[ARC5] BC-454-B Power

[Robert Downs]

Different Robert, but…

 

Keep in mind that most of the “conversions” to the Command Sets were done between about 1946 and maybe 1960.  At the end of WW-II and for several years thereafter Jeeps and almost all civilian vehicles still had 6 Volt electrical systems.  And when the progressively heavier electrical load caused the car companies to increase the electrical system voltage in the cars and light trucks they built, they unfortunately went from 6V to 12V instead of to 24V.  And have unfortunately been stuck there ever since.  But that is another subject.

 

Also, keep in mind that at the end of WW-II, the only reasonably efficient LV rectifiers were Selenium and maybe Copper-Oxide. Both of which were relatively large and relatively expensive.  The Silicon diode didn’t start to become commonly available until around 1960, about the same time that the short shelf and service life of the Selenium rectifiers began to become apparent.  So building a cheap LVDC supply wasn’t an option.  At least not for most people,

 

Robert Downs

 

From: arc5-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:arc5-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Al Klase
Sent: Monday, July 19, 2021 11:50
To: arc5 at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [ARC5] BC-454-B Power

 

Robert,

Well, maybe not stupid, but why would you want to?  Appropriate power supplies are pretty easy to find or gin up in this day and age.
I think most of us are in favor of making minimal changes to the radio.

It was different when we were kids.  There is a article in Vol 1 of the Surplus Conversion Manual making a 24-volt BC-946 (BCB RX)  into a 6-volt car radio. Parallel heaters, 6-volt tubes, plus a vibrator power supply for B+.

Just run the heaters from a 24-volt doorbell transformer and relax.

Al



On 7/19/2021 12:21 PM, Robert Jenkins wrote:

Mr. Gordon,
 
Why is converting the receiver to all parallel filaments a stupid idea?
 
Just curious,
 
Robert Jenkins
KG4KGL 
 
 
 

On Jul 19, 2021, at 11:54, Kenneth G. Gordon  <mailto:kgordon2006 at frontier.com> <kgordon2006 at frontier.com> wrote:
 
In any case, as far as I am concerned, converting the radio to use either 6 V tubes, or to 
change to all parallel filaments are really stupid ideas.

 
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