A look inside a rackmount power distribution unit from 1998. Featuring a hand cranked 1000V insulation tester. Patreon: / jwflame Contact info, sending stuff in etc.: xo4.uk/?YTT
What was usually the case with these items was they built them to what ever size people asked them for.. But would build them up from a fixed set of plug units. I am guessing in this case 1unit, 4unit (and maybe they had higher such as 8unit), and buy those in bulk. In this case, to make 6, it was 4+1+1 was obviously cheaper in bulk than buying a 6unit. If they brought 6units in bulk instead of 4units If someone wanted a 5, you would need to do 1+1+1+1+1 instead of a 4+1. It was prob just the happy middle ground for more customisation cheaply.
It may not have made difference, but I think you should have tested before opening it, just to see if you could see the fault and to make sure you didn't fix it disturbing something. ("Don't turn it on, Take it apart", is not always the best solution)
just an fyi the number is actually the right length weirdly, all numbers in the 01460 area code are one number short (the Crewkerne/chard area of Somerset). I have a relative in Crewkerne that still has the short number.
01460 73736 is a Crewkerne Somerset number. Ten digit phone numbers are still quite common in parts of the south west and a search reveals this now belongs to RH Construction (www.trustedlocal.com/directory/building-decorating-appliances/r-h-construction.htm). Given the construction of the unit my guess is that FFL were a pretty small scale manufacturer who are now long gone. There was a metal fabricator in Crewkerne who could have easily turned out the casings for these and the rest of the components are standard off the shelf.
almost guarantee that the fault was some accessory plugged into this extension. retail - the customer is alway right... electrical call out - never the case lol
This may be 3 years old but it's not a great joke. In a "call out" one has a client, not a customer. Nobody has ever claimed that "the client is always right".
Tripping is most likely due to the neon resistor having gone low as you could not find anything else. The terminals are colour coded as to size, the Blue are larger than the red. The tripping could also be due to a whisker from one of the wires touching another at the terminals and the act of pulling it apart moved it. You should try plugging it in with a breaker plug in line to test it.
it showed about 2-3 megohms with the neon in circuit, so its not the neon, i think it was just another device was faulty and they blamed the lead. the reason to use a mega tester is to not need a breaker, its to test and find the fault.
I did not note the resistance of the neon, but thinking on it more it could well be the fault is in the plug, I had a computer lead with a moulded plug that had a shorting whisker in it, he made the tests without the fuse in.
Equiluxe1 i agree i would have tested it from the plug end , fuse intact initially, there could be some wierd reason like you say,but i guess this one escapes, im sure its going in the bin anyway
Did they really copy the bezel screw heads in fake plastic on the megger? I have several, and one hand cranked one in particular I prefer over all the others, including those with battery. It's just so quick and convenient to use, no switch, no battery to run down, and it keeps your hands off the circuit. You know a short after just a flick of the handle but I always give it a good few turns, just to make sure. BTW the movement inside a megger is quite interesting, since it reads nearly correct resistance regardless of the speed you crank the handle. It is similar to the movement inside a power meter, probably worth a video segment if you are into that. Also the rectifier in the old ones is mechanical, reverse of a commutator. On the 5kV ones I have it is quite a pretty thing.
Interesting point about that phone number is that if it was, eg, a Newbury number, that would actually have still worked as many of those numbers are still only 5-digit. It's worth looking it up before you write it off completely.
Minor nitpick. When you checked continuity of the switch you first only checked across one diagonal when the switch was closed. That's fine since you just confirmed the switch had continuity when closed. But then you also only checked one diagonal when the switch was open, which excludes other failures that could theoretically occur.
You need anger management lessons :-) And a bit more smarts.. screaming at inanimate objects rarely helps. Then again screaming at computers is fine because it just helps the screamer, internally.
I'd like a 4 way IEC wall socket. I fuking hate trailing 4 ways leads. Time UK had a smaller wall outlet. 13A is massive overall wallworts, tvs, consoles, led lights, bulky and ugly. IEC already exists and lots of adaptor cables out there.
Could you do a video teardown of that megger? I'd like to see what they're using to generate the HV. A step-up xfmr? A boost converter SMPS? Or is it a plain-jane AC alternator?
It of course depends a bit on things but in 1998: having more than 6 units in one rack wasn't completely easy... even in a full height rack. I wonder, could this thing be intended for a sound amplifier half-height rack ?
these days I see these bars with regular EU plugs or these PC plugs on it. but it connects via Wieland, on one side there is a male connector and on the other a female Wieland connector. This means you can connect multiple of them to each other.
Yes but one was in a box that may have had some electronics that when one item say a PC is turned off they all go off. I have a switch block that does this.
