New DEC museum entry :D

[Kevin Handy]

Adrian Graham wrote:
> On 20/2/07 21:48, "Tony Duell" <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>   
>> THat's an odd fault. It's repeatable, yes? In other words you turn it on,
>> it runs for 5 minutes, then trips the mains. You cna then power it down,
>> power it up again and it'll run for another 5 minutes...
>>     
>
> Yep. Every time. I haven't timed it exactly, but it will run for minutes
> then give up; last night I had enough time to start playing with DCL and
> leave it for a bit while I dug a manual out. Then everything went black :)
>  
>   
>> THe mians filter caps would be plasting or metalised paper types. I've
>> had them fail before, but normally they just go 'bang', emit magic smoke
>> and maybe blow the fuse.
>>     
>
> Oh yes, plus the classic 'blown mains cap' smell. This one will trip and
> run, trip and run.
>   
Could it be something other than the Pro?
What other items are on that breaker?
Could you just be running too much stuff,
or could the breaker be marginal?

Many breakers don't blow immediately,
but allow a short time of slightly high
current before they blow, which is giving
you the 5 minutes.

Try unplugging some other stuff on that
breaker (fridge, water heater, other
computers, clocks, etc.) and see if that
affects the run time.

If you could wire a much lower-power breaker
between the blowing breaker and the Pro,
then you can see if it trips first.

But doesn't the pro have a built in breaker?
(Black button right next to the power cord)
I'd expect the breaker built into the Pro
should trip before it would pop your house
breaker if there was a PSU problem.

>> The Pros (and the 'Bow, and Decmate II) are all designed to come into
>> modules without tools. But be warned that setting up the machine out of
>>     
>
> I know all about the 'bow and Decmate (wrt maintenance, dismantling etc) but
> nothing about the Pro, today I learned lots :) Last time I used a Pro was
> the late 80s as a console to a VAX 8550!
>
>