原创 An autopsy of 1953 RCA VoltOhmyst

 2014-4-11 16:52  1528 22 22 分类: 消费电子

I am a young'un, being only in my early 30s. That is why I wasn't familiar with the VoltOhmyst. I have to be honest, I bought this thing purely because the name amused me. It was only $15, so even if it is only ever an interesting conversation piece, it was worth it.

The RCA VoltOhmyst wv-97A

The 1953 RCA WV-97A VoltOhmyst is a meter that is considered "service-grade." This means it works well enough, but it isn't a precision instrument.

Senior!

The top two dials are fine adjustment, while the bottom two switch modes.

This unit has been used for sure. The worn face is a testament to that.

Let's open this baby up!

Simple and plain construction. I like the integrated power cord storage.

ID sticker located on the inside of the case.

The internals of the unit removed from the case. You can see the calibration system here on the back.

Looking up at the bottom of the unit. A bank of resistors in wax sleeves are visible on the mode dial.

The precision resistors are seen here encased in wax sleeves. These allow for you to switch between different circuits as you switch modes.

Looking downward at the top of the unit. I doubt that this battery is from 1953.

Look closely toward the center-right of this image. There is a yellow wire that has been clipped. This combined with the newer battery being soldered in place and some random electrical tape make me believe this has been repaired at some point in the past.

Look closely towards the centre-right of this image. There is a yellow wire that has been clipped. This combined with the newer battery being soldered in place and some random electrical tape make me believe this has been repaired at some point in the past.

Soldering iron burn on the brown wire?

Fine adjustment on one of the modes.

I'd say this is an interesting piece of history to keep around. I don't know that I have enough of a use for it to bother replacing the caps so that I could fire it up.

I was able to find the manual for this unit. Like most manuals of the time, it includes calibration instructions as well as a full schematic. You can download it here if you want, but it is a rather large pdf file at almost 30MB. That should help if I do decide to make any repairs!

Caleb Kraft, Chief Community Editor, EE Times