Spring 1977.
I was at Dag Hammarskjöld college in Assen, The Netherlands, not the brightest student, I was lazy and couldn't be bothered with homework and the like and my interest was more into the kWh meters.
I had worked out that you connect them up to 220 Volts and make them spin.
By removing the brake magnet they ran even faster so I connected about 40 or so meters up in my bedroom and various timeclocks, relays which clicked in and out every 15 minutes to reset MDI meters and the first red and green LED's as indicators.
The meters measured my lights and stereo and my dad paid the powerbill so that was even better for a 16 year old, living at home with a collection out of control.
I remember very well the Ammeter swinging on the stereo amp, especially on the base tones of the music like a VU meter.
I like the electro mechanics of the meters especially the Landis & Gyr meters with the differentials and the miniature meccano like gear wheels.
I spent all my pocket money on buying a weekly railpass in school holidays for the dutch railways ( Nederlandse Spoorwegen ) and travelling as many kilometres as possible in that time period to cover all the lines in the country.
Also visiting powerboards and collecting boxes full with old meters and taking them back on the train. Never paid anything extra and explained to the guard that my mate and I had a hobby out of control.
Like having 200 kg of meters, like 8 big cardboard boxes and no extra freight charge, great he, that was possible in those days.
I also had the odd girlfriend although relationships didn't last too long because of my excessive interest in meters and trains.
We lived in a rural village in Loon and in my spare time I helped out the neighbours who were farmers with milking cows, driving the tractors in the hay season, mowing acres of grass with the John Deere with cyclo mower, and Massey Ferguson with hay shaker and Ford dexta with the grass spreader.
Then potato season and the like and a great time afterwards with lots of Grolsh beer.
It were great days, never to be forgotten.
These memories will last forever.
Thanks Mike for raising this thread.
Regards Raymond
edited for typo's
[This message has been edited by RODALCO (edited 03-04-2006).]