Click this link to Learn Electronics in a different and very effective way. Lots more video's and projects for you to build as well! Click here: www.patreon.com/MrCarlsonsLab
If you have a lot of projects going on, you can always postpone this project and fit it in for 2019 national safety day/week March 4th. Have a Merry Christmas. :-)
Mr Carlson nice radios! They take me right back to my wide eyed youth and my first shocks … ! As your(North American) mains supply sockets are polarised these days chop off the moulded rubber plug and replace it with a polarised one AND/OR hard wire a small 1:1 isolating transformer ( or better fit a pug that can only be connect to the transformer). And of course replace that RF screening capacitor (Chassis is a Faraday cage) with a mains (line) grade ( Y type 600-1000VAC)
Thanks for making such thorough and informative videos, Paul. It's always interesting to hear you work through your thought processes when you trouble-shoot. Please show us how you would make this radio safe. The merits of making this particular unit safe and usable can be debated ad infinitum. There are many of us with radios that present the same hazard and would benefit from knowing how to mitigate the hazard.
My vote is to make it safe and restore it. Something that beautiful, regardless of how poorly it was engineered, deserves to live. If we just cut the cord off and shelve it, what have we learned?
It's beautiful, but between the safety issues and the super simple design that looks like it would have minimal sensitivity, I wonder if it would be a candidate for an entirely new solid state circuit inside, instead of a simple as-is restoration? Edit: I just realized - with a metal case, it must be shielded so well it'd never work well with an internal ferrite antenna anyway!
@@NiHaoMike64 : Exactly and do a proper grounding circuit addition to ensure it will do a proper grounding. I never owned one, but had seen it in a sears and roebuck catalog and wanted it!
4:40 When he mentioned evidence of previous electrocutions I was picturing bits of burnt flesh still stuck to metal parts rather than a color-coded plug.
When I was about 12 I used to go to a soda fountain in a drug store. They had a large stainless steel soda fountain. They had a soup heater that would give the soda jerks shocks. One day I told one of them to pull the plug and turn it over before plugging it back in. The looks when the shocks stopped made me swell with pride. Everyone there thought I was a genius!
I grew up around old tube type radios , never knew how dangerous they could be . But always have had respect for electricity. I do enjoy your professionalism.
Silvertone was a Sears & Roebuck brand. They stamped that brand on their musical instruments as well. With Sears on it's deathbed it would be nice to see the radio restored, and possibly end up in a museum some day. I enjoy your videos. They are way over my head, but I still learn something every time I watch one.
Pretty much exactly how I feel. Even though I know more than the average person. It’s still an immense language. Here. But it actually starts to sink in. Just by watching and listening hard.
Paul: I would enjoy viewing videos on a masterful restoration of this chrome beauty. I, too, have no idea what the engineers were thinking at the time. Nice find.
Yeah, it's unique to that brand of meter. When you overload it, it says ouch :P Overload includes when a signal goes out of range, it will say ouch until it adjusts to the right range. Kind of a silly thing that always gives someone a chuckle the first time they see it.
I remember when I was in my early teens, (1960's), I used to get TV's and radios from various places to repair and sell them. Nearly all of them were built this way. They called them AC/DC sets, (although it has a different meaning these days!) But the golden rule was that you always wore rubber soled shoes and kept one hand in your pocket when working on them, so no danger of getting any amps across your heart. The days of selenium (metal) rectifiers, how I miss 'em! Anyway, I'd stick some isolation in there and save it.
These AA3, 4, and 5s are all very eye catching(some more than others) from the outside and only the outside. The average buyer was not really electronically minded but was commercially convinced the more tubes the better the radio. By today many have disappeared into the trash can because they no longer worked, shocked the owner or a curious child, or just eventually got ugly, or replaced by a better radio. Turning one of them on today is a trip into nostalgia and a time that seemed less complicated. A restoration to me is hard to define because keeping the exterior beauty is easy but the interior workings can be completed in many different ways. The purist restoration is exactly to print with no modifications and includes no safety regards or function improvements. A Safety restoration incorporates safety improvements and additions to make the restoration as safe as can be but may still have Lethal voltages inside. The last restoration is what I call the spirit of the circuit. Many will Boo, Hiss, Condemn, swear at, even make physical gestures about it. This restoration keeps the stages but the entire schematic and workings are completely made solid state(I can hear it now). The tuning , filters, band selection, and any other reusable parts are used but the spirit of the circuit is now transistorized and the power supply is now low voltage maybe even from a wall wart. The tubes may be gone if the tube sockets are used as tie points. The spirit of the circuit is there but only in transistorized form and the exterior is still intact. Among all the Boos and Hiss this is submitted as a vote for restoration as Mr Carlson would do a safe restoration.
