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Friday, July 27, 2018

An Old School Digital Multimeter (DMM) - Updated

For those not aware, I'm getting up there in age.  But right now I'd like to talk about multimeters.  Specifically Digital Multimeters, sometimes abbreviated as DMMs.  And yes - my age and multimeters are related to one another.

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Old-Time Capacitor Tear-down

I had a couple of the original electrolytic capacitors from the Eico 950B remaining on the bench after replacing them with more modern capacitors.

It's important to replace these older capacitors, because they can either partially short, overloading your circuit with excess current, or completely short, potentially causing a fire.

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Zenith K526W Update #3 - Final

Prior posts about this radio are linked below:
Initial Inspection
Capacitor replacement
Successful Power-up

It's completed, and it works.  The tuning cord finally arrived, and I was able to string it properly.  Now I can listen to conspiracy radio and Spanish radio!

Hot Water - not!

No, I'm not in trouble... at least no more so than usual.

Friday, July 20, 2018

Heathkit V-7 Vacuum Tube Voltmeter

I bought this cute little guy for $10.  It's a vacuum tube voltmeter.  It can measure AC and DC voltages up to 1500 Volts, and can also measure resistance.

Sunday, July 08, 2018

Eico 950B Capacitor Tester - and bridge circuit explained

I mentioned earlier that I had purchased a Capacitor Tester from an online auction, in this post.

Zenith K526W - Update #2

The vacuum tubes finally arrived.  According to the seller, all of the vacuum tubes tested good.  I've no reason to doubt that.  Tubes fail less frequently than the power cord or capacitors.  If anything, a failed capacitor usually takes out a tube.

Thursday, July 05, 2018

The Kiluea Eruption of 2018 and the Puna Power Plant

I intend to update this post quite a bit, but for now I'm just going to put up this cool Google Maps link showing the lava flow around the Puna Geothermal Power Plant, also known as the Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV)