Here we have a typical older style coin meter from the U.K.



After the coin box has been removed, the ring which holds the coin mechanism in place can be unscrewed:



There is an internal broad A/B rate setting, but then smaller adjustments to the rate can be made by simply re-inserting the coin mechanism with the index mark aligned to the required number. This just determines how far the handle must be turned for the coin to drop into the box, and thus how far the cog is turned for each coin deposit:



Don't be fooled by the 1985 calibration sticker or the "50p. coins" markings. The coin mechanisms were changed over the years to allow for higher value coins. Peeling off the sticker from the coin box reveals this meter's true vintage:

Connections are the usual arrangement for British meters, line on the left, load on the right, neutrals in the middle:






Some shots with the main cover removed (which would normally be secured with the usual wire/lead seals through the fixings when in service, as would the terminal cover:




The connections visible to the left of this shot are to the contacts on the coin mechanism:





[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 01-13-2007).]

Paul, thanks for posting these pics!! I find this meter facinating!!

Looking very closly at the terminal cover, I take it that to use this meter in "Coin operated" mode, you would need to bring the load connection to the coin mechanism contacts in pic# 9? Or is there a lever or internal jumper set-up?

I would love to get a hold of one of these here to play around with.

So you would put coins in this to pay for your electric?

Thanks pauluk for posting those piccies.
I have exactly the same Smiths meter in my collection as well as some other ones too.

Did you take it of a demolition job?

Great Pics Paul, interesting to see.

What is the meters rating?

Yep, these meters were once fairly common in rented accommodation which had a quick turnaround of tenants, or where a person was not considered creditworthy enough to have a normal quarterly payment account, and similar situations. These days, you find the PoCo using a card meter -- Same principle of prepayment, but the person buys electricity cards from various local agents (grocery store, newspaper shop, etc.) and inserting the card adds the appropriate amount to the "units remaining." The modern card meters are all LCD readouts, of course.

Some of these old coin meters were in private ownership, typically where a landlord paid the whole electricity bill for a block (and thus had a single PoCo-owned meter for his bill) but wanted his tenants to pay for power individually.

I actually removed this from what used to be a holiday cottage. It's now just used as a vacation home by the owners (with normal PoCo credit meter at the service entrance), and it seems that they had just been putting the same coin through the meter for several years. (It takes the original size 50-pence coin; we changed to a smaller one a few years ago.)

I got asked to look at it (via a neighbor) when they got worried that it was getting warm on load. If you look closely in one of the photos you might be able to see a little discoloration on the conductor running from the switch contacts from the heat. I haven't actually gotten right inside yet to see if it's the contacts themselves worn or just a loose connection.


The whole combination is designed to be used as a pre-payment coin meter only. However, the standard meter section on the left is identical to that used by the equivalent Smith credit meter, so the terminal cover (which is also identical) has both credit and prepay diagrams shown.

It's up for grabs for the cost of the postage, but that would probably be quite expensive overseas due to the weight!

240 volts, 40 amps max.

Paul, PM me with the info on weight, and maybe we can work a deal..

Warm beer, and now this! Just kidding! Actually that's pretty neat. One thing I enjoy about this site is seeing how things are done (and not supposed to be done) other places beside the US.

Will do. I'll see what it comes to with suitable packing tomorrow.

But now you know why we have warm beer. It's where people forgot to feed enough coins into the meter to keep the fridge running!

PaulUK:

Wow, that's an amazing thread and set of pics. I can't imagine a "parking meter" type electric meter in these parts, but the concept makes perfect sense. What a great way for the power company to protect themselves from shady customers.

I do have one question though: Here, most meters are plug-in (I am sure that you have seen many, many, many photos of services here). Is the UK still using this same hard-wired in-out wiring? I believe that you actually forwarded us a pic of a new UK service that still seemed to maintain that typical 4-terminals at the lower left corner concept.

I can't imagine a meter around these parts rated for only 40 amps, but then again, that meter was obviously pretty old. I believe that all meters here are now rated at 320 amps and it's CT's beyond that.

To be honest as an Austrian I expected that meter to be 20A max... to this day, the largest Ferraris or digital meter you can get here is 60A 3ph, anything beyond is CT.

The only time I've seen a coun meter in Austria was at a Museum and I giess it dated from prior to 1900. So that thing looks pretty peculiar to me too.

Yes, the hard-wired meter is still the norm here. I believe you refer to them as "A-base" over there?

Click here for a modern regular-type credit meter

These days, many new residential services are 100 amps, but there are a lot of 60 and 80A services still in use, and even some 40A. A few years ago I even came across an old 30-amp service, and it was feeding a sizeable Victorian house.

Paul: A-base was very common here in the US until about 60 years ago (guess), but once demand beyond 100 amps became normal, things changed. I am sure that there are thousands of them still in use in older cities here, but I haven't encountered one in at least 25 years.

I know that my grandmother's house, which was built in 1952, had the original 100 amp service and had a plug-in meter, so I can't say for sure when A-base went out of style here.

I would imagine that hard-wired meters, especially located indoors would be a huge problem for non-payment disconnections.

Actually, the vast majority of US single-phase meters are rated 200A. Although there are still some 100A meters out there, they would likely be more than forty years old, and their numbers are dwindling.

