Fifty year-old Sanyo transistor radio still works perfectly - should I be surprised?

[Graz]

Hand-soldered, 9-transistor Sanyo radio still works perfectly after 50
years!

What is the most likely failure mode of similar radios - dry joints?

 

[z]

That's life.

I have Sony pocket radios that are 45 years old that work properly. It's not
_that_ unusual.


Probably bad caps.

yeah. but caps in transistor radios of that age lived an easy life
compared to those in tube radios, so maybe could survive longer.

i bet the solder joints in that thing were absolute perfection.

random old fart digression: for a while in college i worked at the
sony warranty repair place. we had an old sony table radio which had
survived a fire; melted into a random mass with a couple of knobs
pointed in random directions; of course, still worked fine.

 

[z]

I don't know. I've had several KLH Model Eight table radios, all well over
40 years old, and none had electrolytic problems.

i dug an old macintosh 50w-2 tube amp (mono) out of a dumpster a
million years ago. it still worked, but almost all the caps were
crummy, electrolytic as well as oily paper, as well as several other
components. replaced them and it was a nice amp. when i sold it the
buyer was shocked that i would desecrate a classic amp like that. (i
had kept the removed components in a coffee can which went along with
the sale, so he was free to return it to its natural state). what made
it a mcintosh was the transformer(s?) which remained original, as they
were potted in about ten pounds of epoxy or something and made up 90%
of the mass and volume of the thing.

 

[z]

If the radio only plays oldies and 1950's rock-n-roll, you have a
problem.

Dry joints?  I've never had to lubricate my solder connections.

around here the dry joints are the ones with strippers, the
authorities don't want those joints lubricated.

 

[iws]

Nah, I still use an old General Electric 8 transistor Am with 2 shortwave
bands radio that was made in Utica NY. It's got a far better tuner than you
typically get these days and still sounds quite good. Uses 4 c cells.