still can be a SHORT TERM fix. 😗The 'tin whiskers' issue was a KNON problem and many suspect the PRODUCTION methods of those transistors was indeed suspect ? It is interesting to note that I seldom ever had such issues with ie JAPANESE transistor sets. SONY et small transistor pocket sets. 👍 Service engineers were issued with a small hammer like tool that they were told to hit the transistor with to clear - momentarily the curse ! though I suspect the VERBAL abuse was more of a CURSE 👀🤣 I used a 500v surge and some I know more than that.

This channel is going to get a lot of new subs, with this excellent content

Great tip! Glad you didn’t put your eye out with that exploding transistor. I’m sure that would happen to me.

Nice work once more!

Thats Blooming Fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!

NASA did some research regarding tin whisker growth in semiconductors. If you gargle 'NASA tin whiskers paper', you should find some interesting information. 🙂

Hi David. Don’t know if you have ever seen Graham Radiocruncher. But he has done quite a bit with the AF117 transistors and he also has a go at valve radios from time to time. He does a live stream at 14:00 bst on a Sunday. Afternoon. Give him a go. 👍

Tin whiskers? Learn something every day.

Good Work Earthling

Hi Dave, thanks for all your video's about radio restoration. You make it look too easy! As a retired Electronics Technician, I am restoring a lot of 1960-70's era car radios for classic car rebuilds. One job (for a UK Ford Cortina) suffered from the tin whiskers transistor failures. This is well documented and I followed online advice and retro-fitted Russian GT322B devices. These are readily available (Ebay). Background story is www.radiomuseum.org/forum/substitutes_for_af117_germanium_transistors.html Got to love those soviets! I see you worked a Russian magic eye into one of your mantle radio rebuilds as well. Cheers Frank in Perth W.A. website www.vk6fh.com "serviceman who tells" section may interest people who are watching your videos.

I've just come across this problem in as it happens another philips set , but a clock radio, thanks for demonstrating this, I'm going to have a go , I did see this video years ago, thanks Dave , its funny because I've got lots of sets still with af117 transistors all working fine, wonder if there's a factor that actually starts these whiskers growing, all the others have no problems, anyway thanks again Mickey

Another nice informative video, thank you

I even dreamed last night that I had an old but refurbished radio. I start dreaming at night if I look at them too much. :D

I once used a similar technique where an older colour TV had a blue screen; the (blue) cathode measured around 3 volts; it should have been 100 volts. Charged up a capacitor to 150 volts (100uF, 160V), applied it whilst on, (video driver disconnected), and back to a normal picture. Apparently the AF 117 transistor (Philips/Mullard RF oscillator) is notorious for the 'tin whisker' issue. I watched a YT post from the US, where he replaced the transistor with a more recently made (Russia) equivalent, which 'did the trick' as well..

nice radio and germanio transistor fix

So is this set battery only? I was born in 63 and these transistor radios were everywhere when I was a kid but they all were mains powered as far as I knew. Learn something new every day!

For the case, use the “Retro-Bright” process. That’s not a product, but rather, a process. Look up “The 8 Bit Guy” and how he does this with vintage computers... It works amazingly well...

Came out good

very nice work

'Whiskers' also happens with ni-cads I used to throw them away until I learned you can zap them

Hello Nice video enjoyed it very much, thanks for taking the time to make it. 73 Leo k1zek

Shango066 has an interesting video where he replaces stuffed germanium transistors with silicon, replacing the biasing resistors as necessary. Must try this burning whisker thing...

2:42 Was the transistor done for after that? Would it work after putting the cover back on? If it did, then perhaps this is a method for a permanent fix i.e. just replace the cover back having previously inserted an insulating sleeve between the cover and the semiconductor. It's funny, I also thought heating the can might be a solution as you were describing Mark's method. 2:53 Mic a bit too close to the suction pump there David! ;) 6:25 Shame. Perhaps trying low amplitude ultrasonic vibrations?

Nice save .

NICELY DONE!!!

Great job.

Hey David, Don't know if you guys celebrate Thanksgiving there, but just in case you do, Happy Thanksgiving! Looking forward to your next video!

Muy lindo trabajo, muy buena tecnica, un abrazo y felicitaciones

What are you using for the battery. Have you re-stuffed that one?

Interesting. I've seen tin whiskers burned off Hammond organ vibrato mechanisms with a 9 volt battery. I would have thought that 90 volts would destroy the innards of a transistor, but apparently not. As for plastic yellowing, you could try peroxide and UV light (Google it). I have had some success with that on telephone cases, but I would caution trying it on some junk first.

Reminds me of the old nicad rejuvinators we built in the 1980s...

Hi! Thanks for a great video. Regarding current needed to charge the capacitor: I only have access to a DC power supply which max out at 30v. Will this be enough juice to work?

Used to work for Sylvania/Phillips tv division. 30 years we would "flash" shorted electron guns then "check" there worth or replacement. The action is sound. Just rember as my mother said (worked for RCA. ) wach that volttage. As she slipped me some rejects from the days work . Germanium. For my hobby of crystal radio DX. Good day kv4li.

Great job Mr David .. I have a question if u mind to answer me ??

Vintage radio Is cool i have few a model

Can you buy a replacement transitor,or use a general purpose transitor, the method I saw was for removing whiskers was lay the side of the soldering iron on transistor 0 for a few seconds .,I never tried it,I like working on tube radios ,so transistors not really my thing.do you own a esr meter .

Good luck sir 🎉 from IRAN

That was great

Philips Eindhoven is Germanium? Working on a radio and not knowing where it comes from?

Is there a modern replacement for that Transitor?

Brilliant! Does this work with unreliable politicians too? Higher voltages required, doubtlessly ;-)

Super

The dial layout is interesting. So it's an AM radio then? Can you DX with it?

Very cool indeed, quicker then ordering those old germanium's from Russia, those old Soviet made transistors are still plentiful a fellow should stock a dozen or so, just in case the bottom falls out of the market, or some bureaucrat decides that we need to put a tax on all thing Russian.

Interesting. 📻🙂

Its a beatifool.

A rabbit brand cap thats new

How is radio work🤔🤔

How easy is it for you to use desoldering braid?

reverse the polarity on the transistor

Good work realy from i. R. A. Q

Hello david how are you ther again greetings Abdul iraq bagdhad 3/2/2021 10+45 nayt

Hi David, I did a video about removing the cans on these, very unprofessionally! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cg0uLhatiHk.html However, it does show what the inside of the AF11X looks like if you're interested. Zapping definitely works and some of us over in the UK have used the method for a few years now but it doesn't stop the tin whiskers growing back. Eventually they will though it may take a few years. Regards - Andrew

Old tube radios are nice, old transistor radios are terrible.

i have a bags of germanium transistors if you need one

Hagan esto en español

👏👏👏👍👍📻