Andy's archaic analog electrical test equipment

[AndyD]

I know this is polluting the thread with a digital tester but here's a side by side taste test of ammeters. The Fluke rubbish on the left was purchased less than ten years ago so by comparison it's a spring chicken. It melted in the back of my car in Maputo 3 years after I bought it. The case distorted to the point it was unusable, what you see below is after a repair with a heat gun to get it back to a point where the batteries stayed in place and the clamp ends met in the middle again. Next to it is an analogue ammeter that was purchased 15 years previous to the Fluke and is still passing calibration tests today.

[AndyD]

Here's the last one for the week. I'm not going to tell you what it is but you're welcome to guess. Answers next week

[bergie]

megger?

[Justloadit]

Watt/Power meter?

[ians]

athingymabob?

they must have saved that thingymabob on the ark, because it has 2 screens

[Leecatt]

I also have an old meter which I pull out to show off now and again. In the picture I am measuring a 600 ohm resister and it is still spot on.
The meter is an Avometer Model 8 Mk 3, probably from around the late fifties, early sixties.

[mikilianis]

I remember those old Avometersblew a few of them up measuring volts when in the ohm select position

[AndyD]

That Avo is a beauty Leecatt, they're a work of art. I had one many years ago when I lived in Europe but it got mislaid between countries along with my old Mega tester with the winding handle

If you ever decide to part with it I'd like first dibs if I may.

The tester pictured in my last post is called a Vibrometer. Built in the USA in the 30's or 40's it's what was commonly called a Hi-Pot tester which is similar to a modern day mega tester. That particular model has a DC voltmeter and ammeter bult in as well, hence the two meter gauges on it. It's the only tester I own that I don't use. The internal capacitors and transformer which form part of the HV inverter system are badly deteriorated as is the cotton-wrap insulated wiring and I've never had enough nerve (or enough of a deathwish) to put 300A DC through it either to test the ammeter.

[AndyD]

Okay, enough of the golden oldies for now, I'm starting to feel my age.

Here's a relative spring chicken that even the youngsters on the forum should recognise.



This is a very accurate cable fault locator. It's the more civilised and gentlemanly option to 'blowing the fault' which I heard about a few weeks ago right here. The last time I used it was on a 70 meter cable run and it was accurate to within 1.5 meters in pinpointing a fault.