Electric Problems On Motorhome

[colinm]

seeing as you would appear to be a) ancient and b) familiar with coin meters, tell me how come ......

Back in the early 80's, I was round my sisters house doing some decorating. finished for the day and sat down to wtch a bit of TV (Fantastic Journey, with Raquel Welsh. Funny how some memories stick with you ) and the meter ran out
But while the lights went off and the picture on the TV went off, the TV sound kept working until I put more money in the meter and the picture came back
So how come the TV Sound stayed on?

From what I recall ye olde TV's had capacitors which retained a fair bit of power, I'm guessing one, or more, where discharging enough to keep the sound on.

 

[marchie]

When I were a lad .... I remember the "gasman" and the "Leccy man" coming to empty the meters.

My job was to go into the coal cellar (where the meters were located) with them and the follow them to the kitchen table where the coins were counted.
I was told to watch carefully to ensure that none ended up in his pocket!

By the time I was married it was two bob coins (aka florins), but the same rules applied.

The last branch of the Bank I worked at in the West Midlands still had a bulk coin trolley (retired because it failed the H&S criterion of needing a braking system) that had built up sides to enable more bags of bulk coin from the Gas Board to be loaded each trip ...

The trolley wasn't entirely useless though; whenever it was a female staff member's birthday, she would be taken down the pub for a 2 hours lunch break (so everyone could buy her a drink), returning suitably rat-arsed. Then, as soon as all the Bank customers had left the branch after 3:30pm closing, the female would be carried into the Banking Hall and wedged into the Gas Board trolley and then pushed full pelt up and down the Banking Hall until they were about to vomit ... We were H&S aware, though; we had 2 trolley pushers at the top of the Banking Hall, but 4 at the bottom end, to ensure the Trolley didn't crash through the double glass doors ...

I am old enough to remember Florins and even farthings (and Scottish shillings), having been a keen numismatist until I discovered the fairer sex. Never had money after that ...

Steve

Steve

 

[marchie]

My late dad used to do some work for a chap that was fairly high up in the CEGB (going back some years now )

He wangled us a tour around a place in Cheshire that looked outside like a nice bungalow ....
BUT inside was a heavily protected control centre for electricity generation across a large chunk of Northern England ....

One of the chaps working there was sat at a very James Bonesqe control desk with a rather large analogue meter on it ...
Along side was a set of TV sets playing the broadcasts currently going out ...

This chaps job was to watch for ad breaks/end of programs and get ready to notify pumped storage hydro schemes like Stywlen dam in North Wales to open the valve gear and raise the generation emount to prevent a drop when a chunk of the population stuck a kettle on at the same time ....

So high tech and yet so not at the same time .

Remember a newspaper article from about 60 years ago that said the Electric Generators' vital kit was the TV Schedule, especially for Monday and Wednesday, because half of UK rushed out at 7:45 to put the kettle on during the Coronation Street adverts ... Where was Ena Sharples when my hormones were stirring? ...

Steve

 

[merl]

From what I recall ye olde TV's had capacitors which retained a fair bit of power, I'm guessing one, or more, where discharging enough to keep the sound on.

Yeh, they had capacitors and still do but the power smoothing capacitors in a valve amps audio section are typically between 16 and 100 uf (microfarads) that's enough to store power for less than a second. I reckon it was a rented TV that had some sort of clockwork timer and you had to feed the TV set with coins to keep the picture on but the sound stayed on as a 'tempter'. The house lights (all the electrics actually) would also be on a completely different slot meter but the two systems are converging into one in David's poor addled brain

 

[Robmac]

Where was Ena Sharples when my hormones were stirring? ...

Steve

That's just wrong Steve on all levels!!

Minnie Caldwell - now yer talking!

 

[wildebus]

From what I recall ye olde TV's had capacitors which retained a fair bit of power, I'm guessing one, or more, where discharging enough to keep the sound on.

I have this vague collection also that the TV also had a meter? Not that it would provide power, but I think it might have been a rental jobby and instead of paying a monthly rent, it was effectively a pay-per-use charge?
going to have to go and research now (WILFing is my worse addiction!)

 

[wildebus]

I have this vague collection also that the TV also had a meter? Not that it would provide power, but I think it might have been a rental jobby and instead of paying a monthly rent, it was effectively a pay-per-use charge?
going to have to go and research now (WILFing is my worse addiction!)

I wonder if it was not the electric meter that ran out but the TV meter? and the TV was set to keep the sound going but cut the picture when money ran out? that kind of makes sense how it didn't totally die? This was a first house-share my sister had with a friend so everything would be on a budget.

 

[marchie]

That's just wrong Steve on all levels!!

Minnie Caldwell - now yer talking!

I always found Martha Longhurst more alluring, Rob; one could see through Ena's hairnet, so no mystique, but that dark beret held untold secrets ...

