Radio Added to Model A

[marc hildebrant]

Group,

I read an interesting article in 'Radio Service Man's Handbook" from 1931 written by Solomon Perlman called " The Car Battery for Automotive Radio".

The article made a number of comments :

1. For normal radio installation, the negative side of the battery goes to the car frame and this makes the shielding of the radio easy and effective.

2. A postive ground system makes the installation of a radio difficult and the article recommends that the polarity be reversed so that the car has a negative ground system.

Later in the article, the charging system is described for the positive ground system (Model A). The article concludes with the method to convert the car to negative ground :

1. Reverse the ammeter
2. Reverse the battery

That's it. The article says that sometimes the generator needs to have it's cutout held down for 10 seconds before starting the car after the battery has been reversed. However, most times the generator will reverse itself automatically and assume the new polarity after a reversal from positive to negative ground.

The article states that the lighting and ignition systems will NOT be affected by the reversal in current.

I can't scan the article.

Marc

[Tom Wesenberg]

That's true that most times a good battery will overcome the generator output as soon as the cutout closes, and reverse the polarity, but I always like to polarize the generator first, just to be sure of correct polarity.

I'm surprized that they recommend changing the car to negative ground because I have 2 old car aftermarket radios and they both work equally well with either ground, due to the vibrator and transformer changing the DC to AC.

[marc hildebrant]

Tom,

What year are those radios ? The article I read was 1931.

Marc

[Tom Wesenberg]

They were probably from the 40's. I think one was a Wards Airline.

[P.S.]

The Crosley "Fiver Roamio" from 1937 would work on positive or negative ground.

FYI- Here's how I added a radio to the Tudor. It's running on batteries- "D" cells in parallel for filaments and 64 "AA" cells in series for B+. Runs for hundreds of hours on a set of batteries.

[SDJason]

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Haha...I added a fairly modern day Crosley as well - currently powered by four AA batteries; the long-term plan is to wire it into the car's power at some point.

[marc hildebrant]

P.S.

Another method is to use a number of 9V batteries in series.

Marc

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by P.S.

The Crosley "Fiver Roamio" from 1937 would work on positive or negative ground.

FYI- Here's how I added a radio to the Tudor. It's running on batteries- "D" cells in parallel for filaments and 64 "AA" cells in series for B+. Runs for hundreds of hours on a set of batteries.

Holy Smokes there Batman.............64 AA cells has to be pretty expensive.

[FL&WVMIKE]

Previously, I had advertised a old Stewart-Warner radio, that was made for "A" Model era automobiles.
I will run the ad "Back To The Top". Look in the "A" For Sale Section.
MIKE

CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE - Twice

[TudooR31]

Old ads showed aftermarket radios wired to the car storage battery plus their own "C", "B" and "D" batteries.
I wonder how they dealt with ignition noise from the bare spark wires?

[FL&WVMIKE]

Originally Posted by TudooR31

Old ads showed aftermarket radios wired to the car storage battery plus their own "C", "B" and "D" batteries.
I wonder how they dealt with ignition noise from the bare spark wires?

Tudoor31 ..................
The later V8s used special condensors to quite the noise. Personally, I would use a seperate battery, all by itself.
MIKE

[Kurt in NJ]

I have a Grigsby Grunow 110, it was introduced in june 31, it has a control head that clamps to the steering column, one size fit (die cast clamp) that is the exact size of the A column, it has a "B" battery , the head hooks to the radio by a cable, the radio box and battery box are to fit into holes cut into the rear floor ---the Grigsby Grunow 111 is the 32 Ford radio, that had a motor generator to make the "B" voltage.

Now we have expectations of the signal being good all the time, no popping, buzzing ect, then it was expected.

[FL&WVMIKE]

Originally Posted by Kurt in NJ

I have a Grigsby Grunow 110, it was introduced in june 31, it has a control head that clamps to the steering column, one size fit (die cast clamp) that is the exact size of the A column, it has a "B" battery , the head hooks to the radio by a cable, the radio box and battery box are to fit into holes cut into the rear floor ---the Grigsby Grunow 111 is the 32 Ford radio, that had a motor generator to make the "B" voltage.

Now we have expectations of the signal being good all the time, no popping, buzzing ect, then it was expected.

Kurt in NJ ....................
You have a very rare piece !
MIKE

[P.S.]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

Holy Smokes there Batman.............64 AA cells has to be pretty expensive.

But, holy guacamole, Robin, they last forever. Sometimes you just have to throw a lot of money at something silly because it makes you happy. Having an EMP proof shortwave capable radio in the EMP proof car just makes sense for some weird reason.

[dan]

Nothin' cooler than an era radio cranking out era tunes as you drive along :-)

[AlanD]

I was fascinated with the idea of a radio in the coupe a few years ago. I wanted to cruise down the road listening the Artie Shaw or Tommy Dorsey, so I went about building one. My goal was for it to look right but be on the small side, and have the features I wanted, AM, FM, mp3, and battery powered from an internal rechargeable cell so it can be totally portable. So here's the result. It works pretty well but now that I have it, I find that I was so used to not having a radio in the coupe that it's kinda distracting. With music playing I can't hear the engine and other noises that I like to listen for. Funny huh.

[steve s]

Originally Posted by P.S.

But, holy guacamole, Robin, they last forever. Sometimes you just have to throw a lot of money at something silly because it makes you happy. Having an EMP proof shortwave capable radio in the EMP proof car just makes sense for some weird reason.

.


Wow, someone else who frets about EMP! I actually felt a bit of remorse when I upgraded to Pertronix ignition--briefly. Like there's going to be anyplace left worth driving to. Plus, I bet that gas that Mel fretted over in Thunderdome was probably ethanol.

Steve

[Joe K]

Mom and Dad when they were in college in the early/mid 40s had a 1940 Ford which they drove between Northfield. VT and Bridgewater, MA, then an 8 hour trip (today about 3-1/2 hours)

Their radio was a 1941 Zenith battery/plug-in radio which looked like this...



Theirs was finished in an alligator leather and appropriately named "Old Alligator."

Sadly it got sacrificed in the mid 1960s to a technically inclined young man with an interest in tube type radios. He has yet to get past this affectation, or the regret of a radio sundered to "lets see what this does."

It didn't work then. These radios seem to suffer from the "dreaded silver mica disease" which results in no reception and static and apparently caused by age related capacitor deterioration?

Joe K

[P.S.]

Yes, "silver mica migration disease" is common in the 50's and 60's tube radios with the smaller I.F. cans in them. The good news is, you can disasseble the I.F. cans and grind out the old mica caps in the base that shorted or went leaky, and then solder in some new caps. Re-align the rig and you're good to go for another hundred years or so.

[josh1331]

Is there a service that can convert old radios to play mp3??josh