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Cobra 86 XLR Power Cord
- Thread starter Bobster79
- Start date
Kens has everything, and if you don't see it listed then give them a call. They have a lot of inventory that is not on their website.
AC & DC Power Cord Cable Plugs Connectors Jacks Sockets for Vintage Radio Electronic Equipment. Kalamazoo, Michigan
Amateur Ham Radio & Marine Radio Power Connectors. CB Citizens Band Radio Power Cords, Plugs for Vintage Antique Radios are available at reasonable prices from Kens Electronics, (Wholesale & Retail Electrical Electronic Repair Parts) Kalamazoo, Michigan.
www.kenselectronics.com
It doesn't look like anything special, just a 2 wire A/C power cord.
The 86XLR is a Toshiba-made radio. The six-pin power socket is used for both 12 Volt DC and 120 VAC input. If Ken doesn't have it you'll be stuck with punching a hole for a proper bushing to hard wire a 120-Volt cord to it.
That cord was hard to find when the radio was only five or ten years old. Back then every TV with a removeable back had an interlock cord clipped to the back panel. Remove the panel and it unplugs. A cord that would fit the socket was called a "cheater" cord since it would circumvent the safety feature.
They came in two flavors. One had a larger-diameter pin for the neutral and a skinny one for the hot side of the outlet. The wall plug on the other end had one blade of the plug wider than the other. This was meant to keep the 'hot' side of the wall outlet from connecting to the TV's chassis. Lame, but there it is.
A so-called "non-polarized" cord had two round pins the same diameter. A TV that had a transformer in it to isolate the wall outlet from the metal chassis inside didn't need the polarized plug, and the socket on the rear of the TV chassis had two pins the same diameter.
THAT cheater cord would span the two 120-Volt pins on the Toshiba 6-pin socket. But if you plugged it into the WRONG two pins, you got either shock hazard or a kaboom. 120 Volts AC connected to the radio's 12-Volt input was instantly fatal.
40 years later, that "non-polarized cheater" cord is as obsolete, dead and gone as the 6-pin cord the radio came with.
Probably just as well.
73
That cord was hard to find when the radio was only five or ten years old. Back then every TV with a removeable back had an interlock cord clipped to the back panel. Remove the panel and it unplugs. A cord that would fit the socket was called a "cheater" cord since it would circumvent the safety feature.
They came in two flavors. One had a larger-diameter pin for the neutral and a skinny one for the hot side of the outlet. The wall plug on the other end had one blade of the plug wider than the other. This was meant to keep the 'hot' side of the wall outlet from connecting to the TV's chassis. Lame, but there it is.
A so-called "non-polarized" cord had two round pins the same diameter. A TV that had a transformer in it to isolate the wall outlet from the metal chassis inside didn't need the polarized plug, and the socket on the rear of the TV chassis had two pins the same diameter.
THAT cheater cord would span the two 120-Volt pins on the Toshiba 6-pin socket. But if you plugged it into the WRONG two pins, you got either shock hazard or a kaboom. 120 Volts AC connected to the radio's 12-Volt input was instantly fatal.
40 years later, that "non-polarized cheater" cord is as obsolete, dead and gone as the 6-pin cord the radio came with.
Probably just as well.
73
The only thing I can find on it is that the RCA T09801BC CRT TV used the same plug. I did find reference to how RCA wired it, but that doesn't mean cobra did it the same way.
edit: RCA used part # 242865 for their AC cord, but I cant find one for sale
edit: RCA used part # 242865 for their AC cord, but I cant find one for sale
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If you can find a "non-polarized cheater" cord, it goes onto the side with two pins. The side with 3 pins is for DC power. I have seen a 2-wire cord stripped and each wire lap-soldered to the socket pins with heat shrink slid over the connections. There's nothing to relieve strain if the cord gets jerked or pulled on, so I don't recommend it.
73
73
There is a report of a guy with that TV using that plug that was able to use the regular two pin cord on just the side with the 2 AC pins
Here is the thread, you have to read through the comments and click to view the replies to see this
Wouldn't be the first RCA-branded product built by Hitachi. Console stereos from the 70s with the RCA brand were built by Hitachi.
Makes it sound as if Hitachi used the same pinout for a range of products. Don't know any other vendor who used that plug.
73
Makes it sound as if Hitachi used the same pinout for a range of products. Don't know any other vendor who used that plug.
73
there were comments I came across where people saw these used in boats and cars, but I cannot confirm that. At least the 2-pin version should work (if in fact they used the side with 2 pins for AC as you said).
Edit: you are probably right in that it is the same two for AC as used in the TV. If they used a manufactured socket, they probably used the same manufactured cord that goes with it, so yea, all should be good.
Yep and I found this for that TV while searching.
supposedly, the regular 2 pin cord fits in the AC side