Philips V5A The Marmite Radio

[bobhowe]

Bought this radio from Past Time Radio today had a nice drive to Doncaster to collect it from Richard . I know this radio is a challenge to work on and a lot of people hated to work on these in the day & 10 years later when the Bush DAC90 came out i lot of these must have been binned and this set been nearly 90 years old survived WW2 so it deserves a second chance . The plus side the cabinet, tuning dial, speaker grille are in great condition & the speaker has got its original cloth speaker bag as well & the rest of the set is untouched and it has its original mains connector . Work thats need doing tuning dial cord needs replacing wiring has perished and capacitor change ( temporary till the set is working then stuffed and attached properly when the set is working) . Has anyone owned these sets or restored one . Any advise or tips on what order to restore this set to working condition with sympathetic restoration to use it on a regular bases than have it bling up on the shelf kind regards Bob

[Geordie McBoyne]

Took a look at my V5A last night. Perhaps restringing the dial cord may not be too difficult after all. To gain access to the tuning system it is just a matter of removing the cabinet base, the part that carries all the power supply components.
The rubber insulated wiring in my set is perished. What is needed is silicon rubber sleeving. Such material is available from RS Components but is only offered in green, red and black. We need yellow for this set.

Geordie McBoyne.

[Kalee20]

Wow!! Wow!!! Yuck.

It looks like a lab prototype, "Oh, we need another valve, let's put a bracket here, there's space, and string a few wires to it."

And then, snatch it out of the development lab, bypass any Production Engineers, put it on the shop floor, "Copy this."

Is that an airborne joint I see on the right of the photo?

What is needed is silicon rubber sleeving. Such material is available from RS Components but is only offered in green, red and black. We need yellow for this set.

What diameter, etc? There's a chance I may be able to help.

I'll bet it works quite well, when operating properly, too.

Definitely needs saving, if only as an example of how not to go into production with a radio!

[bobhowe]

Hi David the wiring looks in better condition than my set nice that the cloth speaker bag has survived on your set as well & i just had a look at the tuning dial cable and you are right if the base is removed carefully . Hi Kalee20 the cable without insulation is about 1.5mm kind regards Bob

[bobhowe]

Hi Starting a new thread about this set please keep this one going kind regards Bob

[Geordie McBoyne]

Kalee20 wrote: "What diameter, etc? There's a chance I may be able to help.
I'll bet it works quite well, when operating properly, too.
Definitely needs saving, if only as an example of how not to go into production with a radio!"

Hi Kalee,
            all the wiring is 22swg so I reckon 1.5mm bore sleeving will be fine.
The internals do look a right mess but I can vouch these sets do do perform very well indeed. Excellent selectivity and good quality sound.

From the Radiomuseum: https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/philips_v5a_v_5_a.html

Philips France version:    https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/philips_pi...4av_4.html
Side contact valves in continental sets.

Geordie McBoynes.

[Geordie McBoyne]

Pictures of Bob's V5a.  For the sake of originality we'll attempt to find the correct HT smoothing electrolytic capacitors.

Geordie McBoyne.

[bobhowe]

Thanks for the close up of the smoothing capacitor will have to find a 1821 rectifier valve as well kind regards Bob

[Kalee20]

 all the wiring is 22swg so I reckon 1.5mm bore sleeving will be fine.

I don't have any silicone, but I do have PTFE sleeving in yellow, or even glass-fibre braided (acrylic impregnated) also in yellow. Both will take 22swg fine, though smaller than 1.5mm bore, and both of course are resistant to soldering iron burns!

Let me know if either will help.