5 Oct
2010
5 Oct
'10
3:48 p.m.
Hello,
there is a tu55 DecTape at ebay item 260670657286.
I'm quite surprised - this is the second tu55 within four weeks. I've
never seen any on ebay before.
I'm not associated with the seller.
--
5 Oct
5 Oct
4:15 p.m.
On 10/5/10, Andreas Holz <aswood at t-online.de> wrote:
Hello,
there is a tu55 DecTape at ebay item 260670657286.
How bizarre - 110VAC at 50Hz. Must have been intended to be run off
of a step-down transformer.
I'm quite surprised - this is the second tu55
within four weeks. I've
never seen any on ebay before.
I don't recall seeing too many for sale either.
-ethan
4:28 p.m.
From: Ethan Dicks
Sent: Tuesday, October 05, 2010 1:15 PM
On 10/5/10, Andreas Holz <aswood at
t-online.de>> wrote:
> Hello,
> there is a tu55 DecTape at ebay item 260670657286.
How bizarre - 110VAC at 50Hz. Must have been intended
to be run off
of a step-down transformer.
What's bizarre about it? It's being sold in Germany. DEC sold a lot of
gear that would run 50Hz (most of the world) or 60Hz (US and Japan).
Rich Alderson
Vintage Computing Sr. Server Engineer
Vulcan, Inc.
505 5th Avenue S, Suite 900
Seattle, WA 98104
mailto:RichA at vulcan.com
mailto:RichA at LivingComputerMuseum.org
http://www.PDPplanet.org/
http://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/
4:35 p.m.
On 10/5/10, Rich Alderson <RichA at vulcan.com> wrote:
Because it's 110VAC/50Hz, not 220VAC/50Hz.
I know it's being sold in Germany - the 50Hz is not odd there, the 110VAC is.
-ethan
How bizarre -
110VAC at 50Hz. Must have been intended to be run off
of a step-down transformer.
What's bizarre about it? It's being sold in Germany. DEC sold a lot of
gear that would run 50Hz (most of the world) or 60Hz (US and Japan).
5:40 p.m.
From: Ethan Dicks
Sent: Tuesday, October 05, 2010 1:35 PM
On 10/5/10, Rich Alderson <RichA at vulcan.com> wrote:
>> How bizarre - 110VAC at 50Hz. Must have been
intended to be run off
>> of a step-down transformer.
> What's bizarre about it? It's being sold
in Germany. DEC sold a lot of
> gear that would run 50Hz (most of the world) or 60Hz (US and Japan).
Because it's 110VAC/50Hz, not 220VAC/50Hz.
I know it's being sold in Germany - the 50Hz is
not odd there, the 110VAC is.
Oops.
1 huge latte isn't enough, I guess.
Thanks for pointing this out so gently. Now I'm pulling the covers back over
my head.
5:55 p.m.
Rich Alderson [RichA at vulcan.com] wrote:
From: Ethan Dicks
Sent: Tuesday, October 05, 2010 1:35 PM
On 10/5/10, Rich Alderson <RichA at vulcan.com> wrote:
I can't speak for Germany but in the UK 110V/50Hz is often used in
factories
and building sites etc. (on building sites look for those
car-battery-sized-ish
yellow transformer boxes).
Not that I'd necessarily expect to see a TU55 on a building site (or
even on
a factory floor) but the voltage/frequency combination is not actually
outlandish.
Antonio
arcarlini at iee.org
>> How bizarre - 110VAC at 50Hz. Must have
been intended to be run
>> off of a step-down transformer.
> What's bizarre about it? It's being
sold in Germany. DEC sold a
> lot of gear that would run 50Hz (most of the world) or 60Hz (US and
> Japan).
Because it's 110VAC/50Hz, not 220VAC/50Hz.
I know it's being sold in Germany - the 50Hz
is not odd there, the
110VAC is.
Oops.
1 huge latte isn't enough, I guess.
Thanks for pointing this out so gently. Now I'm pulling the covers
back over my head. 
6 Oct
6 Oct
2:27 p.m.
I can't speak for Germany but in the UK 110V/50Hz
is often used in
factories
and building sites etc. (on building sites look for those
car-battery-sized-ish
yellow transformer boxes).