Paul - by all means - the little fellow deserves to work. I can't wait to see it working - complete with long-wire antenna. A great video - really is amazing how they use to do things.
GFCI doesn't help if there is no ground tab. This plug isn't even polarized. Just swapping out the line cord to have asymmetric blades would help quite a lot, since this is what the previous owner did by painting the plug.
Great information for the average consumer. It reminded me of the older power tools like drills, saws, and sanders that have aluminum housings, and 2-conductor, non-polarized plugs. They develop ground faults through the overheated motor windings that make contact with the armature or field windings and create a path to the aluminum case. I also had a situation where an old refrigerator had line voltage connected to the metal housing of the refrigerator. It was probably caused by moisture build up in the older fiberglass insulation from condensation and some unprotected line connections to lights or components. Another interesting case was a Craftsman Sawzall (reciprocating saw) that I was using outdoors to cut down a small dogwood tree. I was kneeling down on a large piece of cardboard and had dug around the trunk of the tree and was using the saw with a 9" blade to cut the trunk just below ground level. I was holding the front of the saw close to the vent holes and resting the outside palm of my hand on the ground at the perimeter of the hole. I started getting electric shocks through my hand. The skin between my thumb and forefinger was entering the case through the vent holes and touching the metal in the gear housing. Even though the tool was double insulated, a ground fault had developed with the motor (likely from years of hard use and heat damage to the windings). So even modern double insulated tools have design defects that could result in electrocution and be fatal. If I was not kneeling on cardboard, but directly on the ground, the electrical leakage path would have been through my chest to my knees!! I immediately cut the cord off the saw and then took the saw completely apart (so no one would trash pick it) and threw it out, went out and bought a new Milwaukee Saw kit. -- Joe Smetona.
Yes I do think this should be completely re done and made safe too use daily ! It looks great and I think it would be a wonderful addition to anyone's home or office space !
I vote for isolating the cabinet and restoring the set. Nice looking little set. Like it or not, people are going to find and use these sets, a video on making it safer would be a good idea. I have a similar 1948 Airline 84KR-1520B with a metal cabinet with a hot chassis (and cabinet), interesting little sets.
Wow... Just wow. That's such an insane design. I think you should make it safe. It's a beautiful piece, but just being a dust collector wouldn't do it justice.
Excellent presentation! As a collector of vintage and antique radios, I leave all the repairs to a qualified serviceman. Everyone who is even remotely thinking about plugging in grandma's or great-grandma's old radio that they found in the attic or cellar should view this video, and heed the cautions about the potentially lethal dangers that lurk within many of these instruments. I vote restore, and provide the necessary modifications to make the radio safe, and then create labels for the back and bottom to instruct future owners.
Paul, the simple stuff like this is my favorite. I find it totally relaxing how you describe things, and I've learned a lot here. I vote to make her safe.
These were popular at the time. They were made by Arvin (Noblitt-Sparks (irony noted)) and also sold under their name as well as Sears' Silvertone. Arvin supplied Sears with small radios from '46 and into the late 60s or early 70s. This 4-tube version was the most common of this style and 5-tube versions were also offered. This is a somewhat uncommon chrome version as most were painted. Arvin was also an appliance and auto parts manufacturer, specializing in mufflers and heaters. Sears probably also sold those. Back then people were used to getting zapped by their radios and appliances going back to the early 30s. It was the rising influence of UL that led to safer designs. The UL label became a selling point as years passed.
Chassis with the 132 prefix are indeed Silvertone made by Arvin. Another popular Silvertone manufacturer was Warwick, who's chassis number began with 528 or 529.
@@bitrot42 Everyone was chrome-crazy in those days. It was very "modern" and "futuristic". I blame pre-war world fairs for it but it became a thing with appliances and there was a period where chrome furniture was popular. (Arvin also made some of that, especially outdoor stuff.) This was when cars started to get chrome to the extent that it was referred as "slobber" here and "American Grin" overseas. The Buick carried this to extreme at one point. Arvin wasn't the only one to offer chrome radios then either. Detrola had an AM/SW set they offered in either all chrome or painted with a chrome front and even wood with a chrome front. They also supplied Sears and others with a few models. Even Hallicrafters had one of these they rebranded and offered under their name. Crazy times.
