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Old 9th Dec 2018, 6:12 pm   #1
TonyDuell
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Default Vidor CN353 LT battery adaptor

I have a Vidor CN353 radio, a small (for the time) 4 valve portable set.

According to the service information I have for it, the original LT cell was a Vidor V0007. I think Ever Ready made a cell of the same size with the number U17. It appears to have been a cylindrical cell, same diameter as a U2 (modern D cell) and 1/2" longer.

The trader sheet (856) for this set says that it originally came with an adaptor to use a 'U2' i.e. a D cell for the LT supply., but not unsuprisingly it is now missing from my set.

I assume that this was a spacer to use up the 1/2" space and electrically pass the connection on. I do not believe it was a block of metal, though, which would have been rather heavy.

Does anyone know what the adaptor was or have a picture of it? Was it, for example, a thin-walled sleeve that the D cell fitted inside with a contact at the end?
Does anyone know
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Old 9th Dec 2018, 6:40 pm   #2
barrymagrec
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Default Re: Vidor CN353 LT battery adaptor

Would this be the same size cell that is used in the traditional 997 lantern battery?
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Old 9th Dec 2018, 6:48 pm   #3
TonyDuell
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Default Re: Vidor CN353 LT battery adaptor

An 'F' cell? I think that is even longer.

In any case, making up a copy of the adapter and being able to use normal D cells would be the easiest way to run this little set I think.
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Old 9th Dec 2018, 11:03 pm   #4
Mike. Watterson
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Default Re: Vidor CN353 LT battery adaptor

Maybe it was an E size. That was in some LT packs and one 4.5V Bell pack.
D, E, F & G are all same diameter of 32mm. D is 57mm, E is 73mm long, F is 89 (still in many 996 packs and about 50% longer than D, also was the 3V front cycle lamp). G was 102. There were three larger round cells, largest was Flag/Bell/No.6 The one for the gas lighter was fatter than 32mm, the U14 was109.5mm x 51.2mm dia.
An adaptor would be simple. No spring needed.
An Exide T25 = ER U17 = Vidor 0007 allegedly.
The ER Unn designations are all over the place from AA = U16, C = U11 and D =U2
See my research here: http://www.blaukatz.com/tables/basic-round-cells/

I had assumed the CN353 used a U2 = D Cell like most of the personal sets did. I've maybe 8 different "Personals" from RCA BP10 to Ever Ready B2 & Marconiphone LW/MW of same year. I keep missing out on CN353 and the Champion. The German Metz personal, the only German one, went for serious money last week on eBay. There were very many USA models, and later Japanese ones with hearing aid & proximity Fuze tubes with a single B7G valve for audio out. They looked like 1960s plastic transistor sets. There was the Vidor pair that was valve and then transistor in same plastic case. I forget the names, though I have the pair (one red and other plum colour).
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Old 9th Dec 2018, 11:05 pm   #5
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Default Re: Vidor CN353 LT battery adaptor

It would likely just be a spacer, either end of cell, with a metal contact in the middle.
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Old 9th Dec 2018, 11:46 pm   #6
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Default Re: Vidor CN353 LT battery adaptor

I'd expect quite a proportion of spacers will have remained with the radios, given that the U17 will hardly have been available everywhere even to begin with, and was probably soon available almost nowhere. Here's mine, a Paxolin or similar ring with a metal insert: diameter 32 mm, thickness 12mm. As the first photo shows, one side has a couple of pressed-out spikes to improve contact with the U2.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike. Watterson View Post
There was the Vidor pair that was valve and then transistor in same plastic case. I forget the names, though I have the pair (one red and other plum colour).
That'll be the Vagabond (red, valved) and the Gem (plum, transistor).

Paul
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Old 10th Dec 2018, 12:23 am   #7
crackle
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Default Re: Vidor CN353 LT battery adaptor

I thought the Gem was also in red same as the Vagabond.
Mike
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Old 10th Dec 2018, 12:35 am   #8
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Default Re: Vidor CN353 LT battery adaptor

Possibly the Gem was also made in red, but I've never seen a red one.
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Old 10th Dec 2018, 5:57 am   #9
TonyDuell
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Default Re: Vidor CN353 LT battery adaptor

The LT supply for my radio was almost certainly an 'E' cell originally.

