SANGEAN PR-D5 crackling noise? A Quick Fix for loose batteries

My Sangean PR-D5 mini-boombox pulling in a station from Redding, California during the Solar Eclipse, August 21st, 2017. 

One night last week I switched on my Sangean PR-D5, which -- as many of my readers know -- is an excellent mini-boombox that has great FM sound in stereo and pulls in stations like crazy on MW/AM. I listen to mine every night while writing. Usually I have it on the AC adaptor plug, but sometimes I use the batteries only.

This particular night, when I switched on the radio and plugged in my headphones there was a crackling noise. Then it would stop. Then it would start again. It seemed to happen when I moved the radio. At the time I only had batteries in the radio.

Curious, I tapped on the back of the battery door.

Crackle! Crackle! Crackle!

I opened the battery door and saw that the batteries were a little askew. Straightening them caused more crackling noises. Thinking that it solved the problem, I shut the battery lid. I continued DXing. Every now and then there was a crackle. Then I tapped the back of the battery lid.

Crackle!

I opened the battery lid and took a look at the batteries. They were all C cells -- true. But they weren't all the same exact size! One brand was a tiny bit narrower than the other brand.

I decided to try a shim inside the battery compartment, to keep the batteries from shifting around.

Two white plastic shims, cut from a large protein bottle lid, got rid of the crackle from battery movement inside my radio. If you shift the shims aside from each other, the battery door will close securely without having to force it.

SHIMS CUT OUT FROM A LARGE BOTTLE LID

I found a big empty protein powder bottle in my recycle bin and grabbed the top and made a couple small shims, using hand-held pruning shears (scissors weren't tough enough to cut the plastic). I placed the shims in the back of the batteries, and then I shut the door over the batteries and the shims.

Problem solved.

Sometimes if I tap on the back of the radio hard enough, I'll still get some battery noises. But moving the radio around (which you do when DXing the MW/AM band, to 'null out' stations) I'll don't get noises. I suppose some foam would work, but the shims do the job well enough.

Cutting shims from a protein powder bottle lid. The plastic is a bit too stiff for scissors, so I used a pair of handheld pruning shears. Two shims did the trick. You may have to experiment with the size of shims to get it right. I cut three of them, and chose the best two of them -- to hold the batteries tight, but not stress the battery compartment door too much.

BATTERIES AREN'T ALL THE SAME EXACT SIZE

The problem isn't the radio -- it's modern day C cells (and batteries in general) -- they all aren't the same exact dimensions. Some are a half-millimeter or two longer or wider than others -- or for other reasons different brands of batteries don't sit well next to each other (the positive tips being flattened in some brands, and more pointed in other brands; some brands have flat bottoms, others have indentations in the bottom, etc.).

This quick fix for movement crackling noise probably works with other battery powered radios also.

Bagpipes and Turkey go together quite well! And football -- don't forget football.

THANKSGIVING

Right now it is raining out. Halloween has long passed, and it's the start of the Thanksgiving holiday. I plan to go to a relative's house in the northern suburbs of Seattle (affectionately known as the North End), and have dinner. I will take my bagpipes with me and will probably play for the family, as I often do on holidays. When I started out in piping long ago, I played in a band, but those days are long gone. Now I play for my family, or just play at home.

For the past week or so, it's been raining a lot. I still ride my bicycle for exercise, but riding a bike in the rain sure gets you wet! November seems to be our rainiest month -- and stormiest month, for some reason. The leaves are still orange on some of the trees, but most of them are gone by now. :-(

The cottonwood trees had a nice yellow glow during mid-Autumn. The leaves are nearly all gone by now -- washed away by rain and wind. :-(

MW DX season has had good nights and bad nights. Mostly it's been fair to poor -- the band has been dropping off early in the morning, instead of hanging on until late morning as it usually should during the Winter. One day around 2 p.m. I was hearing a few of the stronger stations from Eastern Washington -- which was unusual. But so far, no fantastic MW DX catches.

One of my Halloween pumpkins this year. I will post a Halloween / Autumn pictures blog post soon.

Here's hoping those of you in the Northern Hemisphere are having a great start to Winter, and those in the Southern Reaches of planet Earth are having a great Spring.