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Old 10th Nov 2019, 12:36 am   #1
John G8MWF
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Default PYE PF1 battery refurbishment?

I am in the process of restoring a couple of Burndept 439 UHF hand held radios that use PYE PF1 batteries.

As you may have guessed the batteries are VERY hard to get hold of and do not work if you are able to find them - I have just found 2 which are in a bad way and they are leaking a clear fluid!

Does anyone know how/have experience in taking them apart without causing too much visual damage to the case - they appear to be very well sealed.

Cheers

John
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Old 10th Nov 2019, 10:23 am   #2
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Default Re: PYE PF1 Refurbishment?

I have done a lot of these. You can cut down the weld between the black lid with 3 contacts and main case (yellow for a 9V RX one). The lid will pop up on the spot welded strips that connect the cells.

Gentle working of the assembly will get the cells out of the case. You might want to wash it down first to remove any crystals/electrolyte before going too far in this direction.

Usually the cells are goners. Best to find new ones from another source. I would avoid the new PP3 types with NiMh cells - they self discharge too much for my liking and I don't think they are much good at heavy loads such as the BE439 on TX.

I'm not sure if cells that size are still available in NiCd so good luck.
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Old 10th Nov 2019, 10:54 am   #3
John G8MWF
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Default Re: PYE PF1 Refurbishment?

Hello Jon,
Thank you for the info - this is very helpful indeed.

I worked for Burndepts 46 years ago and the 439 was my first commercial product. To this end I am trying to recover a little of my early past by restoring 2 of this back to a reasonable display state.

As I previously stated I am 'trying' to keep them as original looking as possible and the functionality may come later - right now they are a chemical hazard and they are contained in a plastic bag! See enclosed picture.

I 'assume' that the cut is to be made along the join line between the black top and yellow case with something like a Stanley knife?
Does the cut have to be all the way around or are there certain spots that only need to be cut - if so - where? It would be nice to keep the cutting to a minimum.

Cheers

John
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Old 10th Nov 2019, 11:18 am   #4
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Default Re: PYE PF1 Refurbishment?

Hello John, it has to be all the way around I'm afraid. I suppose the weld was done ultrasonically originally.

A stanley knife would do it but I seem to remember using one of those blades with the same shape as a razor blade, maybe a bit thicker than that and a safe edge created by a stamped on metal strip. As these are parallel sided but thinner they don't force the two sides apart so much.

The case width is about 2mm on the sides increasing to nearer 4mm on the corners because it follows the oval shape of the cells. If you keep to the weld line going in a bit too deep is not much of an issue.

Good luck.
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Old 10th Nov 2019, 12:20 pm   #5
John G8MWF
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Default Re: PYE PF1 Refurbishment?

Thank you - your help is really appreciated.

John
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Old 13th Nov 2019, 1:49 pm   #6
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Default Re: PYE PF1 Refurbishment?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon_G4MDC View Post

A stanley knife would do it but I seem to remember using one of those blades with the same shape as a razor blade, maybe a bit thicker than that and a safe edge created by a stamped on metal strip. As these are parallel sided but thinner they don't force the two sides apart so much.
Good luck.
I believe the blades referred to by Jon are these.https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/scrap...E&gclsrc=aw.ds Tony.

(Is there nothing you can't get from R.S.? )
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Old 14th Nov 2019, 9:58 am   #7
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Default Re: PYE PF1 Refurbishment?

Yes they're the ones!
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Old 14th Nov 2019, 3:28 pm   #8
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Default Re: PYE PF1 Refurbishment?

That type of blade was included for cutting tape in the BASF tape splicing kits, I always wondered if it was a special design or had more widespread use.
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Old 14th Nov 2019, 8:07 pm   #9
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Default Re: PYE PF1 Refurbishment?

Um - shaving (1914-ish)?

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Old 15th Nov 2019, 8:37 pm   #10
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Default Re: PYE PF1 Refurbishment?

John.

I knew I had this floating around somewhere and this afternoon I spotted it laying at the back of the workshop desk.

Yours FOC if you want it.
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Old 25th Nov 2019, 10:10 pm   #11
Peter F4VSA
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Default Re: PYE PF1 Refurbishment?

Hi all,

There are many of these blades on eBay, boxes of 100 for very little money. Mine have lasted me many years!

Peter
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Old 26th Nov 2019, 1:47 pm   #12
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Default Re: PYE PF1 Refurbishment?

Quote:
Originally Posted by buggies View Post
Still in use in my younger days (1940s -50s). Eveready "Corrux" razor blade. Expensive, and considered slightly "posh" at the time. Tony.
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Old 30th Nov 2019, 7:54 pm   #13
John G8MWF
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Default Re: PYE PF1 Refurbishment?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Station X View Post
John.

I knew I had this floating around somewhere and this afternoon I spotted it laying at the back of the workshop desk.

Yours FOC if you want it.

Hello Graham,

Thank you for the kind offer but I think that battery is for the TX handset and I would not be able to use it.
I am pretty sure someone will be able to find a good home for it!

My attempt to open the case of one of the batteries failed miserably.

The plastic was incredible fragile, due to age or chemical leakage, and opening it was more like peeling an egg.
The cells had leaked at the bottom forming a bulge in the case making it impossible to move in one piece - see enclosed pictures.

my plan now is to try and modify a modern PP9 by adding the top of the original battery to it. Space is tight but it may be possible.

Thanks again for the offer.


Regards



John
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Old 1st Dec 2019, 11:32 am   #14
Jon_G4MDC
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Default Re: PYE PF1 battery refurbishment?

Many of the yellow batteries were that bad by the 1980s. Yours has had almost another 40years!

Good luck with modern PP3 I think you mean.

I don't like what is available today since they are all NiMh and exhibit self discharge and high internal resistance. I have a Motorola GP300 that just wouldn't work on NiMh. TX currrent would drop the terminal Voltage activating the battery alarm no matter how freshly charged the pack. I rebuilt it a second time with NiCd and now no problem.

Hopefully the Burndept won't be that fussy.
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