Very interesting, that shockingly attractive radio is a true electro-cutie! I vote for the restoration, but I'm that way, I like to see things work. Thanks for the great video Paul and the great explanation of the hot chassis radio sets! Have a great Christmas!!
I loved this video too, however I'm surprised how many want to see a restoration. I've just started watching the Mr Carlson channel, and I have to agree with him that it was better to remove it from the public. Loved the comments about it working great as a bathroom radio. =) I think it's a lovely radio (not the electrical design) to display only, but after clipping the line in, keep the cord as this tells part of its history.
Another video treasure . . . You say, "Thanks for watching." And I want to say thanks for taking the time to share your work. It is inspiring and educational . . . and it serves as a reminder of simpler times. Blessings
It's going to be interesting to see how you isolate the chassis from the case electrically. I would see if I could go about isolating the two physically as well without disturbing the actual "look" of the radio.
Thanks for all the informative and interesting videos. Yes! Spare its life and make it safe. Back in the 50s and 60s our radios, TVs, etc, were almost all transformerless, and here in the UK the mains voltage is 240V! At the time there were the newer 3 pin earthed sockets, but most houses still had the older 2 pin reversable sockets running alongside the new. Many a lesson was learned....the hard way!
First sir thank you for all the incredible restorations and insights you share from your vast knowledge of electronics. I am just a lowly autistic werewolf with many other disabilities sir unable to do the cool things you do with ease. I enjoy watching you troubleshoot these radios and other electronic devices. I couldn't solder two wires together to save my life BUT, watching your channel I have learned just enough to let me make better decisions when buying electronics technology of any kind from any era. Ok to answer your question I would love that you RESTORE this hazardous radio to SAFE WORKING CONDITION! I feel by restoring this radio adding all needed safety features will give additional detailed insight into safety. Mr. Carlson no one stresses safety like YOU when dealing with electronics! By watching you take a toxic electronic design embodied in this radio and rendering it safe to use, you will offer invaluable practical real world understanding of the fundamentals of safe electrical engineering theory! Mr. Carlson you would be saving lives by sharing all the considerations needed to create a safe design when starting from a dangerously unsafe design this radio represents. Please consider my request and the logic that is its genesis. Again thank you Mr. Carlson for sharing all your projects and being such a kind and detail oriented teacher. You have the respect of the AUTISTIC WEREWOLF!
I have a Silvertone Radio/Record Player that was a real killer. These were called AC or DC radios although I don't know if DC was around much. The engineers were thinking that wired this way the radio DID NOT NEED A POWER TRANSFOSRMER. Money, Money, above in series (50L6 & 25W4 Etc) The Power cord & plug were NOT polarized. On side of the AC went to the chassis & the over went directly to the chassis. On my radio if the plug happened to be wrong, you got 110 right one the metal record player arm. OUCH. Not one you would want to take out by the pool & listen to a record...
The AC/DC radio AA5 started in the late 1930s, when some cities still had Edison's DC generating power, so they could use the radio in either power system. Why they didn't think about making the plugs polarized is beyond me, but it was easy enough to know if the plug was in backwards in DC systems. it just wouldn't work.
I had one of these all- metal hot-chassis Silvertones as a child back in early 1950s. it sat in the bedroom that I shared with my oldest sister. Our radio had a black case with yellow plastic knobs. I remember that it stopped working and our mother took it to a radio repairman who repaired it by replacing a tube, which he returned to us. My sister and I listened to it regularly before we went to sleep.
Yes, Mr. Carlson, you have my vote to, make it safe, it may even sound pretty good when you get past the hum. Oh yes, and I love your videos you are a great teacher, thank you for making it easy for us all to learn, keep them coming and Merry Christmas to you and your family.
"You've been a bad boy, Lester... now go turn on the radio set to Dr. Kildare!" I would like to see it restored with its own isolation xformer, it is a very pretty radio IMO. EDIT: just became a Patreon supporter. You are one very gifted teacher of electronics and every bit worth supporting!
Strictly speaking, electrocution (a portmanteau meaning electrical execution) is always fatal. What people who survive contact receive are electric shocks.
I have learned to trust your knowledge and would trust you to restore her properly and safely. Everything deserves not to be forgotten and this is one that shouldn't be forgotten. If another can be found, this one can be used as a teaching method in comparison to one that hasn't been made safe. Thank you and I will keep my eye out for one.
