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I once tore a Wico condenser apart to see if I could figure out why so many of them fail or are intermittent. The answer quickly became obvious (see picture). On the left is the end view of the paper/foil roll. On the right is a view of the disk that makes contact with the foil, connecting the roll to the wire. See the marks where the contact was arcing and burning? There’s the answer.
I also attempted to dis-asssemble an OMC condenser and it was so well made that I couldn’t even get it apart without total destruction. Granted, I don’t remember what vintage the OMC condenser was.
Should not be hard to fix if someone has a internal diagram of the beast. If anyone has working model it would be interesting to know the “probe voltage” applied to condensers
I doubt the circuitry is going to be complicated but that all depends on your smarts in electronics… maybe a friend can pop it open and trace out the circuitry . Most likely be just a bad switch of dried up component like old radios.
It would be nice of course to have it work properly but depending on your findings cost wise you may want to look into M.Mohat’s test box .. .the basic model is easy to build
not to expensive parts wise and I found it works quite well to check condensers around 250-275 volts with a fool proof idiot light. if it flashes or stays on it is dead !
you could probably fit all the components inside your original Stevens meter and with a small test switch…. nobody would know the difference.
see link other articles available on the site …diagram is available if you writeto Mr.Mohat who published is condenser articles in the Outboarder …
to measure capacitance lots of inexpensive meters around … I got one on Amazon at around $25 CDN sometime ago …this model includes a temperature. test probe which I do not have 🙁 my exact model is no longer listed but this one is near identical. Of course other model manuf . are listed make certain they read nanoF (ex: 220 nF = .020 uF)
Microsoft Word – Part2_Condenser_Testers_And_Testing_Correctly.doc (wrcoutboards.org)
btw….back in 1975….I got a old RCA stand-up radio (low boy mdl ) made by RCA Victor . I contacted the company to get a wiring diagram and of course nobody was stilaround…to know anything about it until…..they sent me over to the “archives” dept. 🙂 found everything ..great service and they sent me the wiring layout….the radio and old tubes still works today thanks to fixing up just a few ..inexpensive dried out condensers on the main power supply. Stevens may not fix them but maybe they still have documents/diagrams in a box somewhere. btw…the old Car 54 police band is kind of quiet 🙂
R-35 Radio RCA Victor International, Montreal, build 1931 ?? (radiomuseum.org)
update: cheaper one
Joining AOMCI has priviledges 🙂
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