Sony ICF-200W Handheld Transistor Radio Issues

[zeno]

1)Unhook or unplug the battery box from the radio.
If soldered in one lead is fine.
2) measure volts. If 4.5 V the batteries & holder OK.
If not then the problem is the holder or bats.
3) If the voltage drops a lot when you hook up
the radio something is loading things down. Look
at the output IC or transistors first.
The radio may have crapped out then got tossed in a drawer
& the bats leaked......

If you like working on small stuff ( I do !) get some DC
output wall warts. They used to make them with a voltage
switch ( 4.5 - 12 V ), multi connectors & polarity switch.
ADD a pair of wires with alligator clips that are color coded
& you can sub it in to any low current device without
batteries involved. As for bats I only use duracells from a
known source to avoid Chi-Com junk & counterfits.

73 Zeno

[Captainclock]

Originally Posted by zeno

1)Unhook or unplug the battery box from the radio.
If soldered in one lead is fine.
2) measure volts. If 4.5 V the batteries & holder OK.
If not then the problem is the holder or bats.
3) If the voltage drops a lot when you hook up
the radio something is loading things down. Look
at the output IC or transistors first.
The radio may have crapped out then got tossed in a drawer
& the bats leaked......

If you like working on small stuff ( I do !) get some DC
output wall warts. They used to make them with a voltage
switch ( 4.5 - 12 V ), multi connectors & polarity switch.
ADD a pair of wires with alligator clips that are color coded
& you can sub it in to any low current device without
batteries involved. As for bats I only use duracells from a
known source to avoid Chi-Com junk & counterfits.

73 Zeno

The batteries I bought were the generic store brand batteries (they were almost 50% less than the Duracells price wise for the same amount of batteries, and I've bought store brand batteries in the past and never had any issues with them.) I used to have a switchable voltage AC Adaptor but it took a dump on me a while ago (it was one I had gotten from radio shack several years before they went through bankruptcy and when they still had a decent selection of electronics parts yet in store.)

[maxhifi]

Originally Posted by zeno

1)Unhook or unplug the battery box from the radio.
If soldered in one lead is fine.
2) measure volts. If 4.5 V the batteries & holder OK.
If not then the problem is the holder or bats.
3) If the voltage drops a lot when you hook up
the radio something is loading things down. Look
at the output IC or transistors first.
The radio may have crapped out then got tossed in a drawer
& the bats leaked......

If you like working on small stuff ( I do !) get some DC
output wall warts. They used to make them with a voltage
switch ( 4.5 - 12 V ), multi connectors & polarity switch.
ADD a pair of wires with alligator clips that are color coded
& you can sub it in to any low current device without
batteries involved. As for bats I only use duracells from a
known source to avoid Chi-Com junk & counterfits.

73 Zeno

I have a couple EICO 0-30V 0-500mA variable power supplies which are awesome for this kind of work. Keep eyes open for one, they work amazingly well and aren't worth much money.