EverReady #477 Battery Substitute For Portable Tube Radio Sets October 2011 Many portable tube radio

sets were designed to use a 67 Volt B battery. An original EverReady #477 B battery is shown on right side of this page. In this paper I will describe how to make a nice-looking substitute battery for the #477 type, using seven lowcost 9-volt transistor radio batteries. I saw a YouTube video showing a replica #477-type battery that used six of the #A23 12-volt alkaline batteries. But the #A23 has only between 30 to 40 mAH capacity when the load is between 10 to 5 mA, respectively. Therefore such a battery has a useful life, for typical portable tube radios, of at most 4 hours. The total battery cost is up to $24 ($8 per #A23 2-pack from Radio Shack), plus tax. Another approach, which is cheaper and more common, is to use seven 9-volt alkaline or heavy duty transistor radio batteries that are stacked and wired in series. The capacity of the heavy duty type in this service is about 250 mAH, for a useful life of at least 25 to 30 hours in a typical portable 4-tube set. My total cost for seven heavy duty 9-volt batteries from BigLots was $3.33 plus tax ($1.90 per 4-pack). I have chosen this approach. The width and length of a standard 9-volt battery are such that the stack will be about 1/32 thicker and about 1/32 narrower than the specified maximum dimensions for the #477. You should use one of the 9volt batteries to check that your battery compartment will accept the slight additional thickness. My stack of seven 9-volt batteries is 4 and 5/8 long, while the finished battery is to be about 5 and 5/16 long, not including the snap connectors. See drawings below and on the next page.

In order to keep the finished width within #477 width, the terminals of the 9-volt batteries must be soldered using small (AWG22) wire jumpers placed on the inside edges of the 9V snap connectors. I used rubber bands to hold the battery stack together while installing the series wiring. I used a small chisel-tip professional Weller iron. I tinned each connector and jumper first, and then held the jumper onto the connector for as short a time as possible to make a good joint. Avoid excessive heating of the connectors. See photo below;

This heavy duty battery stack measured 70.5 volts after the partial assembly shown above. The rubber bands and the temporary wood block will be removed during final assembly.

The snap connector block is fabricated from salvaged snaps and a homemade 5/8 thick wood base. To make the snap connector block, I used left-over pine base molding to make two 5/16 thick wood blocks which I then glued together using a very small amount of Elmer's white glue. Here is a template drawing for making the wood blocks. I suggest using cereal box cardboard to make the template.

The B battery snap connectors must typically be salvaged from old batteries or scrap (non-restorable) radio sets. The snap connectors are mounted to the wood block spacers using the #18 wire nails passed through the connector rivets. Carefully drive the nails through the rivet holes of your connectors and into the blocks, using a tap hammer and an upsidedown and slightly larger flat head nail as a nailset. Check that the rivet heights of your connectors kept the 5/8 long nails from poking through the back of the wood block unit, or else use shorter nails. I cut shallow grooves in one side of the block to pass the snap connector wiring back to the battery stack. Secure the snap connector block to the battery stack with rubber bands while wiring the snap connectors to the battery stack, taking care to observe polarities (positive = battery male, negative = battery female). Using the cereal box cardboard, make a 15/16 x 5 1/4 strip to lay over the connectors of the battery stack. This will help to protect the connectors from possible punch-through and shorting during handling and installation of the finished battery. I suggest placing the unpainted side of the cardboard towards the batteries. Make a 6 3/4 x 5 1/4 plain paper inner wrap to support the battery assembly. Use short strips of cellophane tape to fasten down snugly the plain paper over-flap. This inner wrap does not fold over the ends of the assembly. If you don't do this inner wrap, the replica label will be harder to place and install. I used cellophane tape strips to secure the replica label to the battery stack. On next page are photos of 1) the finished replica battery, and 2) my Emerson model 850 set with this battery and my G cell adapters installed.

The finished battery will not have the beveled sides of the #477, but otherwise should look and perform very fine in many sets that required the #477. On the next page is my replica that can be wrapped around the support and aesthetic quality. grid (1-inch centers) to check paper label, sized to this stack design, finished battery assembly to provide The under-flap is on the left. Use the and adjust image size before printing.

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