+jusb1066 Price. A 4-unit might have cost more than two singles, but less than 4 singles plus extra wires. Probably no other counts readily available from RS at the time, so this combination was probably the cheapest way to assemble 6 IEC C13-like outputs with high quality parts that they would risk putting their name and phone number on.
I love it that you showed the crank opporated mega, I was going to buy one But opted for the uni_t ut526 multy funktion tester, which is bacicly a ROBIN / kewtech Fantastic metre. Thanks JW always get good onest information from you
The fault might have been elsewhere in the building. I have a power distribution unit that regularly tripped my power. Faulty outbuilding circuit was the culprit. Nowt to do with the PDU.
wonder if something got into one of the connector outlets and was shorting out hence broken circuits, but whatever it was dislodged while in transit to you or fell out when handled while taking it apart and not noticed
In some equipment in this category, sometimes outlets are partitioned off, with the partitioned outlets having extra features like GFI features or surge protection, or not being switched, or other matters. Perhaps this is a case of that.
You probably have the 4-way and then the two separate 1-way IEC connectors to make the wiring easier. Also, cutting holes for 6 individual 1-way IECs would increase the production time for something that looks to be made in smallish quantities. Further to that, I'd imagine that 6 cutouts would weaken the front panel more so than the current setup
Agree. It's probably cost savings too -- you could machine any number of holes out of that faceplate so its all about what components are available and what combination gets you the best margins; I'm sure for a 6-way PDU the cheapest combination was 4+1+1. I bet if you bought an 8-way it would have 4+4.
Love the Megger! I can shed some light on the manufacturer. I work for www.dcdi.co.uk and have been selling that same PDU for around 20 years. Also we recently acquired a PDU manufacturing business that uses the same metalwork supplier - www.integra-pdu.co.uk FFL was Fieldgate Fixings Ltd and yes, they were in Chard, an area that I believe still has only 5 digit telephone numbers in use! Fieldgate Fixings moved to Taunton in the late 1990s/2000 and became DPS (Data and Power Solutions). Around 5 years ago, DPS was bought by a larger American company called Geist. Just under a year ago Geist was purchased by a massive PE outfit called Vertiv and are now gunning for a slice of APC's cake. Their product these days is a much higher end unit with IP monitoring and remote switching and if you need any www.dcdi.co.uk can help! If you need a replacement or a PDU very similar to the one you tested in your video then you need www.Integra-PDU.co.uk - excuse the shamless touting of my business, but it is all relevant and hopefully on interest!
When he checked the resistance between line and X, why did he connect it to the part when the fuse is inserted rather than the live pin of the plug, if someone could tell me I'd appreciate it. Cheers.
The requirement for shutters only applies to BS1363 outlets, items such as this power strip are not included and would not normally be used in homes or other locations accessible to the general public either.
What was usually the case with these items was they built them to what ever size people asked them for..
But would build them up from a fixed set of plug units. I am guessing in this case 1unit, 4unit (and maybe they had higher such as 8unit), and buy those in bulk.
In this case, to make 6, it was 4+1+1 was obviously cheaper in bulk than buying a 6unit.
If they brought 6units in bulk instead of 4units If someone wanted a 5, you would need to do 1+1+1+1+1 instead of a 4+1. It was prob just the happy middle ground for more customisation cheaply.
Lived in Chard 70yrs never heard of FFL. Been enjoying your videos for sometime now, thanks for your time and knowledge.
It may not have made difference, but I think you should have tested before opening it, just to see if you could see the fault and to make sure you didn't fix it disturbing something. ("Don't turn it on, Take it apart", is not always the best solution)
Agreed. Always confirm the fault before disturbing anything.
My old cranked megger has a bakelite case. Still works fine (but only 500V)
great video sir
Maybe the group of 4 has some MOVs (or poly-fuses) in it? Or maybe they were too cheap to just drill another large hole for 2 groups of 4.
Different color terminals... red=1 wire, blue=2 wires.
I was about to say the same thing.
Red color in these crimp connectors usually denotes 1,5mm² wire size and blue 2,5mm².
Which seems to be mentioned in other comments too...
just an fyi the number is actually the right length weirdly, all numbers in the 01460 area code are one number short (the Crewkerne/chard area of Somerset). I have a relative in Crewkerne that still has the short number.
dglcomputers Same in Camberley too
dglcomputers Yeah also here in rural Devon having one number short isn't that unusual. My parents house has a short phone number.
RS Components Ltd Corby a very reputable company
01460 73736 is a Crewkerne Somerset number. Ten digit phone numbers are still quite common in parts of the south west and a search reveals this now belongs to RH Construction (www.trustedlocal.com/directory/building-decorating-appliances/r-h-construction.htm).