Paul, have you or do you teach? You have such a soft spoken, very knowledgeable manner about you, you would be an ideal teacher!! When you say you know as much about this radio as we do, that's not true. You know a lot more about this radio without opening it than we do. You must. You may not know exactly what it looks like, after taking the chassis out of the cabinet, but you know all about the circuits and design. That is why you do these incredible videos and we don't. If at all possible I vote you restore it to safe operation and have yourself a fantastic retro radio! The chrome cab is stunning, like you! You and it would be a perfect match. It would also be of interest to say someone who has restored a travel trailer of the same vintage as the radio. Thank you for these "gems" you provide to us, your loyal and always hunger for your next video, followers! Happy Holidaze! Thanxz
Restore and make safe for sure! Only recently found your channel - love the way you explain things so thoroughly in layman's terms! Subscribed and lots of videos to watch :-)
I would love to see you make this thing safer! I picked one up at an antique shop (unbeknownst to how dangerous it was) and I got a little bit of a shock. I am probably going to try and make mine safer.
Yes Paul. Please fix this hot mess. There are sooo many of these transformer-less radios and ham equipment out there waiting for someone without an isolation transformer and variac to plug them into a wall outlet to see if they work. A presentation from you on this subject, the proper way to use safety caps, and basic safety issues around old equipment like this will save lives.
Make it safe, if you are happy to do so , I am wondering if the makers didn't like the public, in producing such a death trap. Anyone thinking of joining Patreon YESSS go for it, I really like it , if your into electronics you learn so much, not on Paul's payroll.
Make it safe, but add a note on the back explaining what was done. It’s too nice to retire it! Merry Christmas and thank you for all the great videos. You’ve motivated me to restore many dumpster finds.
Absolutely do a video on making this unit safe as there must be many other types and people out there that could use the knowledge you exhibit. Don from your Patreon site.
Please restore it and make it safe. It would be very beneficial to people like me who are learning how to bring life back to vintage radios. All American radios scare me a little, but I want to understand them and how to work on them. I enjoy (a lot) your clear explanations of the more basic troubleshooting techniques. Thank you for sharing.
Please restore it and teach us how simple it wouldve been for the engineers to make the radio safe! The information you provide may even help someone not overlook safety in their own projects. Thanks for being here & be safe!
I wish you and your family have a prosperous New Year keep making videos I haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about or what you’re doing but I just love watching your videos
Mr.Carlson- defender of electron flow, proprietor of capacitors, resistor of resistors, rectifier of rectification, making the world safe for amplitude modulation...
Make it safe, I always put of a polarized plug and cord and change the switch to switching the "hot", I found a lot of these radios switch the chassis on and off leaving you with a hot chassis when off if the plug in in the wrong way.
It's a piece of nostalgia I think you should make it safe, besides I want to see exactly how your going to do that. Great job on everything you do and I really appreciate your expertise.
Fascinating! Could you install a small isolation transformer inside, or maybe put a little inverter in it and power it from an external 12V power brick? Edit: After watching the rest of the video, consider just replacing the capacitor with a class Y safety cap and possibly eliminate the 330k resistor. A grounded cord would be nice, as well.
0:30 They were thinking "the bean counters in the accounting dept are going to electrocute some of our customers, but at least dead people can't ask for a refund and as engineers we can just blame accounting". Safety tends to take a backseat to cost/profit, even today.
I vote for refurbishing...I really like the look of this old radio. It is exactly the kind of project I used to really enjoy. While I am no electronics engineer, I do have some extensive electronics education with Uncle Sam's help and my VA after I got out. My original intention was to get that EE degree...I discovered that after using trig to calculate beta...that was the extent of my higher maths....lol. So I am a tinkerer, and have had many shocking experiences in the course of having a career in electronics. I worked on DTMF phones, and crypto gear and when you talk about watching out for capacitor shock you are oh so right! I burned two nice holes in my arm when it contacted the two connectors at the top of a capacitor in the power supply drawer on the equipment I was working on...definitely got my attention. That was after I had disconnected the power cable a half an hour before...sigh.
If you think 117 volts is ouch, try a European version of a hot chassis with 240 volts...Now that is really OUCH!! Hope you do make it safe. Love to see how the reception is with such simple circuitry.
Proscriptus Interesting factoid: I read that a full shot of 240 is better than 120 for your chances of survival. As I understand, 240 is more likely to stop fully your heart, but 120 is more likely to cause a heart to fibrillate. Fibrillation is more dangerous than a complete stoppage because it is harder to restore a normal beat, especially if a defibrillator is not handy. So I read and as I recall. Anyhow, I don't plan on testing the idea.
