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General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc. |
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25th Mar 2021, 2:38 pm | #301 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Biggin Hill, London, UK.
Posts: 5,208
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Re: Bodges
Quote:
As for different floors being on different phases there is a possibly apocryphal story of a student who needed 3 phase mains to run a vintage computer. He discovered that each floors of his hall of residence was connected to a different phase, so he ran extension leads out of the window to the rooms above and below. |
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25th Mar 2021, 4:05 pm | #302 | |
Nonode
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Warsaw, Poland and Cambridge, UK
Posts: 2,677
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Re: Bodges
Quote:
Chris
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25th Mar 2021, 5:27 pm | #303 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 13,996
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Re: Bodges
Quote:
In such applications it's also not unusual to find the 'live' pins and fuses have been replaced by neutral-pins scavenged from other plugs, as a way to avoid pesky fuse-blowing-when-your-welding-rod-sticks-to-the-workpiece. |
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25th Mar 2021, 6:21 pm | #304 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: North Wales, UK.
Posts: 6,916
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Re: Bodges
Same at the Students' Union when I was there - lighting rig run from two extension leads - not my doing! I found out when one hadn't been fully uncoiled and had melted...
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25th Mar 2021, 7:40 pm | #305 | |
Heptode
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Portland, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 874
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Re: Bodges
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25th Mar 2021, 11:07 pm | #306 |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 18,711
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Re: Bodges
I once went to commission an SiS TV system in a betting shop. It was two shops knocked through into one, and building work was ongoing.
I pretty much sussed out what the problem was as soon as I walked through the door. There was an almighty hum on the speakers and asynchronous hum-bars on all the TV monitors. The satellite receiver and decoder was plugged in to the supply of the original shop, and the audio amp, video & audio distribution amps and all the TVs were on the "new" side, on a different phase. I ran an extension lead to power the satellite kit temporarily, and left them to sort things out.
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26th Mar 2021, 9:13 pm | #307 |
Hexode
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Hohenroda, Eastern Hesse, Germany
Posts: 460
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Re: Bodges
In the house where I live now (built 1959 by my granddad) originally there were six fuses: Three (all phases) for an kitchen oven wired for 380V 3ph, and three other ones for basement, ground floor and first floor. Every floor wired on a separate phase.
So far, so good. Once upon a bright and sunny day my granddad hat the great idea that it would be fine if he were able to switch on the yard light from his living room, too, and not only from the basement. So he installed a switch and some wiring as he thought was necessary. On my next visit some days later I was told that d**n light did not work, these new light bulbs were scrap and always would die rapidly with a flash. I asked him how he had wired it up and yes, I tried it with a new 100 W bulb: It literally exploded! Exposed to the 380 V he had wired it up that was no wonder, at least to me.... |
29th Mar 2021, 12:54 pm | #308 |
Pentode
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: Weymouth, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 135
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Re: Bodges
Twin 13 amp sockets are unless specifically stated rated for 20 amps max load more than this may cause overheating or worse. I remember years ago going up to portland to install an armored cable into a Portacabin which was to be fed from a DB in another outbuilding. When I opened it up I was surprised to see yellow and black cables going into the neutral bar andblue and red for the phases to 2 sets of circuit breakers I had to look twice and did some testing but it seems someone decided to double up on the neutral. The main building had a conventional 415 volt 3 phase supply weird huh?
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7th May 2021, 5:41 pm | #309 |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 18,711
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Re: Bodges
This image went viral on the Internet some years ago. No doubt a hotel room somewhere in the UK. Who knows, maybe I wired that plug when I worked for Granada in the big hotels in the centre of Manchester?
I'm talking about the plug on the right!
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-- Graham. G3ZVT |
7th May 2021, 6:13 pm | #310 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Oxford, UK.
Posts: 4,980
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Re: Bodges
Thinking of hotel rooms, when I was acting as chauffeur taking our daughter around Universities when she was 18, we stayed in a hotel in Cardiff. Unfortunately the next room to mine must have had a fault with the bathroom extractor fan. It had clearly run full tilt for heaven knows how long, the bearings were shot and it was making a real racket.
Now I find it very difficult to sleep when there is a noise like that. However, I reasoned that the two rooms might be on the same breaker, so I took the lamp out of the socket above my bed, wrapped a teaspoon (from the courtesy coffee tray) in a towel, shoved it in the socket and turned it on. At which point - glorious silence! Slept like a baby. Next morning of course the next door room occupants remonstrated with the management about no power. He reset the breaker, voicing confusion about why it could possibly have tripped, and Grrrrrrr-grrrrr-... the knackered fan started up again. I can be a bit of an animal at times. Craig |
7th May 2021, 6:15 pm | #311 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
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Re: Bodges
Quite safe, it is a switched socket after all. And they had the presence of mind to interpose an insulator twixt the conductors. 10/10 for ingenuity. Other opinions I am keeping to myself.
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9th May 2021, 12:19 am | #312 |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 18,711
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Re: Bodges
Hotels, oh yes, I was staying in a Premier Inn on business and noticed that the big industrial conveyor-belt toaster in the breakfast room was plugged into an extension reel behind the table cloth that was still largely coiled up. It was hotter than the toast!
I summoned the maƮtre d', and expressed my concern.
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9th May 2021, 1:11 am | #313 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,553
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Re: Bodges
Quote:
A choice of two sets came up |
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9th May 2021, 12:27 pm | #314 |
Pentode
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: Weymouth, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 135
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Re: Bodges
A few years ago my bank in Weymouth was being re modelled and because it was winter they had electric radiators in some of the offices like the one where you go to find out how little money you've left! Anyhow I saw the heater was plugged in to a 4 way extension lead along with the computer and related bits the lead was practically melted I told them how dangerous that was and moved it to the floor where thankfully it remained until no longer needed.
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