1968 Charger Radio
I had sent my radio to Wards to get totally repaired. I bought a new speaker.
I am rebuilding my complete dash assembly and have it on a table in my living room.
I installed the radio and speaker and put power to the radio only. It did play a few stations (no real antenna), and I let it play for a couple of hours.
About a week later, after I finished assembling the dash assembly, I tried the radio again. Not a sound. With approximately 12v applied, it drew .73 amps.
One speaker terminal indicated approximately 3v and the other 1v.
Does this sound like a speaker problem or radio??
I will try to get another speaker and see what happens.
Any other advice???
Thank you - John
Sounds like a radio problem to me. You can check the speakers with a regular flashlight battery. Just take a couple of pieces of wire and hook to the speaker then hold one onto one end of a battery then flick the other wire over the other end of the battery, it'll crack and pop but that just indicates it's good. Doesn't even have to be a very good battery, don't use a car battery, probably to much voltage.
I disconnected the wires from the speaker. I used just under 2 volts.
It didn't crackle or pop BUT I did hear the magnet travel (click or thud). Polarity didn't matter, it did the same, both ways.
You say you applied aprx 12 volts. Was it under 12v? Many electronic devices stop working with small drops in voltage.. :Twocents:
Hi John,
From your testing I would say the speaker is okay. I suspect it's a radio issue. Hopefully Wards will stand behind their work, I would contact them.
Pete
I did contact Greg and he said I can send it back. But I plan on connecting another speaker, if I can borrow one, as a second check.
I think we all believe it is the radio. When I first received it, I tested it the same way I just did, and it worked. Now it is silent (no static) but still draws 3/4 amp.
Plainfield: I can retest again. I can control the voltage very accurately. It previously played with less than 12v. I tried not to exceed 12v.
Did you turn the volume knob up?
You mentioned "new speaker".....you cannot use modern 4 ohm speakers with classic radios which operate at 8 ohms. You will burn out the output resistor. Factory stock radios require classic 8 ohm speakers. My 70 AM/FM radio was restored by Wards and I upgraded to modern speakers....after burning out my radio twice I learned about the speaker ohm issue :brickwall: If bad enough you will actually see smoke coming out of radio bezel! Lesson learned the hard way.
Quote from: Dodge Don on June 23, 2016, 07:04:27 AM
You mentioned "new speaker".....you cannot use modern 4 ohm speakers with classic radios which operate at 8 ohms. You will burn out the output resistor. Factory stock radios require classic 8 ohm speakers. My 70 AM/FM radio was restored by Wards and I upgraded to modern speakers....after burning out my radio twice I learned about the speaker ohm issue :brickwall: If bad enough you will actually see smoke coming out of radio bezel! Lesson learned the hard way.
I would have to say you can use 4 ohm speakers on an 8 ohm system. You just have to use two of them on the same channel. Ohms is a measure of resistance so 2 x 4ohm =8ohm. :Twocents:
I am BAD!
The antenna I tried to use (a length if wire) shorted to ground and killed the signal.
The speaker was identified as for a 1968 charger and I believe is 8 ohm.
Correcting my GOOF-UP, the radio works but only 1 station is acceptable to listen to.
It needs a real antenna. Now, it is almost all static.
I did play with voltage and it will play with a minimum of approximately 6.5 Volts.
Thank you for trying to help me but goof-up stood in the way.
John