Repair Shop - got it wrong

Harry Bloomfield

Harry Bloomfield

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Just watching the Repair Shop, and the guy checking the train set power supply, got it wrong yet again. He often does...

He put a voltmeter across the output of a mains to 12v, variable train speed output to go to the track. He claimed it only showed either zero, or full 12v output, and it was therefore faulty, in need of repair. No it doesn't, the speed control is a rheostat, a variable resistor - with no load on it, it will only show zero or full volts.
 
I didn't see the show, but the output of a serviceable variable transformer is a variable 0-12v. The voltmeter is the load.
 
Doug99 said:
I didn't see the show, but the output of a serviceable variable transformer is a variable 0-12v. The voltmeter is the load.
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They don't use anything as sophisticated as a variable transformer - just a mains to 12v, followed by a rectifier, then a rheostat, with a fancy switch, to reverse the polarity. The voltmeter would have been a negligible load, compared to a train. This was a 1950's Triang transformer, though the train set might have been Hornby - it had a metal track bed, with a live centre rail. The Triang I had, back then, used the two live rail system, with the two supported by plastic sleepers.
 
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I applied to have my Space invaders machine fixed on the program.

Watch this space.
 
My former boss David, who is a fascinating man in his own right, took his Grandfather's wire cutters (acquired from a German) at the Battle of the Somme onto that show for restoration.
 
kingandy2nd said:
Sorry for the FB link, but you can watch it without a log in:

Видео

www.facebook.com www.facebook.com
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Call it fate, if you like, but i like the fact those wire cutters were in reach so he could cut himself free....and go on to survive the war to open an Ironmongers shop. It's always the story that sells artifacts like that, and that one is right up there. I don't watch the show as usually it's grandma's teddy bear and Jay Blades trying to coax out a tear for camera, but thanks for posting that segment.(y)
 
Odds said:
Call it fate, if you like, but i like the fact those wire cutters were in reach so he could cut himself free....and go on to survive the war to open an Ironmongers shop. It's always the story that sells artifacts like that, and that one is right up there. I don't watch the show as usually it's grandma's teddy bear and Jay Blades trying to coax out a tear for camera, but thanks for posting that segment.(y)
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It's the mechanical and electronic stuff I like to see the repair of, the difference between this show and other shows, is that we hear the comments of the person doing the repair, rather than a narrator. The narrators, often, get the technical details so very wrong. The experts, I do expect to get it right.
 
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