I've heard that CAIG Deoxit D55-6 spray contact cleaner is the best.
I have a can, but I can't find it.
I can find a small can of LPS Instant Contact Cleaner. Is that as good? Almost as good? (They don't sell that exact thing anymore. There are about 5 kinds of LPS ccleaner now.)
Or should I keep looking for the Deoxit, or buy another can (cheepest is about $17!!)
Can I clean it with the LPS now and then use the Deoxit when I find it? Or is there some layer that goes on that would inhibit a later cleaner?
You can use the LPS now and if you need to you can use the Deoxit later. I doubt that the LPS is as good but give it a try and see if it works for your application as you already have it.
Thanks. I'm so clever, I couldn't even take the chassis out.
I googled, and other people had the same problem! And they had the same initial problem, which is the AUX/Tape switch.
I paid over 200 for this 37 years ago, so I guess that would be $600+ today. And it worked just fine for about 25 years. Then the switch, a pushbutton with In and Out settings, started to get bad, and when it wasn't making contact, the radio made no sound. And I'd have to touch it just right for it to be right. That used to last for months, but then it was weeks, then days, and a year ago it wouldn't work at all.
I'd bought a replacement radio 2 years ago but but just taking this one off the shelf last week was difficult. Took 15 minutes to follow the cord to the plug and pull out the plug, one of 18 things plugged in behind the book shelf.
Anyhow, more than one person had problems with this switch, and more than one had already had the same problem taking the thing apart. The web and Google are wonderful. Here are the instructions, even though you don't have this radio:
Mar 24, 2009 #6 Here's how to do it:
Okay, now that I've opened the radio up it's all coming back to me. First of all, here is how you open 'er up:
Remove all four screws on the bottom - not the screws in the feet, they don't do anything except hold the radio up.
---[That's what I thought, but after I couldn't get the chassis out, I removed the screws for the feet. Didn't help.]
Remove speaker grill (velcro fasteners)
---Aha!!! Up until now, I didnt' want to mess with that. The radio still looks like new after 37 years. Real wood cabinet, nice grill cloth.
and remove the single screw top left on the tab. Make sure that the radio is unplugged from the wall and slide the chassis out throught the front. The speaker stays in the cabinet and there will be a red and white pair of wires on a plug that goes to it. If you want to take the chassis away to work on it you may unplug the speaker connector, it's up to you.
You will see a connector toward the front of the circuit board marked "P503 L R". It's up front near the display board and runs from one end of the board to the other. All you need to do is jumper L and R on that plug and the preamp will be mono.
----Yeah, I haven't been using the second speaker either, so I only have one channel. With talk-radio it doesn't make much diffeence, but still. I have the speaker in a closet in another room. I hope I remember to leave a note for whoever gets this thing after I die.
The center prong is ground, so don't short L or R to that. If you put a small switch (like a mini-toggle) to make and break the L R bridge circuit you can go from stereo to mono. I was going to put a mini-toggle switch in the back of mine 10 years ago but I never got around to it. I
---Maybe I'll do that.
haven't missed it yet, so I probably won't. Here's a couple of pictures to show you what I'm talking about. Notice how close you are to the live electrical contacts for the power supply - hence the warning about making sure that the unit is unplugged.
--- When I was 12, I spent an hour trying to fix the transformer for my Lionel train, Only then did I notice I hadn't unplugged it, and that showed that the problem was the plug. I was only 12.
Hope this helps. Hang on to that radio - it's a good one and it wasn't made for very long!
--- I read that the KLH 200 was the last high quality thing that KLH made.
Be careful on what you use contact cleaner on. Some will melt some plastics. I melted a set of 5 plastic push buttons due to the contact cleaner melting the plastic.
I'm still using a KLH 21 that I bought new in 1968. Has never needed servicing. It's in our kitchen and we listen to it daily. Still works perfectly except that the inner vernier dial spins uselessly. However, it's easy to tune from the outer vernier dial. I wish modern electronic devices were built to last (but then the market for replacement items would be smaller). Sneaky bastards use components at the very edge of their max specs that predictably fail much sooner than if components with more conservative specs were used. Also, quality control ain't what it used to be - probably by intension.
Thanks. And since I posted I remembered that this one switch doesn't work at all, but some of the momentary switches are a problem. They don't work the first time, or they work twice when I only want once. The LPS might be good enough for the slide switchm, but I think these others need Deoxit.
That's pretty good. Bought in 1968!. I didn't get this until 1986 was made before the 200.
I just bought a hearing amplifier with bluetooth, that is like a hearing aid but it has a yoke in case one falls out of my ear it's still attached, plus I can talk on the phone or listen to webradio from the phone. And it works fine but it won't pair with my phone, or my other phone. I'll try some more but I think it's broken. ($130. I mislaid or lost my other one, and I need one to hear what the doctor is saying.)
But on the good side, I got my KLH 200 open with the instructions I quoted in the previous post. On the bad side, the switch in question seems to have a plastic cap on all sides, not like slide switches in the past where you could even see the contacts. On the good side, I sprayed it anyhow and the radio seems to be working fine now.
Even after the last screw came out it was tricky to get it apart -- it kept catching on things, don't know what.
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