Help Finding Replacement Bulbs Re: Zenith SS Record Console

[scupbucket]

Hey everybody... I inherited a late 70s/early 80s Zenith turntable/8 track console in outstanding condition. I already rebuilt and tuned up the BSR. 8 track works like a champ. Not the highest end model by any means but my 12 year old daughter got introduced to vintage vinyl and she's obsessed (she wants absolutely nothing to do with Crosley - sweet). I figure this would be a very nice first TT for her without going crazy.

All bulbs are burned out on the receiver (I broke one during disassembly). There are four bulbs - stereo indicator, tuning meter, and two bulbs to illuminate the station "dial". I found some info from another site that the indicator and meter bulbs are smaller "grain of wheat" 6.3V 50mA but I'm stumped on the larger station strip illumination bulbs. There's no sockets for any of the bulbs on the receiver. They look to be all directly wired from the factory (odd). I've been toying with the idea of wiring in sockets in case I ever need to switch them out again... or even swapping in some warm LEDs just to draw less current and keep things cool.

This is my first SS I've tinkered with... it looks to be very similar to Zenith Allegro models. The model number is K900p and I found ZERO schematics or info on the net regarding this one. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Lavane]

Cool white LED's would work. Or you could just solder some wire to some bayonet, or screw in bulbs and solder them in. I've done this with those wheat type bulbs by using glass fuse type lamps. I roughed up the ends of the fuse lamps with a bit of sand paper and soldered a bit of wire to each end and soldered them to the board. I would have replaced the wheat lamps, but I have a bag of various fuse lamps and I just used them.

 

[scupbucket]

Any advice on LEDs? I have a few wedge style handy from my pinball machine and wired one up... sucker was way too bright (even for this bulb) and the bulb housing around the resistors started melting. The LEDs are 6.3V so I'd imagine these require a different voltage than the indicator and meter?

 

[Lavane]

I would do a search on ebay for LED lights used to replace 6.3v bulbs in various brands of stereo equipment. Most I've used other than small 6.3v bi-pin bulbs, have been 8V. You can probably use 8v, but they may not be as bright? Pioneer used a push in and twist type bulb with a plastic base and I used a LED replacement that just plugged right in a Pioneer SX-780 receiver i had. They may fit that socket?, and just solder some wire to the contacts. LED's do have a tendency to be brighter though. Look for cool white LED's. I've used a few of those and they weren't as bright.

 

[scupbucket]

Thanks, Lavane!... I was lucky enough to find a rogue 12V 5smd warm white in the mix and wired it up... Seems like it works ok and I think this just might work. It didn't overheat or anything but I'm being a bit cautious right now since this is a "there I fixed it" remedy rather than understanding the numbers correctly. Being a 5smd it's way too bright but it'll be easy to back off the lumens and find something that can look more incandescent.

 

[50 Green]

AK member dgwojo is the go-to person for bulbs in audio gear. Email him from his website: www.dgwojo.com

 

[Skywatcher]

Hey everybody... I inherited a late 70s/early 80s Zenith turntable/8 track console in outstanding condition. I already rebuilt and tuned up the BSR. 8 track works like a champ. Not the highest end model by any means but my 12 year old daughter got introduced to vintage vinyl and she's obsessed (she wants absolutely nothing to do with Crosley - sweet). I figure this would be a very nice first TT for her without going crazy.

All bulbs are burned out on the receiver (I broke one during disassembly). There are four bulbs - stereo indicator, tuning meter, and two bulbs to illuminate the station "dial". I found some info from another site that the indicator and meter bulbs are smaller "grain of wheat" 6.3V 50mA but I'm stumped on the larger station strip illumination bulbs. There's no sockets for any of the bulbs on the receiver. They look to be all directly wired from the factory (odd). I've been toying with the idea of wiring in sockets in case I ever need to switch them out again... or even swapping in some warm LEDs just to draw less current and keep things cool.

This is my first SS I've tinkered with... it looks to be very similar to Zenith Allegro models. The model number is K900p and I found ZERO schematics or info on the net regarding this one. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

You'll more than likely find the service info in a Sam's Photofact. You need to know the voltages of the bulbs. My brother just rebuilt an old Zenith console (different model) and the FM stereo indicator bulb is a 28v .04a. The other bulbs were all good and weren't changed though so the voltages weren't looked at.

 

[Lavane]

You'll more than likely find the service info in a Sam's Photofact. You need to know the voltages of the bulbs. My brother just rebuilt an old Zenith console (different model) and the FM stereo indicator bulb is a 28v .04a. The other bulbs were all good and weren't changed though so the voltages weren't looked at.

Wow, that's kind of high compared to most I've found. They tended to be 6.3v running off the heater winding or a second 6.3v winding.

 

[Skywatcher]

Wow, that's kind of high compared to most I've found. They tended to be 6.3v running off the heater winding or a second 6.3v winding.

For Tube gear, yes. SS is a bit different. Being a 28v took me by surprise too, but that's what it is in this unit, and also in the schematic.

 

[Lavane]

For Tube gear, yes. SS is a bit different. Being a 28v took me by surprise too, but that's what it is in this unit, and also in the schematic.

Even SS i usually see 8v to 12v. 28v is a bit odd.

 

[Skywatcher]

Even SS i usually see 8v to 12v. 28v is a bit odd.

