I'm quite new to radios. I'm trying to venture into a restoration. Do you know if / how / where I can get a battery for a Philco Model 46 Farm Radio?

:I'm quite new to radios. I'm trying to venture into a restoration. Do you know if / how / where I can get a battery for a Philco Model 46 Farm Radio?
:
Are you sure that it's a 46? According to the Resources, this is a 110-120 VDC only set. Most farm sets either ran off a 6V car battery, a set of dry cells (1.5 v for the heaters, 45 or 90 V for B+), or small wind generators charging a battery bank (24-32 volts). There were even farm sets that ran off the electricity produced by a thermoelectric fitting for kerosene lamps, but these were more common in the Soviet Union than in the USA.

::I'm quite new to radios. I'm trying to venture into a restoration. Do you know if / how / where I can get a battery for a Philco Model 46 Farm Radio?
::
:Are you sure that it's a 46? According to the Resources, this is a 110-120 VDC only set. Most farm sets either ran off a 6V car battery, a set of dry cells (1.5 v for the heaters, 45 or 90 V for B+), or small wind generators charging a battery bank (24-32 volts). There were even farm sets that ran off the electricity produced by a thermoelectric fitting for kerosene lamps, but these were more common in the Soviet Union than in the USA.
:

I should have been more specific. The radio I have is a Model 46-132. The radio has a 4 pin connector which I presume is used to connect to the battery. The 4 pin connector has 4 wires; red, green, brown, & black. Any help identifiying what I need and where I can source it would be appreciated. I am so new to this type thing that I would be reluctant to try and build my own power source

:I should have been more specific. The radio I have is a Model 46-132. The radio has a 4 pin connector which I presume is used to connect to the battery. The 4 pin connector has 4 wires; red, green, brown, & black. Any help identifiying what I need and where I can source it would be appreciated. I am so new to this type thing that I would be reluctant to try and build my own power source
:
:
Take a look at the Section 1 picture on Page 8 of the pdf file for this set- it gives the connections for the 4-pin battery connector. Basically, you need two batteries: a 90 volt one and a 1.5 volt one. You can get 90 volts by daisy-chaining 10 9V battteries together using connectors that you can purchase at Radio Shack. You will want the largest 1.5 volt battery that you can find- a D cell will work but won't last long since the heaters are power hogs. A large 1.5 volt "telephone" dry cell like those used to start model airplane glow plug engines would be OK- if anyone still makes them.

Referring to the Section 1 diagram, The + side of your 90 V battery stack will go to the B+ terminal, and the - side will go to the B- terminal. The + side of the 1.5 volt battery will go to A+, and the - side of the 1.5 volt battery will go to A-. That's all there is to it.

A perhaps more economical approach (if you expect to use the radio much) would be to purchase a battery eliminator that converts AC house power to the two voltages needed. I think that there are tube radio hobbyist online stores that sell these. If the set is mainly going to be a "shelf queen" that gets turned on and played sporadically, the battery approach would be fine. The 90V battery stack, if alkaline, will last for years with light intermittent use. You could also use a "D" alkaline cell instead of the larger carbon-zinc type for light use.

BTW, this isn't "armchair engineering". I have a 1939 Philco 39-116X set with a wireless remote control. This was (supposedly) the first consumer-electronics wireless remote, and it worked by transmitting a low-power RF signal from the remote box to a dedicated receiver in the main set. Inside the remote box was a one-tube oscillator, encoding switch, and a large battery. The battery was a dual unit, probably very similar to the one sold by Philco for your farm set, except the B+ section only was a 45 volt pile (heater was 1.5 volts). I made an ersatz battery for this unit by series-wiring five 9 volt batteries (using the aforementioned Radio Shack battery clips) with a separate single-battery D cell holder for the heater cell. This was a surprisingly compact arrangement thanks to the shape of the 9 volt batteries. I put this together in 2009 and it is still working with the "original" batteries.

Hello CV. I have a copy of the original magazine ad for your remote control. However since this is March 31, I'm afraid this thread will vaporize before I find it for you. Start this thread up again manana.