I seem to remember that it's a legal requirement that portable power
tools (things like electtic drills) used on building site have to be
110V, run from an isoalting transformer. The output of the transformer is
acutally centre-tapped to earth (it's 55-0-55V AC), so in the event of
insualtion breakdown, the worst shock you can receive is 55V, which is
unlikely to be fatal.
Not that I'd necessarily expect to see a TU55 on a building site (or
even on
a factory floor) but the voltage/frequency combination is not actually
outlandish.
As I mentioned, there is a differnece between the output of those
transformers and normal US mains. The fornmer has the centre tap
gorudned, the later has one side grounded. Most equipment shouldn't mind
about that (and I suspect the TU55 is OK), but I have seen sensitive
analogue measuring equipment with different transformer primary wiring
for centre-tapped-to-ground and one-side-groudned mains. Apparently it
slightly reduces noise pickup.
Having got one of those transformers to run portable power tools, one of
the first things I did was make up a cable with a US socket on one end
and a plug to fit the trasnformer output (I still call it BS4343, I
can;'t rememebr the CEN number) on the other. Very useful for testing US
main adapters, etc.
It's not a TU55, I know, but the PC04 and PC05 all had 110V motors in the
punches. The ones sold in Europe were designed to run on 50Hz mains (I
don;t know if there's a pulley/belt change, or if like the HP2748 reader
they just ran slower over here), and came with a step-down transformer.
-tony
5 Oct
5 Oct
4:36 p.m.
In article <4CAB8103.1020708 at t-online.de>,
Andreas Holz <aswood at t-online.de> writes:
I'm quite surprised - this is the second tu55
within four weeks. I've
never seen any on ebay before.
I believe its called a Poisson distribution. The common expression is
"when it rains, it pours".
On ebay a successful sale of an item will often prod other owners of the
same item to list theirs shortly after the first sale. Ironically the
sellers see the first sale, which usually has a high closing price, and
figure that they too can obtain that closing price. However, Mr. Deep
Pockets already has his and isn't bidding on the subsequently listed
items and they often sell for significantly less than what Mr. Deep
Pockets paid in the original sale. Its supply and demand in action in
a microcosm. A sudden increase in supply pushes the price down as the
first "desperate" buyer is now out of the market.
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download
<http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com/the-direct3d-graphics-pipeline/>
Legalize Adulthood! <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>
4:56 p.m.
On Tue, 5 Oct 2010, Richard wrote:
On ebay a successful sale of an item will often prod
other owners of the
same item to list theirs shortly after the first sale. Ironically the
sellers see the first sale, which usually has a high closing price, and
figure that they too can obtain that closing price. However, Mr. Deep
Pockets already has his and isn't bidding on the subsequently listed
items and they often sell for significantly less than what Mr. Deep
Pockets paid in the original sale. Its supply and demand in action in
a microcosm. A sudden increase in supply pushes the price down as the
first "desperate" buyer is now out of the market.
Except when Mr. Deep Pockets insists on buying up every instance of
said item (or piece of a system). This has happened to me quite often.
Mike Loewen mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us
Old Technology http://sturgeon.css.psu.edu/~mloewen/Oldtech/
5:20 p.m.
In article <Pine.LNX.4.64.1010051655160.2564 at cpumagic.scol.pa.us>,
Mike Loewen <mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us> writes:
Except when Mr. Deep Pockets insists on buying up
every instance of
said item (or piece of a system). This has happened to me quite often.
Yes, well some pockets are deeper than others :-). For stuff like
SAGE gear, I can easily see the situation you describe being the case.
For things like VT100s, its a little different. I have seen a very
nice condition VT100 offered on ebay and selling for a high price,
followed by a splash of crappy VT100s being listed with high prices
that don't sell.
The stuff that I monitor tends to be more of the VT100 variety and
less of the SAGE variety. Then again, rarity doesn't always translate
to price, either. The Aesthedes graphic design system is *extremely*
rare and very cool, but was obtained for $10. Of course shipping it
was non-trivial, which is probably why no other buyers appeared.
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download
<http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com/the-direct3d-graphics-pipeline/>
Legalize Adulthood! <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>
5002
days inactive
5003
days old
9 comments
7 participants
participants (7)
-
arcarlini＠iee.org -
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
aswood＠t-online.de -
ethan.dicks＠gmail.com -
legalize＠xmission.com -
mloewen＠cpumagic.scol.pa.us -
RichA＠vulcan.com