Radio Vibrator Repair - Solid State

[Eric Lenius]

Just finished up rebuilding the vibrator for a Becker Europa radio. I found a board online that is very easy to install inside of the original vibrator can. The company selling the boards is PeKo RF Plus LLC.

https://www.pekorf.com/RVB1_Intro.html

[Martin Benade]

That is a rather nice product. Does it work well?

[Eric Lenius]

It does seem to work well. I just installed it last night and tested the radio for about an hour. There is no mechanical buzz from the rebuilt vibrator though there is still a small amount of mechanical buzzing from the power trans and noticeable low level buzz at the speaker. It makes way less noise than with the vibrator. And, when you have the volume turned up at all, it is not noticeable. Since the vibrator makes fake AC from DC you end up with a square wave which is more challenging to filter and quiet than a nice sine wave. The installation was straight forward. The website provides a good explanation of how to do the work. The only rub is that you need to be able to interpret your radios schematic and the connections inside of your vibrator can (and solder). I ordered it Monday evening and received it on Thursday. Pretty good product in my estimation. I was unable to locate a solid state plug in replacement for my Becker radio, so this is the next best thing.

[Herlin E. Woolery]

Hi Eric
Was it a tube or valve as they used to call it and this company made a circuit board for the vibrator.
Herlin
58' A coupe

[Eric Lenius]

Hi Herlin,

Yes it is a tube radio. Becker Europa MU circa 1960. So, all tube. I should post another picture of the overall vibrator. The vibrator is a metal can with pins that plugs into the radio power supply chassis like a tube would. This company makes a solid state board that replaces the mechanical internals of the vibrator. I just pried open the can, disconnected and removed the mechanical vibrator, and soldered in the board. What I did not show was the completed unit with the can put back on the base.

Eric L.

[James Davies]

Very cool Eric. I will get one of these for my 1953 Blaupunkt. I suspect there's a trick to interpreting my radio schematic? =)

[Eric Lenius]

Here is a bit more detail on the result. You uncrimp the can and pull it apart. Then, after installing the board to the base, you crimp the can back on. It is hard to keep the crimped end neat but it hardly shows when installed and is completely invisible when you have the supply closed up. I have on other can type capacitors cut the bottom crimp off and then glued the can back on with RTV. This is an option and can help keep things a bit neater.