Baygen Freeplay Radio Out of Business

Greetings Fellow Shortwave Listeners, some years ago, after listening to repeated commericials on Art Bell's late night talk show, Coast To Coast. I purchased the Baygen Freeplay Wind-up Radio.

I got plenty of good service from the Freeplay, and mine even came with an LED light that plugged into the back of the radio. As simple as it may have been, I fell in love with my Freeplay after experiencing a couple of serious power outages, due to severe weather.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to wind up my free play, and as I let the crank go, the radios crank spun wildly and the crank assembly screamed as if it was going to explode. My Freeplay was most definetly malfunctioning, and was not getting any power to the radio. On the back of the Baygen Freeplay, there is a very clear message stamped into the plastic of the rear cover, which clearly states; "Warning, this radio should only be opened by an authorized repair dealer"!

So with that information, I contacted the dealer from where I had purchased the radio, which was CCrane Company. They advised me that Baygen had gone out of business and the original Freeplay was no longer supported. In fact the Freeplay name is still out there under the name of Freeplay Plus, but the parts are no longer compatible.

At this point, I figured the trash was the next stop for my old Freeplay. I literally had my hand on it, and I was heading for the trash, when I thought...oh what the heck, I'll open it and take a look, maybe it's something that I can fix.

Well sure enough, after opening the radio. I found that a simple drive belt, probably worth two cents, had slipped of a drive wheel. I reset the belt, closed the radio, and presto!The radio worked.

So I got thinking, perhaps I could start up a support center on the web for old Freeplay Radios, so...I did!

If anyone is interested in reading up on their Freeplay, you can visit my section, on the Northern Illinois Radio Portal at

NIRP

I contacted CCrane, and they are sending me a users manual, and I should be able to post a schematic for the Freeplay soon.

I'm also interested in obtaining broken Freeplays for spare parts that I can store for folks who may need them. If anyone would like to donate older freeplay radios that are beyond repair, contact me off board.

Gene
KB9WGV

 

Good Luck. It sounds like a worthy adventure to keep a good product working, to keep the rest of us in contact with SWL in case of a disaster.

B Woodman
kc7jds

 

Lead on fellow Ham! any idea why the company went outta business? Be looking for your next post on this radio! 73's Tom KD7ZOS

 

Thanks for your support! Unfortunately, I have no idea why they went out of business. I managed to get a users manual for the Freeplay from CCrane, but there was not a schematic. I guess Baygen did not want anyone inside of the radio at all. So I guess my next step is draw one or photograph the inside of the radio.

 

The story I had always heard on the inventor of Baygen, was that he was on a missions trip to Africa and was astounded at the lack of radios in the villages, many of which do not have electricity and therefore, had little to no access to the "outside" world.

Being a tinkerer at heart, he develoved the clockwork spring mechanism to drive a little dynamo, hence powering a very efficient receiver. Helped that he put a solar cell on the top of most models.

Was a great idea. Sorry to hear it is now defunk.

 

Question about the operation of a Baygen- the wind-up mechanism of my radio is not smooth. It goes for a second, then slows. Then goes, then slows. It seems to run all the way until the spring is unwound, but shouldn't the mechanism operate smoothly and continuously? I thought about opening it and oiling the spring and greasing the gears, but I'm not sure that's the correct thing to do. Thoughts? Thanks, -KR4WM

 

I've seen some of these other wind up radios. I think some are even sold in costco. They are not like the original freeplay where it would store energy in a spring. Instead they make you crank for a minute which stores the energy in a battery.

 

Yes, Baygen went out of business... but Freeplay is NOT out of business. Don't confuse the two, they are different companies.
In fact, Freeplay currently makes many many different types of hand-cranked radios, hand-cranked lights, and hand-crank chargers for batteries and cell phones. Some of the hand chargers are great for charging up ham gear, such as HTs. You can see a AM/FM/Shortwave crank radio and some crank charging products on the
CCRANE.COM Website

.

 

No one (especially a ham) should fear opening an electrical or mechanical device to attempt a repair (warranty coverage excepted).  You did the right thing opening that sucker up and scoping it out.  It's amazing how often how often devices go dead for them most simple and basic reasons.  Simple fixes 9 out of 10 times.

By your description, I thought a drive spring had broken.  I've many times repaired the drive spring in a Victrola record player my sister owns.  Nothing to it once you learn how.  

Then I remembered that your radio utilizes a generator and stores the energy in the battery rather than in a spring.  Duh!  

 

Sounds like we have a real ham here.

Good luck in your venture. Keep us apprised as to how well you are doing.

Regards,



Fred, WB4AEJ

 

Good question, my Freeplay seems to run pretty smoothly,but it slows just so slightly during the unwinding process. But if you decide to open your up, heres what I found out.

The main spring and gear box are contained in two different compartments, side by side in a large oval plastic housing. Do be careful when handling the spring, as you know it can be under a lot of tension. But I did'nt have a tough time myself keeping the spring contained when I was working on the radio.

The main spring is connected to a simple shaft that transits to the gear box, which contains, a large gear that drives a smaller gear and drive wheel attached to a simple rubber belt that drives the generator. The gear most definetly was well oiled.

The hardest part on my radio was remounting the belt to the generator and closing up the housing.

 

This is more of a CYA on Baygen's part.  The spring is the "danger" here and is quite powerful.  The Baygens I have use a motor, specifically a portable Tape/CD motor in reverse as a generator.  Neither use batteries and must have the motor spin to work. The crank transfers a flat leaf spring from one spool to another. This spring is then unwound via gear train to a motor pressed into service as a generator. In the newer versions there is that pesky belt.

But I'm curious.  Is Baygen out of business or are they simply operating under the name FREEPLAY?  The Freeplay company appears to still be in business and is making products with other companies such as Motorola (The FREECHARGE Mobile cell charger) and a number of different types of flashlights from varying partners, as well as radios.

(BTW I bought my radios off eBay for a fraction of the C.Crane cost.)

 

I had an expensive turntable from the 1970's that quit working one day. Opened it up and it was just a rubber belt that cost me $7 to replace. I was very lucky to find the parts.

I guess it just runs in our blood. Great job!

 

I did more than my share of "exploratory dsassemblies" in my youth... Sometimes I even got the gizmoids put back together in working condition.

 

According to way CCRANE told me, they had gone out of business. In todays world that means more than one thing. Going out of business can mean, closed the doors, sold the patent, sold the business etc etc.

The main thrust of my article was to gather information and parts on the old Baygens to keep them running. As I had seen done by other HAM clubs,such as HAMs who collect Collins, Hallicrafters, Swan and other radios. I guess I view the old Baygen Freeplay as another boat anchor of our time period! I love the old table tops, and would like to see them around for a few more years.

But the like I said (and another poster said), the Freeplay name is still out there under "Freeplay Plus", still sold by CCrane.