Nor is Class 320 the largest self-contained meter. K-base meters are self-contained up to 480A, I believe, but are not used by all utilities. Rumor is the utility in my area will be adopting them soon. Right now, we use CTs for anything over 320.

Class 320, Class 200, and Class 100 all fit the same four-terminal sockets (although not all sockets will safely carry 320A!) K-base is a different socket with bolt-on busbars. I've installed 320A meterbases in different utility areas and it's interesting how their policies differ. One utility just reinstalled the old Class 200 meter!

Nearest I can tell, single-phase A-base meters declined in popularity during the '50s and were discontinued in the '60s. This probably has to do with the rising popularity of 200A services, since the maximum rating of an A-base is 100A.

Incidentally, coin meters were once used in North America.

Well, that's what (in countries more paranoid than Austria sealed) fused disconnects ahead of the meter have been invented for!

In the typical Vienna install the PoCo unscrews the main fuses (Neozed or Diazed) and puts a sticker over the base saying: "Disconnected by Wienstrom, don't remove!" If the sticker should be gone/torn/whatever in theory you'd be in trouble. In practice, no one cares...
At an older thread in this forum (the one about the hefty old wiring) you can see such stickers.

Yes, a normal disconnection here would be done by pulling the service fuse, then replacing the empty carrier and resealing it. Remember that all services here have a main fuse at the point of entry and ahead of the meter (or, of course, three fuses in the case of 3-ph).

If the PoCo couldn't gain access to the inside of the house, I suppose that ultimately they could isolate in the street -- Fairly straightforward if it's overhead distribution but not so simple in most urban areas with underground feeders.

I think there used to be some law that they could apply to the court to gain access to their equipment if all else failed (everything up to and including the meter is their property). I'm not sure how that's altered now that it's all private companies and the old regional "Electricity Boards" have lost their former official status.

If my memory serves me correctly Paul,
there used to be one of them meters on the wall in the Lounge on Steptoe and Son.

Where would this meter be used??

Traditionally, they were found in places which had a quick turnaround of occupants (e.g. student accommodations) or in any circumstances in which the PoCo didn't consider the customer cerditworthy enough to have a regular account. For example, if a customer got into difficulty and made a habit of not paying bills on time the PoCo might insist that he go over to a coin meter (which was generally set to charge a higher rate per unit than for someone with a normal credit account).

As I mentioned above, coin meters were also sometimes found in places such as holiday cottages which were just rented out for a week or two at a time. It could be either a PoCo coin meter in such a case, or a privately installed one so that the property owner collected the money but paid the power bill in the usual way.

Coin meters gradually fell out of favor with the PoCos in more recent years, and the card meter is the modern equivalent.

I think you may be right. It might have been a gas meter though, can't remember for sure.
Yes, we had coin-operated gas meters at one time as well!

If you watch enough old British movies, eventually you're bound to see one where somebody gets sent off to put a shilling in the gas or electric meter.



[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 01-18-2007).]

I've had some Irish and English freinds tell me many stories of how to thwart these. Many of youthfull poverty trying to keep the lights on.... Apparently you could jamb all kinds of things in them and it would work - American quarters and other low value foriegn coinage, 1/2" KO slugs, etc. And with a dozen or so kids living in a flat - nobody would fess up after the collector came by, and it would get greased and wouldn't take anything else but real money... I have also heard you could coat a coin in epoxy, and if it stuck in the right place your could crank the knob at will from then on. Other elements of meter theft I have heard about is that sometimes these things would go missing entirely.

Thanks Paul
Never heard of that type of thing in the states

I remember a sentence from a UK book or movie about someone "putting a penny on the gas fire" or something like that. Back then it really surprised me. Now I know better...

Don't forget Mr Bean ! (Rowan Atkinson)
When the TV stops after he fixed the areal the coin meter switches the power off

In the Titirangi community hall, there is still a 1 phase 60 Amp Sangamo coin meter in use.

There were also some camping grounds in NZ where these coin meters are still in use.

Although they may become obsolete by now because the 10, 20 and 50 Cts NZ coins have just been changed in size to make them more manageable. (around October 2006)

Hello all.
This is my first post on this forum, so I'm not fully aware of the etiquette.

You can still buy these prepay coin meters in the UK, although they now take £1 coins.

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/RDSLOTslash1.html

If this is classed as advertisment then please remove it.

Regards, Rob

I've got 3 or 4 kicking about in my workshop if anybody wants them, postage would be a bit hefty though. Whilst having a bit of a clearout I found a load of old stuff including a 'brand new MK Surface Ivory Cooker unit complete with 15 3 pin round socket and onboard external fuse' This item must date from the early sixties as I can just about remember Ivory accessories being phased out when I was about 10 years of age! Electrical Contracting is 'in the blood' as you can tell. When I get around to it I will post some pics along with some exhibits from our private 'black museum of contracting' if anybody is interested,that is?

Welcome to the forum Rob. Links like yours which are relevant to the topic are fine.

Yep, especially overseas. I weighed up this meter and even via ParcelForce "International Economy" it came to almost $100 to send to the States!


We're always interested in stuff like that here! If you have a browse through the Electrical Nostalgia area you'll find pictures of all manner of old fittings.

Is it one of these?




( from same place as https://www.electrical-contractor.net/ubb/Forum17/HTML/000210.html )

A good rub down with a wire brush and a coat of Hammerite paint; good as new!!