big tubes in action

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Dalibor Farný

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Apr 14, 2014, 12:14:20 PM4/14/14
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Hi folks,

my wife just came across a czech TV serial from 1984 where big tubes
like (z568m?) appears, I thought it would be nice to share it. Look
here:

http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/899451-rozpaky-kuchare-svatopluka/28532024029-sporak/

Play the video under the text, hit "Přeskočit reklamu" to skip the ads
;-) And go to 33:20.

For those who are interested what is this machine for - when this
serial was in TV (1984), people could vote how they want the serial to
continue (different scenarios). It was managed by turning on/off your
home lights (usually 100watts bulbs) and this machine was somehow
connected to a powerplant and it was able to measure the increase in
power consumption :-D It would be absolutely not possible these days..

bye,

--
Dalibor Farny
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phone: +420 724 321 571
http://www.daliborfarny.com
blog: http://dalibor.farny.cz
nixietubes.jpg

kay486

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Apr 14, 2014, 5:02:20 PM4/14/14
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no tak tohle je fakt parada! tomu rikam zabava budoucnosti :)

Marcin Adamski

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Apr 14, 2014, 5:43:57 PM4/14/14
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They look like z568m indeed. But it means we can see matching +/- tubes
too! Has anybody ever before seen those elusive big cousins of z567m?
BTW, awesome concept of voting.
Marcin

kay486

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Apr 14, 2014, 5:53:16 PM4/14/14
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my guess would be that these are indeed Z567M they do not match the size as you can see the width of the +/- is smaller that the width of the digits. You would only need to put the sockets litlle bit higher to match the relative position. if you compare Z566M to Z567M they have the same symbol width.

Terry S

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Apr 14, 2014, 8:02:45 PM4/14/14
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Ah.... But where is this machine now? That's a lot of Z568m's.

Charles MacDonald

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Apr 15, 2014, 8:15:38 PM4/15/14
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On 14-04-14 12:14 PM, Dalibor Farný wrote:
this machine was somehow
> connected to a powerplant and it was able to measure the increase in
> power consumption :-D It would be absolutely not possible these days..

The local substation could probably get a signal if a lot of load was
turned on or off. They have to measure the load to decide if they need
to switch the source of supply.

These days though it is unlikely that a significant number of homes
would all be watching the same program.

In the states it is often reported that the water pressure drops during
the commercial breaks on the main football game every year (the
superbowl) as folks put off going to the bathroom until the play has
stopped on the field.


--
Charles MacDonald Stittsville Ontario
cm...@zeusprune.ca Just Beyond the Fringe
http://Charles.MacDonald.org/tubes
No Microsoft Products were used in sending this e-mail.

Dalibor Farný

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Apr 16, 2014, 3:25:28 AM4/16/14
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I thought that lighting does a minor power consumption compared to
industry that runs 24/7, so switching our CFL/LED bulbs would not have
any effect ;-)
A number of people watching the same program is another thing, You are right!

Dalibor
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Tom Harris

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Apr 18, 2014, 12:17:20 AM4/18/14
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I visited a hydro power station in Wales which was a turbine between two lakes, one high up a mountain. The turbine could be reversed and used to fill up the upper lake at nighttime when demand was low but the nuclear & coal power stations were still generating. It was used to satisfy sudden peak demands in load, like during half time in their soccer games when everyone opened the fridge to get a beer or put the kettle on. I asked the guide about this, he said that in the past they had difficulty maintaining the grid during these peaks, so consumer behaviour (in the evening when the industrial loads are off) can certainly make the grid notice.


Tom Harris <celep...@gmail.com>


Nick

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Apr 18, 2014, 12:56:44 AM4/18/14
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On Friday, 18 April 2014 05:17:20 UTC+1, celephicus wrote:
I visited a hydro power station in Wales which was a turbine between two lakes, one high up a mountain. The turbine could be reversed and used to fill up the upper lake...

That would be Dynorwig Power Station, known as "Electric Mountain" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinorwig_Power_Station - it can come fully on-line incredibly rapidly - 0 to 1,320 MW in 12 seconds - incredibly impressive to visit as the power station itself is buried deep in a mountain (nearly a kilometre inside) - went there some years ago when the kids were little - there's another older & smaller similar station at Blaenau Ffestiniog (pronounced "bligh-now fess-tin-ee-ogg").

As the station is located in a designated "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty", everything has to be hidden - you'd never know it was there - even the power cables (420Kv @ 4000A, encased in SF6) are buried underground for several miles.

Partly as a result of that visit, my younger son is now doing a Civil Engineering degree :)

Nick

Alek onet

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Apr 21, 2014, 4:55:59 AM4/21/14
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Hi everybody,

I hadn't helium leak detector, because of high cost. So far I detected
"holes" using primitive methods (by acetone, alcohol) but it wasn't easy.
My friend gave me old russian 180 angle mass spectrometer for helium
leak detector. Inside is simple ion source and faraday's cap. Old vacuum
tube preamplifier was bad, that's why I build my own.
Power supplier for ion source and detecting circuit is my own too.
Yesterday I throw out original magnets (it was very heavy -ca 12kg) and
changed to neodymium magnets.

This detector could be connected to high vacuum system, as it shown here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiuF6uGHABU

Best regards
Alek
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