Well, we all know there are the "oddballs" here and there. I mean, look at me. On "average", most bulbs will be 6.3v to 12v. That's why @scupbucket should try and find the schematic for this particular Zenith chassis. Without a scat, a voltage check with a load of some kind, to see what the actual voltage is and go from there. The dial back lights being in a plastic housing would make me lean towards warm white LEDs to reduce the heat. You can always add a resistor to each to drop the voltage if necessary. And take note if the dial back light bulbs are in an (oddball) series, or parallel.

 

[moviola]

You can try https://www.jkllamps.com/incandescent

 

[scupbucket]

Thanks for all the help on this everyone! I searched everywhere for a manual/schematic, even Sam's, on this particular model and couldn't find zip... literally nothing. If anyone has any suggestions on what could be a similar model to search for I'd appreciate it. It looks like a few Allegro models might have used the same receiver?

After checking the old stereo indicator/meter lamps that I removed, I found they were heat-shrink wrapped at the bases factory marked as 6v. Sure enough it was easy to find replacements for those. The larger bulbs though I kind of punted. A 1smd 6.3v wedge was blinding and melted the resistors on the bulb. a 5smd 12v bulb seems to work really well but there's some led "strobe" effect that's noticeable. I'm going to try an 8v that I ordered to test out. That might be the oddball voltage?

 

[Skywatcher]

Thanks for all the help on this everyone! I searched everywhere for a manual/schematic, even Sam's, on this particular model and couldn't find zip... literally nothing. If anyone has any suggestions on what could be a similar model to search for I'd appreciate it. It looks like a few Allegro models might have used the same receiver?

After checking the old stereo indicator/meter lamps that I removed, I found they were heat-shrink wrapped at the bases factory marked as 6v. Sure enough it was easy to find replacements for those. The larger bulbs though I kind of punted. A 1smd 6.3v wedge was blinding and melted the resistors on the bulb. a 5smd 12v bulb seems to work really well but there's some led "strobe" effect that's noticeable. I'm going to try an 8v that I ordered to test out. That might be the oddball voltage?

Riders may have something. Anyways, the "flicker" with the 12v LED is because it is too high a voltage bulb and running on AC will cause the flicker. An 8v LED should work fine, and a diode added in circuit (diode cathode to LED cathode) would rectify the AC to DC and stop the flicker. Even though most people can't "see" a 60Hz flicker, it can irritate the eyes. If the LED seems too bright, just try a 220 Ohm resistor to see if it tames it down enough.

 

[Lavane]

Riders may have something. Anyways, the "flicker" with the 12v LED is because it is too high a voltage bulb and running on AC will cause the flicker. An 8v LED should work fine, and a diode added in circuit (diode cathode to LED cathode) would rectify the AC to DC and stop the flicker. Even though most people can't "see" a 60Hz flicker, it can irritate the eyes. If the LED seems too bright, just try a 220 Ohm resistor to see if it tames it down enough.

Some people do notice the flicker. I tend not to except for florescent lights. But as Skywalker stated, a cheap diode will work. I've replaced a few bulbs with LED's mounted on a small PCB with a diode and trim pot to adjust the brightness.

 

[Skywatcher]

Some people do notice the flicker. I tend not to except for florescent lights. But as Skywalker stated, a cheap diode will work. I've replaced a few bulbs with LED's mounted on a small PCB with a diode and trim pot to adjust the brightness.

I can see the flicker too. More easily with fluorescent lights. I was so glad when LED backlit flat screen TVs and computer monitors came out. I would get serious headaches from them. But I feel much better now.

 

[scupbucket]

Checking back in and adding some specs in case anyone is looking for more info on this model down the road... I finally found a schematic for this particular model (or at least something relatively close). I used the schematic for the Zenith J900P instead of the K900P (same chassis - 1WJR55). Looks to be an "economy" model offered around 1977-1979. Not sure if the prefixes J and K are trim variations? I'm guessing the J prefix designates Allegro models? The main difference I can tell from the schematics is I believe the 8-Track had recording capability on the J900P. Both models use 5.80v 144mA lamps for the 8-track program selector. The stereo indicator and AM/FM meter uses the same. The station indicator lamps are 11.3v 34mA lamps. As I mentioned before, I'm using 12v 5smd warm white LEDs and they look pretty good. The 6v warm white LEDs are a bit bright but my daughter likes them so I'm gonna leave it. Thanks everybody for all the help!

 

[Josh Bell]

Checking back in and adding some specs in case anyone is looking for more info on this model down the road... I finally found a schematic for this particular model (or at least something relatively close). I used the schematic for the Zenith J900P instead of the K900P (same chassis - 1WJR55). Looks to be an "economy" model offered around 1977-1979. Not sure if the prefixes J and K are trim variations? I'm guessing the J prefix designates Allegro models? The main difference I can tell from the schematics is I believe the 8-Track had recording capability on the J900P. Both models use 5.80v 144mA lamps for the 8-track program selector. The stereo indicator and AM/FM meter uses the same. The station indicator lamps are 11.3v 34mA lamps. As I mentioned before, I'm using 12v 5smd warm white LEDs and they look pretty good. The 6v warm white LEDs are a bit bright but my daughter likes them so I'm gonna leave it. Thanks everybody for all the help!

Where did you get the schematic for this. I need the same schematic. Thanks!