The On & Off Again GE Superadio II switch

[Steve_Green]

There once was a post here about this swell DX portable's chief flaw -- the eventually balky on-off button.

Like a leak in a car, the problem never improves by itself. In recent DX voyages I've come to leave the radio 'on' all the while and just unplug it when I'm done -- leaving that seeming one-molecule connection undisturbed.

Has there been devised a workable standard of replacing the on-off switch, or bypassing it, or hosing it effectively with spray, or some other method of getting it working as it should?

Tanxks in advance!

Feel free to eMail as well, but posts about any simple or practical method of getting this fired up might help somebody onBoard this forum as well.

(Btw : I'm working on getting that pompous full name reduced to the old and more workable 'Steve Green'. Evidently I switched user name and posted name upon log-in )

 

[Tom Wells]

I have seen these radios, but can't remember the type of switch. If it the soft-click tactile feedback button that most
modern electronics use instead of a proper switch, it is a momentary contact that is read by an always-on keyboard decoder.
These usually have a substrate like a printed circuit board, where pushing the key down presses a conductive pad against the
gap between two wires, completing the circuit after the click is felt and as long as the button is held down. It only needs
a split second to do its job. They get funny. I have sucessfully brought many switches and pushbuttons back to like-new operation
with De-Oxit D5. ( available at RS ).
If deoxit cannot help, you must find the wiring lines for the key pad on/off and add another momentary switch in parallel.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Has there been devised a workable standard of replacing the on-off switch, or bypassing it, or hosing it effectively with spray, or some other method of getting it working as it should?

Usually the balky switch is the result of somebody - at some time - disassembling the unit and accidentally bending the metal post. This makes the large metal button bind against the plastic. It is very easy to bend, especially if you disassemble the unit with the switch in the "OFF" position.

I have revived several of the switches by:

(1) Disassembling the radio properly, pulling off the large plastic button, and straightening the metal actuator.
(2) Slightly enlarging the hole for the on / off button with a flat file.

I've never seen one of those switches completely broken - but in that event I would bypass it with a toggle switch, leaving the original switch and button in place for cosmetic reasons.

Disassemble by pulling the knobs off, rotating the shafts so the flat part of the "D" shape is down (this allows some more upward play on the case), switching the switch to the "off" position, and pulling apart the clamshell case from the bottom.