DEC BA213 and BA213 S-boxes?

[Douglas Taylor]

Ethan;

I have owned both BA213 and BA215 microvaxes.  The one recurring problem 
I had was with the power supplies, H7868 I think the number is.
Luckily, I picked up a couple of Dec Serv 550's which gave me spares and 
a PDP11/53 S box CPU.
I was able to run the PDP11 in one of the VAX based BA boxes, the BA215 
would make a good choice based on size and weight.
If I remember correctly, the BA215 had space for one full height drive 
and a tape drive.
Maybe someone else knows, but I think both boxes could use ordinary 
power cords, not like the VAX 4000-400 series which has that 20 amp cord.

Doug

On 3/31/2018 1:14 AM, Ethan Dicks via cctech wrote:
> Hi, All,
>
> Watching some of the recent traffic about what newer Qbus boards will
> and won't work with 2.11BSD, I've remembered a thing I was once
> looking for.  Back when I did DEC hardware for a living, we stopped
> buying new stuff after we got a MicroVAX-II.  As such, I have plenty
> of LSI-11 to KA630 parts but very little from after that era.  I do
> happen to have 2-3 boards with S-box handles including a KDF-11 CPU
> and a SCSI card, a great start to a system.  What I don't have is the
> enclosure.
>
> I have a BA123 "World Box" and it's great.  I know a BA213 is roughly
> the same size, but I've never had one.   The BA215 looks more
> interesting to me as a match for size and power requirements (1 PSU
> and 6 slots, half the BA213) but I've never even seen a BA215.
>
> Anyone here have much experience with the BA215?  Any "gotchas"?  So
> far, from my looking on eBay, I think I spotted one loaded as a VAX.
> I'm more interested in setting mine up as a PDP-11, so the VAX end of
> one is not exactly a selling point to me.  An empty box would do just
> as nicely.
>
> I'd say 80% of my Qbus work has been with two boxes, the BA-11N and
> the BA-23, thus all the S-box questions.
>
> Thanks for any tips, tidbits and stories.
>
> -ethan