# Help us identify this mystery device **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 9, 2017, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198 "2017-08-09T22:00:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198/21 "2017-08-10T00:30:15Z")
He says the transformer is only 6 volts. We are going to look up the IC numbers. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198/22 "2017-08-10T00:35:33Z")
On second thought, the wires look rather thin for a high current pulsed application. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198/23 "2017-08-10T00:37:36Z")
IC #s can’t find much info online. #s are: ECG 4040b and 7945. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198/24 "2017-08-10T00:58:19Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Having seen the photos, I have not a clue, but if you leave it out on a sidewalk or something, you are sure to see lots and lots of pretty flashing lights. Yep, it does look a bit like an electronic [blasting machine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasting_machine). Shocking photographs… what is that row of black things in the bottom of the photograph? ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198/25 "2017-08-10T02:33:39Z")
Okay, am somewhere else now. No access to machine. The row of black things is a bank of those things you can attach wires to with modular plug-things, you know, bright red plastic cylinders. The signal appears to come out of the transformer, then get divided up into a dozen or so wires which go through this bank thing, and then go to the big capacitors in bundles of, I believe, three. When we hooked it up to the 'scope, there were several waveforms at once – one big, steady one that looked like a carrier wave, and three or four little ones that had verrrrry strange shapes, depending what we did with the three pots. The signal appears to be pulsed – audibly, you could hear the signal have a clear attack, a weird warbly sustain, and then a clear ascent back to the top. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198/26 "2017-08-10T02:36:26Z")
I looked at the pictures of blasting machine; and honestly, I think it’s too complicated to be that. There is a whole circuitboard, two ICs, four big capacitors, three knobs, and it turns on/off with a standard industrial toggle light switch. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198/27 "2017-08-10T02:49:29Z")
If it’s big, complicated, and seemingly useless, there’s a chance it’s a radionics device. :rolleyes: > **[Radionics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radionics)** > > Radionics—also called electromagnetic therapy (EMT) and the Abrams Method—is a form of alternative medicine that claims that disease can be diagnosed and treated by applying electromagnetic radiation (EMR), such as radio waves, to the body from an electrically powered device. It is similar to magnet therapy, which also applies EMR to the body but uses a magnet that generates a static electromagnetic field. > The concept behind radionics originated with two books published by American physician Al... ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198/28 "2017-08-10T03:19:34Z")
Ha ha, **Dorjän,** when my friend showed it to me and said, “What do you think it is?” that was my first guess! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198/29 "2017-08-10T03:32:59Z")
Orgone Accumulator 😉 Keith Emerson’s first homemade synth ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198/30 "2017-08-10T03:49:36Z")
Okay, got my phone to load all ten pictures onto imgur. (never mind #1 – it sucks) [2](http://imgur.com/3vOrgpB) [3](http://imgur.com/MVI1HDZ) [4](http://imgur.com/SMd7vpX) [5](http://imgur.com/1W3fzjW) [6](http://imgur.com/bHlTBQ4) [7](http://imgur.com/EjFWF5i) [8](http://imgur.com/B0BP5xF) [9](http://imgur.com/EcG1XI0) [10](http://imgur.com/JQEy8Sw) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198/31 "2017-08-10T03:54:42Z")
Serious WAG: movie FX device for firing off flash-pots, fireworks, etc. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198/32 "2017-08-10T04:00:33Z")
**burpo the wonder mutt:** Really? That could be. I just wonder why the three pots, which appear to change the frequency in an infinitely-variable way… ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198/33 "2017-08-10T04:17:00Z")
In pic #2, the knob just to the right of the meter is some kinda selector dealie (_click_ 1st position, _click_ 2nd position and so on); Yeah, that’s a lotta pots; Additional WAG: the silver box with the switch on its left (upper left hand corner) is the trigger/fire toggle; In Post #10, pic #3, that strip would be the “hot” leads where you connect your BOOMs. Then run one common “return.” If any of this is factual, I’ll be dipped. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198/34 "2017-08-10T04:58:45Z")
Power supply for a Jacob’s Ladder? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198/35 "2017-08-10T06:04:40Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Power supply for a Jacob’s Ladder? Nah, I’ve made a few of those, I have one sitting in my basement. It’s just a big clunky neon transformer and some wire. Nothing remotely complicated. I’ve got a grainy video on my youtube page, but it’s just a big solid box (the transformer) and some heavy leads going up to some copper wire in the shape of the ladder. [This](http://www.stephenhobley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/jl1.jpg) isn’t mine, but it’s all it consists of. I grabbed the 15kV transformer from a big neon sign that I was getting rid of. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198/36 "2017-08-10T06:20:20Z")
**Joey P:** Yeah, my friend thought maybe it was part of a tesla coil, but I said that as far as I knew, they don’t have anywhere near this much straight-up apparatus going on. **burpo the wonder mutt:** You’re right, that shaft _ **does** _ click, one “thunk” only. When looking at the device hooked up to the 'scope and thunking that shaft, the waveforms (and audio) seemed to indicate a change in range of frequency/ order of magnitude. (i.e., the pitch of the tone got lower, and the waveforms er, zoomed-out, I think. Well, maybe it’s something some local Burning Man-types were done with. Edit: Oh, wait, I thought you were talking about the shaft that is not one of the three attached to pots or the two coming out of ignition coil. yeah, that’s a light switch. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198/37 "2017-08-10T07:51:46Z")
Egads! You have powered it up!! Lordy. That thing is clearly intended to produce seriously high voltages with a pretty solid duty cycle. The thing looks very much like an inverter driving a serious amount of step up. A Tesla Coil driver isn’t out of the bounds of possibility, but it doesn’t quite all add up. The system will never manage the frequencies needed going though those transformers (full of iron - this isn’t going to manage the resonant frequency of a Tesla coil) so you would need an external spark gap and capacitor - in which case the variable frequency seems to be a bit useless. It is interesting that the meter is a centre zero, which suggests to me that it might be measuring the pulse width ratio of something, or some surrogate of ensuring the transformer is operating without a DC offset. The big transformer seems to have been wired as an autotransformer, which suggests a desire for maximum voltage step up. I suspect the entire thing is floating at mains voltage, which is not something I would be doing. But would explain the way the case has been made. There is a winding diagram of the transformer on its side, a clear pic of that would help a great deal. Seeing what the power transistors on the driver are would also help. I can just make out a blurry Toshiba logo, but that is about it. The basic idea mostly matches a solid state Tesla coil in topology, but the frequencies are all wrong. It seems it is designed to produce a reasonably serious wallop at much lower frequencies. So Jacobs Ladder, and similar types of applications. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198/38 "2017-08-10T09:09:17Z")
Hi **Francis Vaughan.** Transformer is 6-volt. Unfortunately I’m not in a position to get another pic of what it says on the side, but I can email my friend and ask him. Also what the transistors say – funny, we looked up (or tried to) the numbers on the ICs but not on transistors. It may be that the #s aren’t showing; but I’ll ask. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198/39 "2017-08-10T09:16:43Z")
That big circuit looks like an ordinary audio amp to drive speakers. Now a circuit which uses a car coil and outputs to audio ? A theramin ? The two top surface sockets might be the socket to install antenna. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198/40 "2017-08-10T09:21:11Z")
Whats the box with the 1 to 8 ? just a big capacitor ? is the selector 1 to 8 and chooses capacitance ? maybe its to change capacitance of the tuned circuit, so as to adapt to conditions and antenna type. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-identify-this-mystery-device/793198.md?page=3)