This may be a stupid question, but it’s not the first one I’ve ever asked and probably won’t be the last . . .

I’ve got a problem with a radio from 1953. The radio has a voltage reducer so it can run on 12V (like the rest of the truck) and recently just stopped working — no sound (not even static) and no light.

I’ve also got a battery charger with a 12V, 100 amp starting feature. My question is: can I use the battery charger to bench-test the radio?

My primary goal is to not start a fire. The secondary goal is to not create a bigger problem than I already have.

My plan is to simply look for a loose or broken connection so I don’t want to spend a lot of money buying a power supply. Anything more difficult than that I’m probably going to have to take in for repair.