Thanks for the photos of the adapter. I can make something up that is functionally equivalent without much trouble (although I will wait for warmer weather before working in the garage!) although an exact copy would be a bit harder.
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Old 10th Dec 2018, 10:12 am   #10
'LIVEWIRE?'
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Default Re: Vidor CN353 LT battery adaptor

Surely the easiest way would be to do as I did once in a 'Lady Margaret' Attache Case portable, simply to fit a commercially available 'D' cell holder.
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Old 10th Dec 2018, 10:18 am   #11
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Default Re: Vidor CN353 LT battery adaptor

Regarding spacers to lengthen normal D-cells to replicate now obsolete longer cells, I devised an easy home-made converter.
It consists of a short length of 32mm (from memory) kitchen waste pipe which I seem to recall is exactly the same diameter as the D-cell. Into one end of this I araldite-ed a thin circular wooden plug, recessed, to which was attached a coiled spring removed from a D-cell battery holder. The spring was set just below the level of the pipe so that it pushed firmly (but not too hard) against the negative terminal of the cell. A short length of wire attaches the spring to a circular brass disk stuck to the opposite end of the pipe. Tape pipe and cell together and hey-presto, you have a lengthened D-cell! The job can be finished with a printed battery label to hide the tape.
I've sold me Vagabond now, but I though this just used a pair of normal length D-cells? I did have a nice American portable that used the lengthened cells and a 67.5 volt HT layer battery but that's gone to a new home too.
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Old 10th Dec 2018, 11:47 am   #12
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Default Re: Vidor CN353 LT battery adaptor

Bit of broomstick with a 4BA bolt through the middle and a wrap of black gaffer tape?

Should get away with making that indoors

If you're sneaky SWMBO may not notice the missing half inch half inched
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Old 10th Dec 2018, 12:31 pm   #13
Mike. Watterson
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Default Re: Vidor CN353 LT battery adaptor

Yes, the Vagabond is normal D Cells and maybe the same HT pack as the USA 1941 personals. It's the one with the slightly younger transistor cousin in the same plastic case. The Gem though has only a preset LW.

Interesting the E cell was used. I'd never seen it used in any set except inside battery packs (two in parallel, later replaced by 2 x D cells! Or five in series for long life LT in a few Vidor models)

Even a nail or screw in piece of brush shaft will work as there is already a spring!
Steal it from brush end and then there is still a round top?
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Old 10th Dec 2018, 4:01 pm   #14
TonyDuell
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Default Re: Vidor CN353 LT battery adaptor

Since the CN353 was offiically supplied with such an adaptor, I see no reason to conceal it e.g. by puting a fake label over the adapter and a normal D cell. And since the cell holder is part of the chassis in this set (and it fits across the case -- just -- it would be non-trivial to put a normal D cell holder in its place.

I can easilly make an adapter from plastic rod (easier for me to work than wood), but even if I used wood, to get the hole central I'd stick it on the lathe and use a drill on the tailstock. Lathes are not portable though, so I have to do that in the garage. Similarly making metal contacts is more easily done on the bench in the garage (the Workmate in the house isn't as stable!) and maybe on the lathe.

So it will wait for warmer days..
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Old 10th Dec 2018, 4:09 pm   #15
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Default Re: Vidor CN353 LT battery adaptor

A pile of coins?
 
Old 10th Dec 2018, 6:18 pm   #16
Mike. Watterson
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Default Re: Vidor CN353 LT battery adaptor

The old pennies ... we liked the "bun" pennies at school for Shove H'ppeny. I read somewhere that near the end of LSD the older pennies, all Victorian ones, were worth more than 1d as purer copper. May not be true.

Scissors, dense foam and aluminium foil? It's just a 15mm to 16mm thick spacer that can be 25 to 32mm diameter if the conductive spot is large enough. It can't have been a fancy thing originally. I'd put it at the top cap, easier for it to make connection.
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Old 10th Dec 2018, 6:27 pm   #17
TonyDuell
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Default Re: Vidor CN353 LT battery adaptor

There really is no point in me coming up with a workaround. The set needs other restoration, some of which will involve the lathe (I am missing the little peg on the inside of the cover that opens the power switch when you close the lid, for example). For testing I can easily use a D cell, a holder for same and a couple of clip leads. My main reason for asking about the adaptor (while I remembered it existed...) was that if it needed any odd materials I could start looking for sources.

Incidentally, due to my general dislike of glue, I had thought I'd fix said switch-peg with a screw through the cover. Fortunately I thought again. There is, of course, a frame aerial coil in that cover and drilling a hole through that would be a bad idea!
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