B126 battery.

[carrotine]

Is it possible to still get equivalent batteries such as B126 for old radios? If not how do you get around this problem? Cheers.

[Darren-UK]

Hi and welcome,

No, these batteries have been obsolete for donkeys years. You can get around it by using a Battery Eliminator or by the possibly more popular means of creating replica batteries. For 90V you'd stuff them with ten PP3's for example.

Do a forum search using logical keywords such as B126, Repro battery, Replica battery/ies.....and so forth.

Search also for threads by our USA member Batterymaker1, who manufactures excellent repro battery cases into which you stuff your PP3's or whatever.

Of course, if you don't want to bother with repros you can always just tape together ten PP3's connected in series. For the 1½V LT department any physically suitable 1½V cell of type C or D will do, or a pair of identical cells in parallel.

[carrotine]

Thanks for the welcome and the advice. Ill check those ideas out.
Cheers

[DAVEHALL]

And if you go for the eliminator solution - watch out for the voltage of the 90v - I had one EverReady set in the 70's with an eliminator - turned out the voltage was excessive and the set did not work - I cured it with first of all using my soldering iron accross supply ,then fitting high wattage equilavent resistor . As for the LT side - with the D series valves -the supply must be pure ( or feature a "humdinger " in the circuit)

[chipp1968]

A more expensive option is one of the ready made units now available for vintage radios ,not cheap , but saves messing about with lots of batteries .Mine has some electronics and uses 2 4.5v batteries to make 90v,the set then needed two 1.5v batteries in parallel as well.

[Count Moriarty]

I could spare one of the original B126 batteries I have - I guess I only need one! I can dispose of the old cells and send you the casing and connector block if you decide to go with the string of PP3s option. Please drop me a PM if you want it - free of charge, I hasten to add!

Cheers
Jim

[Count Moriarty]

I don't know if this should be a separate thread - sorry, Mods, please feel free to move it if so! - but still on the subject of B126 batteries, I was wondering if anyone might have a rough idea of the capacity (mAh) of one of the originals.

Thanks
Jim

[AlanBeckett]

Originally Posted by Count Moriarty

I can dispose of the old cells ......

Jim,
Could you flatten it out and scan it, with some dimensions?
Anyone could make one then
Alan

[Dave Moll]

Scans of the B126 (and other batteries) are already available here. Just click on B126 in the left-hand panel.

By the way, there isn't quite room for ten PP3s inside the case of a B126, but the voltage from nine in series seems to be adequate for most purposes.

[Herald1360]

Battery manufacturers seem to be reluctant to quote any capacity figures for "ordinary" zinc carbon cells, but if you weigh a cell from your old battery and compare that with cells available now, you may get some idea.

You could also get a rough idea if you can find any data about expected HT battery life vs HT current for a particular set.

What are the dimensions of the cells in the B126?

Edit:

Just found that B126 has layer type cells in it, so unless they correspond to a current PP series battery cell, the lifetime vs HT draw may be only way to go.

[Dave Moll]

For comparison purposes, here are the innards of a B126 alongside those of a PP3. Comparison may not be simple, owing to the different shape (B126 cells have larger cross-section but are thinner), but the B126 cells appear subjectively to be marginally larger than the PP3 ones.

edit: I hope that the B126 cells are sufficiently visible inside the plastic bag from which I am reluctant to remove them.

[Count Moriarty]

Found a figure for 880 mAh for a Maxell zinc carbon PP3 - as Herald1360 said, the data seems hard to come by.

The reason I was asking is that I had had a daft idea of making up a holder from wood, sticky backed foam, copper strips and the original connector to to take seven M23 12V batteries, but this appears to be nowhere near the estimated capacity of the original battery. I dare say if my idea was that clever, it would already have been postulated on here!

I'm busy knocking together a wooden jig similar to that described to fit inside an AD35 using two AA rechargeables - will post this on another thread when complete.

[minor8hp]

10 -PP3 batteries fit neatly inside a B126 case and give over 90 Volts.

Soldering them is a bit of a pain, but it worked a treat. 2 1.5v U2s soldered togeter fit inside an AD35 battery ...Looks authentic and works


Tonyj

[carrotine]

Thanks everyone for the advice, and thanks Jim for the kind offer. I was looking at buying a battery powered valve radio as a starting place to learn. I was unsure about batteries so wanted to know before buying, but I missed it. All the advice has been really helpful, so thanks again.
Ross

[Electrical]

Hello
Please find attached a battery equivalents chart for zinc carbon batteries as fitted to the valve battery portable receivers. The list does not give capacity but does state recommended current drain for the battery.
The B126 battery is a 90, volt small layer H.T. battery with a recommended load between 1 to 10 milliamp.
Regards Stan.

[Herald1360]

Originally Posted by Count Moriarty

Found a figure for 880 mAh for a Maxell zinc carbon PP3 - as Herald1360 said, the data seems hard to come by.

I found that too- but it seems unlikely- a Duracell alkaline only claims about 600mAH when discharged down to about 4.6V on a 100mW load.

[georgesgiralt]

Hi Ross !
Pay particular attention to the heater power supply if you get a portable valve set.
These direct heated valves have very fragile heaters. If you put more than 1.4 V on them they fry open.... very very fast. And these valves are quite expensive ... Want to know how I get to find this ? .....