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Unknown device bought from antique shop

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spitso

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Hi there my dad just bought me this ......device, which we had no idea what it was. Ive been playing around with it and i believe its an old fashioned benchtop power supply.

The switches on top have effect on voltage, but the labels are incorrect by couple volts or so.
The knob in middle (Not the needle, that isnt electronic it just spins lose) has 3 points which i connected ammeter and change from off to 0amps to 0.11 amps to 16+amps.

The buttons below i've got no clue what they are.

Just wondering if anyone can clarify what this device is and if possible guidelines on how to use it.

thank-you
 

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It's a homemade multi-function device, you're a bit stuffed unless you have the original circuit he used.

But amongst many things, it looks to be an LCR bridge.
 
It's a flux capacitor. You can go back in time with it, but you need 1.21 gigawatts.
 
From the TV show "Lost". This must be the thing that made him so fat.
 
A Hurley is probably the person that made it.
 
Appears like a LCR bridge.
Definitively whoever built it, spent a lot of time on it.

I've got an idea...open it up, take some pictures inside and share with us here.
 
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You sure you want to see this from the back? I believe he's holding the expander.

**broken link removed**
 
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I think thats a 'Hershey' expander. Mmmm, chocolate, My favorite.:)


A single one is not so effective though. You need bunches and they need to be used daily for some time to get the most noticeable results! ;):D
 
ooooohhh soo thats what it is....hahah

attached are some of the pictures of inside the unit.

2 transformers inside, with multitap windings. no ic's seem to be present.
 

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It's a student project LCR bridge with a built in wein bridge sine oscillator. I have a very similar one here but less options on it, mine is one a student didn't pick up at the end of their electronics course, it's from the mid '70s. The students have to put their names on them.

Your unit seems to be Aussie made too. :) The label/dial on that one looks similar to mine, it has been photgraphically developed probably using the same classroom equipment as used to make circuit boards.

The knob in the middle should be a pot, and the pointer line should be glued to the pot.

Funny mine has a little peaking panel meter used to detect the resonance (ie when testing LCR) does that one have just a LED??

I've got a bad feeling that yours has been butchered, the 2 transformers bit does not seem right, neither does the 240v mains receptacle on the rear, and if the main pot has been replaced with a 3 position rotary switch than the whole thing might just have been "converted" to be something crude like a DC power supply.

If it still has the wein oscillator there will probably be a tiny "grain of wheat" light bulb inside in the oscillator section.
 
Funny mine has a little peaking panel meter used to detect the resonance (ie when testing LCR) does that one have just a LED??

There's a couple of jacks for a meter on the left there, maybe that's where the peaking meter goes. Sounds like you have the best guess so far. If spitso doesn't have a scope, could he at least get the wein bridge oscillator to beep a speaker?
 
I think you should keep it.

It might need calibration and recapping but once you get it working it will be a great piece of test equipment.
 
so im guessing i should just think of it as a AC/DC powersupply with current producing of 0, 0.11 and 14amps. Still wondering what the push buttons are down the bottom.
 
A DC power supply? This thing would be more useful as a signal generator (if the weinbridge osc is still thumpin'). If you need a power supply, you can rig one of those together easier than one of these (an LCR bridge with osc).

Anyway, that output might have a sinewave on it, and your meter is just showing a DC offset. Can you put a scope on it?
 
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