I vote for fixing it and trying to make it safe. I think it would be very educational. I have the same radio, except it’s brown paint, not chrome. Those radios were made by Arvin. You have excellent taste in HV bench power supplies - the Lambda 71! Merry Christmas and happy new year to you and your family. Keep up the great work!
If that radio switches one side of the line to the chassis ( common in that era) it's NEVER plugged in right. If the owner fortuitously connects the chassis to neutral it will be safe, but only when it's turned on. In the off position, the chassis is connected to the hot side through the tube heaters. Relatively low resistance compared to someone's body. Thanks.
@@countryhamop4580 Yes. Minor rewiring. Someone once suggested to me that small radios switched the chassis side to keep the audio leads on the attached volume control at chassis ground to prevent hum on the audio. Maybe maybe not. Dangerous though.
I vote for a restore. The chrome is quite nice. Just put a 3-wire line cord on it; green to case, white to wired return, black to rectifier plate. Also move that power switch to the hot line side and add a fuse. I've done this many times to metal-cased AA-5 radios. There's one even worse case that was popular- the Lafayette Radio "Explor-Air" 2-tube regenerative shortwave radio KIT! --N2GX
Thumbs-up on restore it and make it safe to use. She's a little beauty, but at moment she is hurting and needs the gentle touch of Mr Carlson, the electronics doctor to fix the little girl.
I think you found that schematic so quickly because many other people probably have had the same concerns with this model and have done the same thing you are. And they wanted to make sure this schematic was easy to find for other engineers like you.
You may be able to stick a torroidal isolation transformer standing on its side in the middle. Current draw shouldn't be to high on this with the exception of initial surge current so it shouldn't need a very large transformer.
@@AlexandreJasmin no, in many usa sets the chassis is not connected 'hard' /directly to the 'neutral' of the mains but via a capacitor and high value resistor(220k ish) in parallel so its effectively 'earthy'/neutral only in rf terms, the negative 'line' of the ht-/b- is 'isolated' from the chassis itself, by the RC combo.... but of course if supply is reversed (or when radio switch is off, as many had the switch in the neutral line!!), its not 'hard' or direct live but through the resistor and reactance of the capacitor, it probably wouldnt kill but you'd certainly get a surprise if you touched it , so direct earthing the chassis should be ok...
in the uk, the chassis was almost always hard connected to the 'neutral' line, and if any set had a metal case (i can only think of a few, mainly some ac/dc mains 'communications' receivers ) this case was fully isolated from the chassis and earthed..
the one in the video has this capacitor plus resistor 'isolation' from chassis to neutral so the case could be easily earthed to make it safe, there'd be only the capacitor plus resistor combo between neutral and earth, and even when switched off, with the 'negative' ht/b- line going 'live', the current flowing to earth from this now 'live' line would be a few milliamps at the most, not usually enough to trip a rcd/gfci
Not only would it be cool to see how to restore it, I think it would be a benefit for public safety to continue to show the internals and how to make it safe.
Fix it and make it safe. My radio worked just fine in my childhood home in metropolitan area New Jersey. Got WOR, WNEW,and all the big AM pounders without needing an external antenna. In my case, I was on a wooden floor, and I did not open it up, so perfectly safe for me and my sister.
I like the look but I'm not sure how you could make it safe. I like your show. I've watched several episodes now. I don't know anything about electronics but you make it interesting. I like how meticulous you are. You have to admire a person who takes so much care in their work. :)
I have a book from 1959 about tape recorders. According to that it was common back in the days of DC mains to have the mains negative grounded to the chassis via a small capacitor. That radio seems to be a universal (both AC and DC) model so it had the capacitor too.
"Honey, my mother is coming over tomorrow... Where are you going?" "I'm just going to the basement, Mary. I bought her this beautiful shiny radio last week, I know it's somewhere around here in the bin..."
Make it safe. Polarize plug so chassis is always neutral and rewire power switch so it switches the hot. Add a safety cap. Is there anything else that can be done other than that except adding a transformer or rubber-coating the cabinet? If anyone has a better solution it’s Mr. Carlson.
Yeah, good point. The more I collect and work on these things the more dangerous I realize they are. I tell anyone who’s interested to never plug in an old radio unless they know what they’re doing or have had them checked out.
I had a 3 tube Philmore radio kit about 1955. The chassis was all exposed and had a metal front. I remember that it "bit" me a few times. This was a kit sold mostly to teens!