Given the construction of the unit my guess is that FFL were a pretty small scale manufacturer who are now long gone. There was a metal fabricator in Crewkerne who could have easily turned out the casings for these and the rest of the components are standard off the shelf.
almost guarantee that the fault was some accessory plugged into this extension.
retail - the customer is alway right...
electrical call out - never the case lol
This may be 3 years old but it's not a great joke. In a "call out" one has a client, not a customer. Nobody has ever claimed that "the client is always right".
Tripping is most likely due to the neon resistor having gone low as you could not find anything else. The terminals are colour coded as to size, the Blue are larger than the red. The tripping could also be due to a whisker from one of the wires touching another at the terminals and the act of pulling it apart moved it. You should try plugging it in with a breaker plug in line to test it.
it showed about 2-3 megohms with the neon in circuit, so its not the neon, i think it was just another device was faulty and they blamed the lead. the reason to use a mega tester is to not need a breaker, its to test and find the fault.
I did not note the resistance of the neon, but thinking on it more it could well be the fault is in the plug, I had a computer lead with a moulded plug that had a shorting whisker in it, he made the tests without the fuse in.
Equiluxe1
i agree i would have tested it from the plug end , fuse intact initially, there could be some wierd reason like you say,but i guess this one escapes, im sure its going in the bin anyway
not just 1 and 2 wires but red = wires with a total (area square)of
I haven't seen a mega like that in many years. Nice to see China bringinig back some of the old classics
Did they really copy the bezel screw heads in fake plastic on the megger?
I have several, and one hand cranked one in particular I prefer over all the others, including those with battery. It's just so quick and convenient to use, no switch, no battery to run down, and it keeps your hands off the circuit. You know a short after just a flick of the handle but I always give it a good few turns, just to make sure.
BTW the movement inside a megger is quite interesting, since it reads nearly correct resistance regardless of the speed you crank the handle. It is similar to the movement inside a power meter, probably worth a video segment if you are into that.
Also the rectifier in the old ones is mechanical, reverse of a commutator. On the 5kV ones I have it is quite a pretty thing.
Yes, the whole top plate is a single piece of plastic, fake screw heads included.
Makes me wonder if they did a vaccuum form for the injection mold or if they did that on purpose to deceive people.
Interesting point about that phone number is that if it was, eg, a Newbury number, that would actually have still worked as many of those numbers are still only 5-digit. It's worth looking it up before you write it off completely.
The connectors have different colours because they are marked for diffrent wire sizes. For red (0.5mm² - 1.5mm²) and for blue (1.5mm² - 2.5mm²)
The red connectors they used take one wire while the blue ones take two, that's why they are different.
stefantrethan wow someone else who relised this I thought it was common knowledge
Was going to comment that...
Red ~0,5-1,5 mm²
Blue ~1,5-2,5 mm²
Where going to comment? What language did you translate from?
I like your teardown/ fault finding videos. Would love to see some more. Thanks
Minor nitpick. When you checked continuity of the switch you first only checked across one diagonal when the switch was closed. That's fine since you just confirmed the switch had continuity when closed. But then you also only checked one diagonal when the switch was open, which excludes other failures that could theoretically occur.
Yep that had me screaming at the monitor.
You need anger management lessons :-) And a bit more smarts.. screaming at inanimate objects rarely helps. Then again screaming at computers is fine because it just helps the screamer, internally.
petti78 You probably need "a bit more smarts" if you read Mentorcase's comment literally. :p
Thank you John for your continued informative videos
I'd like a 4 way IEC wall socket. I fuking hate trailing 4 ways leads. Time UK had a smaller wall outlet. 13A is massive overall wallworts, tvs, consoles, led lights, bulky and ugly. IEC already exists and lots of adaptor cables out there.
Could you do a video teardown of that megger? I'd like to see what they're using to generate the HV. A step-up xfmr? A boost converter SMPS? Or is it a plain-jane AC alternator?
You did not find the bug ...
You couldn't find the fault! hahahaha
Rick UK Yeah... should've tested it once more after putting it back together.
My my my
Looks like an Olson unit
Look,s decent at least it's metal not plastic crap
Lol, so much wasted space in that. Nothing wrong with extra ground plane mass though.
It of course depends a bit on things but in 1998: having more than 6 units in one rack wasn't completely easy... even in a full height rack. I wonder, could this thing be intended for a sound amplifier half-height rack ?
these days I see these bars with regular EU plugs or these PC plugs on it. but it connects via Wieland, on one side there is a male connector and on the other a female Wieland connector. This means you can connect multiple of them to each other.