:
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:BTW, this isn't "armchair engineering". I have a 1939 Philco 39-116X set with a wireless remote control. This was (supposedly) the first consumer-electronics wireless remote, and it worked by transmitting a low-power RF signal from the remote box to a dedicated receiver in the main set. Inside the remote box was a one-tube oscillator, encoding switch, and a large battery. The battery was a dual unit, probably very similar to the one sold by Philco for your farm set, except the B+ section only was a 45 volt pile (heater was 1.5 volts). I made an ersatz battery for this unit by series-wiring five 9 volt batteries (using the aforementioned Radio Shack battery clips) with a separate single-battery D cell holder for the heater cell. This was a surprisingly compact arrangement thanks to the shape of the 9 volt batteries. I put this together in 2009 and it is still working with the "original" batteries.
:

: :I should have been more specific. The radio I have is a Model 46-132. The radio has a 4 pin connector which I presume is used to connect to the battery. The 4 pin connector has 4 wires; red, green, brown, & black. Any help identifiying what I need and where I can source it would be appreciated. I am so new to this type thing that I would be reluctant to try and build my own power source
::
::
:Take a look at the Section 1 picture on Page 8 of the pdf file for this set- it gives the connections for the 4-pin battery connector. Basically, you need two batteries: a 90 volt one and a 1.5 volt one. You can get 90 volts by daisy-chaining 10 9V battteries together using connectors that you can purchase at Radio Shack. You will want the largest 1.5 volt battery that you can find- a D cell will work but won't last long since the heaters are power hogs. A large 1.5 volt "telephone" dry cell like those used to start model airplane glow plug engines would be OK- if anyone still makes them.
:
:Referring to the Section 1 diagram, The + side of your 90 V battery stack will go to the B+ terminal, and the - side will go to the B- terminal. The + side of the 1.5 volt battery will go to A+, and the - side of the 1.5 volt battery will go to A-. That's all there is to it.
:
:A perhaps more economical approach (if you expect to use the radio much) would be to purchase a battery eliminator that converts AC house power to the two voltages needed. I think that there are tube radio hobbyist online stores that sell these. If the set is mainly going to be a "shelf queen" that gets turned on and played sporadically, the battery approach would be fine. The 90V battery stack, if alkaline, will last for years with light intermittent use. You could also use a "D" alkaline cell instead of the larger carbon-zinc type for light use.
:
Could u post a link to the PDF? I'm restoring a vintage philco tube radio model number 46-132 also but don't know what PDF you are referring too?

:Could u post a link to the PDF? I'm restoring a vintage philco tube radio model number 46-132 also but don't know what PDF you are referring too?
:
It's in the "Resources" section of this site:
http://www.nostalgiaair.org/PagesByModel/590/M0013590.pdf

::Could u post a link to the PDF? I'm restoring a vintage philco tube radio model number 46-132 also but don't know what PDF you are referring too?
::
:It's in the "Resources" section of this site:
:http://www.nostalgiaair.org/PagesByModel/590/M0013590.pdf
:
Thank you CV I now know what to do. Also if you know of any battery eliminator kits for the Philco tube radio model number 46-132, that would be much appreciated.

:Thank you CV I now know what to do. Also if you know of any battery eliminator kits for the Philco tube radio model number 46-132, that would be much appreciated.
:
:
I don't know of any specific kits, but I believe that SOMEONE makes them. You might poke around past monthly archives of this site or, maybe even better, just Google "Tube Radio Battery Eliminator".

Hello CV. The ad for the Philco Remote control is actually a Popular Mechanics article. Here's one link to the page. If you haven't seen this already, check it out for fun.

http://www.jitterbuzz.com/furn/popmech_philco_remote.jpg

BTW, many of the Popular Mechanics issues have been digitized for hours of browsing fun. Enjoy.

What you seem to have is the model 46-132 There is no longer any batteries for this radio. The B+ is 90 volts, and the filament supply is 1.5 volts. You can build a power supply, or look for the after market power shifter that was made by Sears for such radios.

Check out this post, scroll about halfway down.........
Farm Radio Power Supply