97.5 volt batterie??????????????

[x37tuna]

just woundering if the old guy is right...........in the lunch room at work today, got in a conversation with wild bill.....older guy that seams to know a lot about alot....he brought up that some of the older radios were powered by a batterie that put out something like 97.5 volts........i told him i knew were i could see if he was right....allthough i do seam to remember something like that...i just like to bust his balls a little....can anyone conferm.....................x37tuna.............

[blue_lateral]

22.5v, 45v, 90v, and 135v were common voltages used on older battery powered tube radios. There would have also been a battery of lower voltage, probably 1.5 or 6 volts.

John

[x37tuna]

thanks for the info john.... the guy at work likes to bust em for me and i like to give it right back...but ya know he is a weilth of imformation...kinda funny...his real name is john to......thanks agian.............x37tuna......................... ..

[dgwojo]

Here's what the 67.5v battery looks like;

[Kamakiri]

The 97.5 volt one looks a lot like a really big 9V, common in RCA Victor portables. I'd sure hate to stick my tongue across that one to test it out

[Lefty]

Those portable tube radios usually required two batteries, one high voltage for the plate voltage and one low voltage battery for the tube heaters. I recall that I could touch the terminals on a 67 1/2 VDC battery and usually not feel it, but the 90V job would give a mild shock.

These were carbon zinc batteries that didn't last very long and weren't rechargable so costs to actually use these sets was pretty high. Portable radios only really got popular in the late 50s when the first transistors sets came out. Most of them used the same size 9v battery we see today except the were carbon rather then alky we use today.

Lefty