Digital Meter From 1973, A Teardown

[Thomas] found an interesting probable millivoltmeter with some Beckman displays. Like many instruments from that time period, this one had a lot of tobacco smoke residue inside. The display unit inside had a sticker that not only showed the company that made it, but also had their Telex number on it, another sign of the times. You can see the device in the video below.

The unit looked like a one-off made by a hobbyist or a technician but the case looked suspiciously like old Bang and Olfusen equipment. Someone in the video comments mentions it was built for the service department.

Some of the wiring had not survived well and there was a broken display digit. What’s more, is the millivolt marking applied to the display. The actual instrument has dividers that provide readings in volts, not millivolts.

That Beckman display is very retro and [Thomas] breaks into that subassembly if you fancy a peek inside. Beckman made some interesting displays. Voltmeters sure have changed over the years.

8 thoughts on “Digital Meter From 1973, A Teardown

    1. I have a Sabtronics Model 2000 kit-built multi-meter which dates from that time and had the option of dry cells for power. It is on all the time hooked to a variable DC supply. Red glowey goodness.

  1. Complaining about content being in video form is pointless. It adds nothing relevant to the conversation and really doesn’t change what a particular content producer’s preference is. Can we go back to the days of half the comments being “could’ve been done with a 555” or “not a hack”? At least those were relevant and potentially constructive rather than the “hurr durr I don’t like video so no one else can possibly either”!

    As for the teardown, always wanted to play around with panaplex. I purchased a large 10-12 digit seven segment panaplex ages ago with the intention of making a project around it but never got the chance. Maybe I should dust it off and finally give it a go.

  2. Very interesting… several comments that were previously made have been redacted.
    I didn’t think that HaD was into redacting comments unless they were offensive, racial, religious, etc. But the ones that are missing are certainly not that.

  3. I just love neon and nixie and panaplex and anything that contain neon, such a nice glow :-)
    and i love playing with, and repairing old and funny equipment,
    thanks to all who feel the same way and had a few minutes in 1970 world by watching the video,
    maybe I make a new video tomorrow :-)

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