Red crimp connectors are smaller in size and only have one wire in them, the blue are larger because they have two wires crimped in them.
Is it possible that the two separate are for always on power and the 4 together switch off as a group?
Tech It Out did you not see the video? all the outlets are from the same switch!
Yes but one was in a box that may have had some electronics that when one item say a PC is turned off they all go off. I have a switch block that does this.
this is not a smart socket, its all wired as a group, there is no reason i can think they used 3 sets instead of 2 of the larger.
+jusb1066 Price. A 4-unit might have cost more than two singles, but less than 4 singles plus extra wires. Probably no other counts readily available from RS at the time, so this combination was probably the cheapest way to assemble 6 IEC C13-like outputs with high quality parts that they would risk putting their name and phone number on.
I love it that you showed the crank opporated mega,
I was going to buy one
But opted for the uni_t ut526 multy funktion tester, which is bacicly a ROBIN / kewtech
Fantastic metre. Thanks JW always get good onest information from you
The fault might have been elsewhere in the building. I have a power distribution unit that regularly tripped my power. Faulty outbuilding circuit was the culprit. Nowt to do with the PDU.
wonder if something got into one of the connector outlets and was shorting out hence broken circuits, but whatever it was dislodged while in transit to you or fell out when handled while taking it apart and not noticed
In some equipment in this category, sometimes outlets are partitioned off, with the partitioned outlets having extra features like GFI features or surge protection, or not being switched, or other matters. Perhaps this is a case of that.
I like it, testing equipment with Chinese ΜΩ meter, are you gonna test also the meter!!!!!!!!!!!!
Looked like the switch plug end was very close to the earth thread maybe it was touching it (it it was the light)
You probably have the 4-way and then the two separate 1-way IEC connectors to make the wiring easier. Also, cutting holes for 6 individual 1-way IECs would increase the production time for something that looks to be made in smallish quantities. Further to that, I'd imagine that 6 cutouts would weaken the front panel more so than the current setup
Agree. It's probably cost savings too -- you could machine any number of holes out of that faceplate so its all about what components are available and what combination gets you the best margins; I'm sure for a 6-way PDU the cheapest combination was 4+1+1. I bet if you bought an 8-way it would have 4+4.
Red and blue are for different wire gauge. The blue fastons have two wires going into each of them. The red have one.
who remembers the ad "at cricket st Thomas near chard"
Love the Megger! I can shed some light on the manufacturer. I work for www.dcdi.co.uk and have been selling that same PDU for around 20 years. Also we recently acquired a PDU manufacturing business that uses the same metalwork supplier - www.integra-pdu.co.uk
FFL was Fieldgate Fixings Ltd and yes, they were in Chard, an area that I believe still has only 5 digit telephone numbers in use! Fieldgate Fixings moved to Taunton in the late 1990s/2000 and became DPS (Data and Power Solutions). Around 5 years ago, DPS was bought by a larger American company called Geist. Just under a year ago Geist was purchased by a massive PE outfit called Vertiv and are now gunning for a slice of APC's cake. Their product these days is a much higher end unit with IP monitoring and remote switching and if you need any www.dcdi.co.uk can help! If you need a replacement or a PDU very similar to the one you tested in your video then you need www.Integra-PDU.co.uk - excuse the shamless touting of my business, but it is all relevant and hopefully on interest!
Thanks for the information 👍😀
I would replace the switch with a non luminous one & I can just about guarantee it'll be fine!
What was wrong now ?
Might have been the 6 heaters they had plugged into it.
The 1u unit was damp or wet in the past to trip. it's dry now and a ok!
Yep, my guess too.
When he checked the resistance between line and X, why did he connect it to the part when the fuse is inserted rather than the live pin of the plug, if someone could tell me I'd appreciate it. Cheers.
Without the fuse installed, the line pin is only connected to the metal tab where the fuse fits. The other end is connected to the wire.
John Ward ahhh I should of known that, thanks mate. I've scrolled through a lot of your videos and the level in detail is amazing. Keep it up.
I think they used the 2 separate plugs because they were cheaper than getting a 6 plug or a 2 and 4 plug socket
Hearing RS + Cheap in the same sentence would be a world first I'd think.
dossod either that or a 6 gang socket isn't available off the shelf
A cheap steal one , i try to stick to the better made extruded aluminium ones.
Those didn't exist in 1998...
Everything is cheaper if you steal one. Do you shove the whole thing down your pants leg, so you can escape with your bounty after the robbery?
Like
Thanks
This was made for the UK market and in the UK. Why don't the outlets have shutters?
The requirement for shutters only applies to BS1363 outlets, items such as this power strip are not included and would not normally be used in homes or other locations accessible to the general public either.
Thank you for clearing that up.