Battery Eliminator
Out on a walk in the neighborhood, I saw this Heathkit Battery Eliminator on the street in the rubbish. I know the guy who lives there. He was out cleaning his garage. I walked over to him and asked about the old electronic unit. He told me his father, who had passed years ago, had been an Electrical Engineer and it was his. His mother had recently passed away. He had been instructed by his wife to clean the junk of the garage. As a biology teacher, he had little interest in vintage electronics. As far as he was concerned the unit was trash and I could take it home if I wanted it. So, I did.
It did not work.
I looked on the web for information. I found a schematic in the Heathkit Museum site. When I took off the cover, I found an old yellowed sheet of paper inside with a pencil drawn schematic. After working on it for a while, I realized that long ago, the then living and very bright Electrical Engineer had been trying to repair the unit himself. He had drawn his own schematic but without the real thing from Heathkit, he was not able to make his repair. He had given up, folded his schematic, placed it inside the case and put it on the back burner, just like I do with projects all the time.
With a real Heath schematic from the internet in hand, I was able to make the repair. Thus, I have a nice 12VDC power source for my FWC. This Heathkit Battery Eliminator is about 50 years old. It has features not available on the present charging devices. It is quite robust.
Images are uploaded of the Heathkit Battery Eliminator and schematics, one drawn by the long gone EE and the other by Heath.
John D
Out on a walk in the neighborhood, I saw this Heathkit Battery Eliminator on the street in the rubbish. I know the guy who lives there. He was out cleaning his garage. I walked over to him and asked about the old electronic unit. He told me his father, who had passed years ago, had been an Electrical Engineer and it was his. His mother had recently passed away. He had been instructed by his wife to clean the junk of the garage. As a biology teacher, he had little interest in vintage electronics. As far as he was concerned the unit was trash and I could take it home if I wanted it. So, I did.
It did not work.
I looked on the web for information. I found a schematic in the Heathkit Museum site. When I took off the cover, I found an old yellowed sheet of paper inside with a pencil drawn schematic. After working on it for a while, I realized that long ago, the then living and very bright Electrical Engineer had been trying to repair the unit himself. He had drawn his own schematic but without the real thing from Heathkit, he was not able to make his repair. He had given up, folded his schematic, placed it inside the case and put it on the back burner, just like I do with projects all the time.
With a real Heath schematic from the internet in hand, I was able to make the repair. Thus, I have a nice 12VDC power source for my FWC. This Heathkit Battery Eliminator is about 50 years old. It has features not available on the present charging devices. It is quite robust.
Images are uploaded of the Heathkit Battery Eliminator and schematics, one drawn by the long gone EE and the other by Heath.
John D