Steve

 

[marchie]

Yeh, they had capacitors and still do but the power smoothing capacitors in a valve amps audio section are typically between 16 and 100 uf (microfarads) that's enough to store power for less than a second. I reckon it was a rented TV that had some sort of clockwork timer and you had to feed the TV set with coins to keep the picture on but the sound stayed on as a 'temper'. The house lights (all the electrics actually) would also be on a completely different slot meter but the two systems are converging into one in David's poor addled brain

IIRC, the slot meter TV was the forerunner of the Radio Rentals m.o. Even when Radio Rentals (and Rumbleows?) introduced Standing Orders to pay the TV Rental monthly, there were still Rental Payment Cards so that customers could pay by cash in the local shop, and TV slot payment rentals remained as a viable option, alongside the likes of Provident Financial Services and their 'doorstep loans', paid by weekly payment card on the 'never-never', and the small life insurance policies paid to the 'Man from the Pru' or the Liverpool and Victoria Agent. Then there was the Pools Agent from Littlewoods or Vernon's to collect the coupon ...

Many of the doorstep collections took place on Friday night or Saturday afternoon, because if they were left until Monday, the payment would be missed, and the arrears would have to part repaid the following, and successive Fridays. Way less than 50% of the population had Bank Accounts (as late as 1982, the 'banked' population was only around 51.6%, IIRC, and weekly cash wages were still the norm

Steve

 

[r4dent]

I am old enough to remember Florins and even farthings (and Scottish shillings),teve

 

[r4dent]

I am old enough to remember Florins and even farthings (and Scottish shillings),

So am I

I also remember the "Silver Three Penny bit".
They were in use but rare. We had one that came out of storage once a year to go in the Christmas pudding, then back into storage.

 

[merl]

I wonder if it was not the electric meter that ran out but the TV meter? and the TV was set to keep the sound going but cut the picture when money ran out? that kind of makes sense how it didn't totally die? This was a first house-share my sister had with a friend so everything would be on a budget.

Kin hell David, I just told you that! Pay attention laddy

 

[merl]

IIRC, the slot meter TV was the forerunner of the Radio Rentals m.o. Even when Radio Rentals (and Rumbleows?) introduced Standing Orders to pay the TV Rental monthly, there were still Rental Payment Cards so that customers could pay by cash in the local shop, and TV slot payment rentals remained as a viable option, alongside the likes of Provident Financial Services and their 'doorstep loans', paid by weekly payment card on the 'never-never', and the small life insurance policies paid to the 'Man from the Pru' or the Liverpool and Victoria Agent. Then there was the Pools Agent from Littlewoods or Vernon's to collect the coupon ...

Many of the doorstep collections took place on Friday night or Saturday afternoon, because if they were left until Monday, the payment would be missed, and the arrears would have to part repaid the following, and successive Fridays. Way less than 50% of the population had Bank Accounts (as late as 1982, the 'banked' population was only around 51.6%, IIRC, and weekly cash wages were still the norm

Steve

I'm sure my Dad who was a TV and radio engineer said that it was possible to drill a hole in a two bob bit and attach a piece of strong cotton to it so you could get it back out of the mechanism

 

[wildebus]

I'm sure my Dad who was a TV and radio engineer said that it was possible to drill a hole in a two bob bit and attach a piece of strong cotton to it so you could get it back out of the mechanism

I used to do a little 'workround' back in the mid-80's with arcade games... needed 10p or 50p coins to play - 20p for one, 50p for 3 I think it was?
Put in your 2p coin and it was of course rejected. but if you put your finger into the returned coins collection against the return slot you could flick the coin up and it would hit the switch and register a credit before dropping down again.

Keep flicking your finger against the slot and you would find you would get lots of credit with satisfaction guaranteed

The things we had to do as poor students. Used to spend most of my Sunday lunchtimes in a particular arcade on the Tottenham Court Road before heading to the pub and then home for a bit of lunch.

 

[mistericeman]

When I worked emptying BT phone boxes ....

Regular cheat was wrapping a 10p coin carefully
in foil milk bottle tops to get £1 credit

 

[trevskoda]

I'm sure my Dad who was a TV and radio engineer said that it was possible to drill a hole in a two bob bit and attach a piece of strong cotton to it so you could get it back out of the mechanism

My work partner did that with one arm bandits which got him enuff dosh to put a deposit on his house back in the day.

 

[Robmac]

Other cheats included making reverse charges from one 'phone box to another if you arranged a time with a mate apparently. Or you could tap out a number in a public 'phone box using the switches on the cradle the receiver rested on rather than the dial for a free call.

 

[trevskoda]

Other cheats included making reverse charges from one 'phone box to another if you arranged a time with a mate apparently. Or you could tap out a number in a public 'phone box using the switches on the cradle the receiver rested on rather than the dial for a free call.

Yep my g dad had a dial lock on house ph and i used the pips to make calls when he was out, he never cottened on.