Ekco U245

[Dave T DJ]

Hi guys and girls, I recently got out of mothballs my Nans lovely old Ekco U245 radio, which has been laid up waiting for me to bring it back to life.
I am pleased to say that after good check over it works There seems to be only one problem in that after switching it off, you can hear very faintly sound coming from the speaker, which doesn't seem to go away. The On/Off volume control clicks off/on and controls the volume, seemingly ok. Any ideas as to what could be causing this please. Thanks in advance.

Dave

[paulsherwin]

It sounds as if the on/off switch isn't disconnecting the mains.

These are nice easy radios to work on and good performers, but they are full of Hunts Mouldseal caps which should be changed.

The usual warnings about live chassis sets apply here.

[Dave T DJ]

Thanks for the reply, yes I am aware of live chassis problems. Also thanks for the advise with changing caps, could you be a bit more specific on which ones. Also relative to switch not disconnecting the mains, how can I test that, excuse my ignorance ?

Thanks Dave

[Nuvistor]

If you haven't got one the service manual will help, if a capacitor etc is recommended for replacement we can quote the circuit number.

The Hunts Mouldseals will be the ones with a crumbling exterior, black or brown plastic type substance.

Manual available at http://www.service-data.com/product....12/2195/m11512

To test the on off switch you need a multimeter.

Frank

[paulsherwin]

As a rough guide, you should consider changing all the caps with values from 0.001uF to 0.1uF, but the critical one feeds the UL41 control grid (sometimes called 'that capacitor' because of its notoriety in valve radios). The control grid is pin 6.

[Boater Sam]

The on/off switch, which is part of the volume control usually, is probably stuck closed or has failed in the past and been shorted out.
If you lack experience, ask for help, but please be careful with mains voltages

[Dave T DJ]

Many thanks everybody for your information, also your concern Boater Sam, I do take it on board I am only doing enquiring at present trying to learn more as I go along, my knowledge is based around being a Radio Ham, so I am fairly conversant with electronics. Also I have a friend who will be guiding me through the changes/repairs and realignment, as that is what he does.

Regards Dave

[paulsherwin]

As I said earlier, these are not difficult sets to work on. The Mouldseal replacement is standard practice for radios of this era - just change them one at a time starting with That Cap, checking each time that the radio still works and you haven't introduced a fault. Given that you are a beginner and this is a run of the mill mass market radio, it's probably best to replace the caps by 'pigtailing' - cut out the old cap close to the body and wrap the wires around the new cap wires before soldering in place. A more thorough restoration would desolder the old components completely, but that is a big job even for an experienced restorer.

There should be no need to realign anything unless somebody has been twiddling.

[Phil G4SPZ]

As Sam says in post #6, the mains switch contacts in the plastic housing at the rear of the volume control can stick (closed or open) but they will sometimes respond to a good squirt of switch cleaner followed by repeated on-off operation, with the set unplugged of course. If unsuccessful, it's often possible to open the switch and clean away the solidified grease, but this entails removing the volume control from the radio. In such cases it might be easier to replace the whole thing.

[Dave T DJ]

Update on the said radio is that after applying switch cleaner it now switches off, also a couple of the Caps have been changed ( not by me, but by my friend who guided me through the process ) So now the radio sounds wonderful, thanks again for advice all.

Dave

Life is a learning curve, but I want to go on the straight and narrow