[ARC5] Hallicrafters S-38 is dangerous

[Richard Knoppow]

     That cap could be dangerous since it goes from one side of the line 
to the cabinet. The danger is that the line connector is not polarized 
so there is no guarantee the chassis and cabinet, if this cap is bad, 
won't go the hot side rather than the neutral. There is another 
dangerous cap which goes from the "ground" terminal on the antenna 
connector to chassis through a paper cap. If that shorts much the same 
thing would happen. Grounding the chassis there might prevent such 
problems.  Still the problem does not exist where the cabinet is 
non-conductive as it is on my home portable radios.  I wonder if there 
is any record of anyone ever being hurt due to a shorted cap in an S-38. 
Probably there is for AC/DC equipment generally but I can't think of 
one.  Of course, these caps are very old now and almost certain to be 
leaky.  It would be interesting to measure the voltage from cabinet and 
"ground" lug to power line neutral.
     Actually there was danger from DC lines also but if the plug was 
reversed the set wouldn't work at all.

On 11/16/2015 5:26 PM, J Mcvey via ARC5 wrote:
> THe primary hazard is that that unlike the Bakelite radios, the operator can touch a large metal surface on the SX-38! Those old wax/paper caps are electrically leaky and couple the "hot chassis" B- buss to the metal cabinet. If it shorts, the cabinet could have the full mains potential. Bad things can happen...
>   
>
>
>       On Monday, November 16, 2015 6:11 PM, Ben Hall <kd5byb at gmail.com> wrote:
>     
>
>   On 11/16/2015 4:33 PM, J Mcvey via ARC5 wrote:
>> That radio is a badly designed AC/DC set with several ways to give
>> you the "shock of your life". Check out info on how to modify it for
>> safety. I've done a few of these for people and I was amazed that
>> this designed was allowed to be sold back in the day!As they age, the
>> danger increases too. Just another type of  Hallicrafters design
>> debacle. No wonder they are not around anymore.
> Greetings!  May I ask what particular hazard an S-38 presents over any
> other AC/DC set?  Reason I ask, I thought the S-38 was a pretty typical
> AC/DC set and would have the same hazards as any other?
>
> thanks much and 73,
> ben, kd5byb
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-- 
Richard Knoppow
1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
WB6KBL