Look what I picked up for 5 bucks.

[k0ua]

Picked up this old Simpson 260 at an Amateur Radio swap meet (Hamfest) a while back.. I had to clean it up, and put batteries and test leads on it. I have less than $10 bucks in it now I guess with those. It is from 1959, but all ranges seem to work. I thought it might come in handy, you can never have too many meters, and I was down to 1 analog meter. Sometimes a digital is better, sometimes and analog. Just depends on what you are doing. Digital's are best for accuracy but they suck trying to use them for tuning up things with a dynamic variable voltage.

 

[mbohuntr]

Or a capacitive voltage... spent hours chasing one with a digital meter... live and learn...

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Got an old radio shack one.

 

[Xfaxman]

That brings back a lot of memories, mostly good ones.

It will display better if you click "Full Size".

"Large" only works for pictures up to 555 pixels wide.

 

[kf4uda]

I have a 260. It was my first meter. I still use it some as a bench meter. My fluke digital sees most of the action. You got a deal on that one.

 

[3930dave]

A classic VOM - great to see a well cared for example going to a good home.... :thumbsup:

Rgds, D.

 

[comancheflight]

I have 2 of them...now they are in a drawer for backup..still very good meters

 

[sd455dan]

have the Micronta version pretty sure Simpson actually built it though
Agree they are nice for watching a variable voltage in real time,
the only small negative for me is circuit loading IIRC mine has about a 60 k ohm input impedance compared to more than 10 meg ohms for the dvms.

Great score - for a great classic meter, the still have a place in the electronics testing and repair world.

 

[coobie]

Great find,enjoy..

 

[Gunny]

Dayum, you got a deal there! I gave $60 for mine three years ago and thought I'd robbed the guy!

 

[MarkF48]

Good catch for $5. The 260 is a classic. I have one that was retired from service when the power company I worked for went to digital meters. Gets a good amount of use on my work bench. Just be sure to check the batteries every once in a while so you don't get any leakage/corrosion issues.

 

[k0ua]

Dayum, you got a deal there! I gave $60 for mine three years ago and thought I'd robbed the guy!

It was a pig in a poke. He didn't know if it worked or not and wanted $10 for it. I said how about $5, and he took it. He had a couple of others. I bought a lot of other things off of him. Hamfests at the last hour when people don't want to load up all their crap back into their vehicles is a good time to start pulling out the cash..

 

[tallyho8]

This thread made me go get my old VOM out of the drawer to look at it because I didn't even remember what make it was. I still use it now and then to check the voltage on my golf cart batteries and to check capacitors, especially when my Harbor Freight VOMs break.

I just realized that I bought it used in 1970 when I started my air conditioning business and I have never changed the battery and it is still good. I never even opened it up so I don't know what kind of battery is in it. Now my curiosity is up and I will have to open it when I get a chance to see what type of battery could have lasted for about 50 years.

 

[k0ua]

This thread made me go get my old VOM out of the drawer to look at it because I didn't even remember what make it was. I still use it now and then to check the voltage on my golf cart batteries and to check capacitors, especially when my Harbor Freight VOMs break.

I just realized that I bought it used in 1970 when I started my air conditioning business and I have never changed the battery and it is still good. I never even opened it up so I don't know what kind of battery is in it. Now my curiosity is up and I will have to open it when I get a chance to see what type of battery could have lasted for about 50 years.

View attachment 465839

It is branded Midland (a communications radio company) but looks like a Triplett to me. I am thinking you should get the batteries out of that one sometime soon. At least this decade. My Simpson had no batteries in it, but there was evidence of corrosion on the contacts that I cleaned up.

 

[MarkF48]

@ James k0ua,

You've likely come across a few VTVM's in your time as an amateur radio guy. The Knight kit I built somewhere back in the 60's and it still works. The RCA was a yard sale find I got cheap and also works.

 

[k0ua]

@ James k0ua,

You've likely come across a few VTVM's in your time as an amateur radio guy. The Knight kit I built somewhere back in the 60's and it still works. The RCA was a yard sale find I got cheap and also works.

OMG! I haven't seen a Senior Volt Ohmist for decades. I used one of those at a test bench in a TV and radio shop I worked in the 70's. It worked well. That photo sure brings back the memories.

 

[tallyho8]

OK, I opened up my VOM to see what the batteries were like after 50 years. I was surprised to see a regular general purpose Ray-O-Vac AA battery in there that was showing signs of corrosion but when I checked it, it still had 1.33 volts. That beats the Energizer bunny by a mile. I replaced the AA battery because I had a new one but I did not change the Eveready battery because I don't have one of that type. It will probably keep working long after I'm gone.

 

[k0ua]

OK, I opened up my VOM to see what the batteries were like after 50 years. I was surprised to see a regular general purpose Ray-O-Vac AA battery in there that was showing signs of corrosion but when I checked it, it still had 1.33 volts. That beats the Energizer bunny by a mile. I replaced the AA battery because I had a new one but I did not change the Eveready battery because I don't have one of that type. It will probably keep working long after I'm gone.

View attachment 465843

View attachment 465844

Here is your NEDA 220 15 volt photo battery.

Amazon.com : Exell Battery A22/54A 15-Volt Alkaline Battery (White) : General Use Batteries : Camera & Photo

 

[3930dave]

This thread made me go get my old VOM out of the drawer to look at it because I didn't even remember what make it was. I still use it now and then to check the voltage on my golf cart batteries and to check capacitors, especially when my Harbor Freight VOMs break.

I just realized that I bought it used in 1970 when I started my air conditioning business and I have never changed the battery and it is still good. I never even opened it up so I don't know what kind of battery is in it. Now my curiosity is up and I will have to open it when I get a chance to see what type of battery could have lasted for about 50 years.

View attachment 465839

Lots of big smiles (and memories) in this thread......

That picture above had me thinking...

If somebody heard me say parallax in a conversation today, they'd probably thinking I was talking about a coupla slackers !

Rgds, D.

 

[k0ua]

Lots of big smiles (and memories) in this thread......

That picture above had me thinking... if somebody heard me say parallax in a conversation today, they'd probably thinking I was talking about a coupla slackers !

Rgds, D.

Wish my Simpson had a mirrored scale!