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  #1  
Old 05-08-2005, 11:33 PM
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Jeffhs Jeffhs is offline
<----Zenith C845
 
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Location: Fairport Harbor, Ohio (near Lake Erie)
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Zenith T-O Royal 1000-1 battery case

I am looking for the battery case for the Zenith Royal 1000 Trans-Oceanic radio (the original battery box is missing, as is the external BC/SW Wavemagnet). Have tried posting to ebay's Want It Now section, but my posts have been deleted twice in the last week (once because I had inadvertently violated one of their policies regarding use of communication links in posts and once for apparently no reason whatsoever--I looked for it a few minutes ago and it was gone, even though I had just reposted a few days ago--the message hadn't been there anywhere near the 60-day limit so it couldn't have expired; I know there were no links in it and no mention of my email address, etc). If anyone here at AK can help (or knows where I can find a good used TO-1000 battery case with cable, connector and top cover), however, please send me a private message.

Thanks in advance,
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  #2  
Old 05-14-2005, 08:59 PM
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Ed in SoDak Ed in SoDak is offline
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Try the classified forum at http://antiqueradios.com/forums/

I'm one of the lucky few to have one in good shape for my TO-3000. I don't use it to keep it nice.

-Ed
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  #3  
Old 05-24-2005, 01:01 AM
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Jeffhs Jeffhs is offline
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Location: Fairport Harbor, Ohio (near Lake Erie)
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Smile Found a T-O Royal 1000 battery case - finally!

I finally found a battery box for my Zenith Royal 1000. I received an email today from a fellow near Baltimore, John Kendall, who deals in vintage/antique radios and the parts to repair them (I am on his mailing list, as I have purchased items from him before). I looked at the message, which is a link to his website, and found, after doing a search on "Transoceanic box", the very battery case I have been looking for since shortly after receiving my Royal 1000. I immediately placed an order for it and its matching top cover. The usual price for both is $67, but I received a coupon discount of $16.75, bringing the total to $56.94. The battery case described on John's website includes everything (case top and bottom and cable with connector) except the batteries themselves, so as soon as it arrives here (and when I get the batteries, of course) I'll be able to use my Royal 1000 as it was actually intended to be used--as a portable as well as with its own 12-volt wall-wart.

BTW, speaking of that 12-V wall-wart transformer, I noticed something rather strange (to my way of thinking) about the way the AC adapter jack in the solid-state Royal 1000-1 T/O, and maybe the 3000 as well, is wired. There are three wires going to the jack, rather than two. I was wondering if that third lead is a dial light tap. Someone, in response to a message I left there regarding the dial lights in my set, in a Google newsgroup dedicated to the T/O series mentioned that the DC adapter jack in these radios is wired in such a way that the dial lights absolutely will not work with the radio operating on AC power with a wall-wart; the lights only operate when the receiver is operating on battery power. Has anyone else heard of this, and if so, why on earth would the dial lights be wired to operate only on battery power, not on AC? I would think the thing would have been configured the other way around, to conserve that ninth D cell used solely for the dial lights for when it was really needed, namely when the radio was being used in areas of little or no light; after all, when these receivers are being used on AC power, they are almost always in well-illuminated areas, so the dial lights would not be necessary, say if the radio was being used at home.

I knew I'd find one of these boxes eventually if I looked in the right place. I considered bidding on a basket-case T-O 3000, with battery box, I saw on ebay a week or so ago, but changed my mind when I saw the filthy condition of the thing; the battery box was filthy--the seller referred to it and the radio as "ugly"--as well. My TO looks fairly good now, with most of the dust, etc. cleaned off the case, front panel and the dial drum (and sounds fantastic as well, as do all Zeniths); I didn't want to put a filthy-looking battery case inside after all that.

I'm still trying to figure out how to clean the inside of the dial window on the front panel; there doesn't seem to be nearly enough room to poke a dust rag around to the back of the window without distorting the dial drum (believe me, I've tried everything I can think of, including a dust rag, paper towels, etc.), and I certainly don't want to use anything moist in there (a rag moistened with window cleaner, etc.), for fear of causing a short. I don't want to have to resort to taking the chassis apart, but the way the T-O 1000/3000 series is built it looks like I may not have much of a choice.

One thing I will admit though--these battery cases are very rare and difficult to find (as has been pointed out to me on several occasions), and even tougher to find in decent shape (many such cases are junk due to leakage from old batteries, so they are missing from many if not most Royal 1000/3000 sets in use today). Phil Nelson of Phil's Old Radios once told me, in a message on a Google newsgroup, that he has owned perhaps a half dozen solid-state Trans-Oceanics; only two of them had battery cases. I guess a lot of the SS T/Os eventually wound up with ruined battery boxes from, as I mentioned, old, leaking batteries (some people do have a habit of leaving batteries in anything indefinitely--I have seen antique/vintage 3-way portable and battery-operated tube radios on ebay that still had the original A and B batteries in them; dead, of course, as the seller is usually careful to point out).
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  #4  
Old 05-24-2005, 04:25 AM
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OvenMaster OvenMaster is offline
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Congratulations, Jeff. I remember from another thread that went sour that you were having troubles. I'm glad it worked out and you got your part at last.
Tom
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  #5  
Old 05-26-2005, 11:20 PM
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Ed in SoDak Ed in SoDak is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 15
Good you found a case. I had no idea the price was that high up. I paid less for the whole radio with battery case. Mine is definitely a keeper, it even still has the label!

The 3-wire power jack is to switch off the internal battery pack when an external power plug is inserted. The lamp is a 1.5 volt bulb powered by its own battery. Odd arrangement, but that's how they did it.

I have a second TO-3000 that is a bit of a beater. I rewired it to take a 12v bulb so it will light with just AC power.

Getting the chassis out is a tight squeeze. Several screws are way down in the corners. Easy enought to remove, but a real bear to replace. Maybe try one of those long, flexible q-tips, like used for VCR or computer cleaning. You may be able to bend the plastic handle to fit up in there, but be careful not to scratch up the inside.

-Ed
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