radio works on DC but not AC
 

my mother recently had her radio stop working so she tried plugging another
one into the same outlet but it does not work anymore either and the same
thing happened to a third.......blender works fine in that outlet but radios
continue to stop working unless they are used with batteries but the AC
won't work ........what could be happening here and how do I fix them?? is
this a rectifier thing??

my mother recently had her radio stop working so she tried plugging another
one into the same outlet but it does not work anymore either and the same
thing happened to a third.......blender works fine in that outlet but radios
continue to stop working unless they are used with batteries but the AC
won't work .

Target-

Try other outlets. If the radios do not work in other outlets, try them at a
neighbor's house. If ANY of these radios works in ANY outlet, the trouble is
most likely not with the radios, but with your Mother's house wiring.

In some areas, outlets have two power wires and one ground wire. An appliance
that uses a three prong plug could be making one of its power connections by
way of the ground wire. If the radios have plugs with only two prongs, they
wouldn't work if there was an open connection in one of the power wires. This
condition could be dangerous.

Of course you might just have three bad radios.

Fred

"Target" wrote in message
...
| my mother recently had her radio stop working so she tried plugging
another
| one into the same outlet but it does not work anymore either and the same
| thing happened to a third.......blender works fine in that outlet but
radios
| continue to stop working unless they are used with batteries but the AC
| won't work ........what could be happening here and how do I fix them??
is
| this a rectifier thing??

Have the outlet checked by an electrician - or buy one of those little
testers and check it. You might need to replace the socket.

N

"Target" wrote in message
...
my mother recently had her radio stop working so she tried plugging
another
one into the same outlet but it does not work anymore either and the same
thing happened to a third.......blender works fine in that outlet but
radios
continue to stop working unless they are used with batteries but the AC
won't work ........what could be happening here and how do I fix them??
is
this a rectifier thing??





Check the voltage at the outlet, if it's causing the radios to fail the
voltage may be too high and burning out the transformer. It's also possible
that the outlet is worn and not making good contact on some thinner plug
prongs.

(Fred McKenzie) writes:

my mother recently had her radio stop working so she tried plugging another
one into the same outlet but it does not work anymore either and the same
thing happened to a third.......blender works fine in that outlet but radios
continue to stop working unless they are used with batteries but the AC
won't work .

Target-

Try other outlets. If the radios do not work in other outlets, try them at a
neighbor's house. If ANY of these radios works in ANY outlet, the trouble is
most likely not with the radios, but with your Mother's house wiring.

In some areas, outlets have two power wires and one ground wire. An appliance
that uses a three prong plug could be making one of its power connections by
way of the ground wire. If the radios have plugs with only two prongs, they
wouldn't work if there was an open connection in one of the power wires. This
condition could be dangerous.

Unless the radios are quite old, they won't use the Ground for anything.
Even if 3 prong, they can't for safety reasons use the Ground.

Since virtually all radios and blenders are 2 prong, this probably
doesn't matter anyhow.

Of course you might just have three bad radios.

Do the radios still work on AC in other outlets?

--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ Mirror: http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/
Repair | Main Table of Contents: http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/REPAIR/
+Lasers | Sam's Laser FAQ: http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/sam/lasersam.htm
| Mirror Sites: http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/REPAIR/F_mirror.html

Note: These links are hopefully temporary until we can sort out the excessive
traffic on Repairfaq.org.

Important: Anything sent to the email address in the message header is ignored.
To contact me, please use the feedback form on the S.E.R FAQ Web sites.

On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 19:54:51 -0600, "Target"
wrote:

my mother recently had her radio stop working so she tried plugging another
one into the same outlet but it does not work anymore either and the same
thing happened to a third.......blender works fine in that outlet but radios
continue to stop working unless they are used with batteries but the AC
won't work ........what could be happening here and how do I fix them?? is
this a rectifier thing??




Possibly a bad transformer.

Tom

On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 20:32:00 GMT, Tom MacIntyre
wrote:

On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 19:54:51 -0600, "Target"
wrote:

my mother recently had her radio stop working so she tried plugging another
one into the same outlet but it does not work anymore either and the same
thing happened to a third.......blender works fine in that outlet but radios
continue to stop working unless they are used with batteries but the AC
won't work ........what could be happening here and how do I fix them?? is
this a rectifier thing??




Possibly a bad transformer.

Tom

Oops...read too fast. :-)

Tom

how do i test a transformer??

"Target" wrote in message
...
| how do i test a transformer??

Ohmmeter first, then AC voltmeter.

N

On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 21:35:37 -0600, "Target"
wrote:

how do i test a transformer??


Sorry, I read your post too quickly, and not completely enough. It
would be highly unlikely to have 3 bad transformers.

Tom

"Tom MacIntyre" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 21:35:37 -0600, "Target"
wrote:

how do i test a transformer??


Sorry, I read your post too quickly, and not completely enough. It
would be highly unlikely to have 3 bad transformers.

Tom

Unless the voltage at the outlet is too high and is burning them out.

On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 17:52:17 GMT, "James Sweet"
wrote:


"Tom MacIntyre" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 21:35:37 -0600, "Target"
wrote:

how do i test a transformer??


Sorry, I read your post too quickly, and not completely enough. It
would be highly unlikely to have 3 bad transformers.

Tom

Unless the voltage at the outlet is too high and is burning them out.


And yet not killing the blender...possible, I guess.

Tom

"Tom MacIntyre" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 17:52:17 GMT, "James Sweet"
wrote:


"Tom MacIntyre" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 21:35:37 -0600, "Target"
wrote:

how do i test a transformer??


Sorry, I read your post too quickly, and not completely enough. It
would be highly unlikely to have 3 bad transformers.

Tom

Unless the voltage at the outlet is too high and is burning them out.


And yet not killing the blender...possible, I guess.


The universal motors in blenders are quite tolerant of under and over
voltage, also my assumption was that the blender was used for only a few
moments and the clock radios were plugged in for a while.

Tom MacIntyre wrote:

On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 17:52:17 GMT, "James Sweet"
wrote:

Unless the voltage at the outlet is too high and is burning them out.


And yet not killing the blender...possible, I guess.



entirely possible. I moved into a basement suite once while going
to school. At the time the only applicance I had was an
illuminated alarm clock that worked on 115VAC. I plugged it in
and all seemed ok but later I notices an odor of something like
hot burning plastic. As it turned out, it was coming from my
clock. The owner had wired the outlet accidently in 240VAC. I
unplugged the clock and it worked fine for years but it always
had the burnt smell.

The clock only had a mechanical type motor in it (induction
perhaps) so it ran from the frequency of the power rather than
the voltage. An electronic device will likely be damaged.

Make sure the source power is "right"

- Jeff