Zenith surprise !
 

My sis called looking for a small radio that sounds good. I remembered
I stashed away a few Zenith R472 series clock radios, this one a K472
from 1979. A little WD40 in the controls & its back in service.
https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/zenith...und_k472w.html

Here is the surprise. after I test ran it a few days I threw it in the truck
& delivered it abt 24 hrs later. After 40 years the back up battery
was still good ! Time came back correct !

Anyhows this radio has to be in the top 5 of all clock radios. We used to
buy them by the case. At $75 we made almost $20 on each one.
There are a few other similar ones including a big job with an oval
speaker & a TRF front end on AM & also a stereo one.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

I remember a few years ago that those Zenith c.o.s. clock radios were selling for what they sold for new on ePay. I guess that the shelf life of the backup battery was under estimated back in the day! Those clock radios and the Heathkit radio controlled clocks seem to fetch a high price!

Very g00d!!!!!

I have the stereo version of that alarm clock that I picked up at Goodwill for $5 but the backup battery is dead in it, and in fact I've had several of these old Zenith clock radios over the years that people have given me and they all had dead backup batteries in them.

My stereo version of this clock radio the mode switch broke and I've tried repairing it with everything from superglue to epoxy but the switch keeps breaking no matter how much I try to repair it and its a 4 position slide switch that clicks into each position, and I tried searching for a replacement switch online at Mouser and Digikey but have not found anything yet.

Any ideas on how I could go about repairing this clock radio?

Thanks.

The switch is a challenge. Keep in mind Zenith had Gold Star build most
of its radios at the time. Look for other models that you may be able to rob
parts from to make a good switch. Most of the switches were probably
supplied by the same mfg & are of the same DNA.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for some other Zenith Clock Radios from that time period and see if I can steal a switch from one of those.

As for the backup batteries in these old Zeniths where might one source replacements for them when they are dead?

Dont remember but the specs & brand should be on the old one.
Should be easy to find.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

That might be true but considering every single zenith clock radio from this generation of zenith clock radios I've had had a different brand of battery in each one they would all be different specs (I know they are all "AA" size batteries and are Ni-Cd chemistry rechargeable batteries but each one had different ampere ratings.)

Shouldn't use WD40 on anything Audio related:)