ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades Quelle Simonetta record player

Hutch,

By 1972 it would have been 220V. Perhaps you were standing on an insulated floor or perhaps you got a lower voltage shock ?

Is there any chance it was a big static or capacitor discharge or perhaps it was being fed via a stepdown transformer of some sort.

Btw, static shocks are far more common and far worse during long dry french summers than anything you'll ever get in the UK or Ireland.. Humidity plays a big role in it.

I've had a couple of really nasty jolts in France and the US the likes of which I've never experienced here!

Well I never, Craig Douglas as ever was, the Singing Milkman! -that's got to be forty three years ago at least, before the Beatles anyway.

As to French 'shocks', electricity pales into insignificance compared with the shock of experiencing your first genuine, mature French 'pissoir', { edit } "Zey are only used by zer tourists! Ha!Ha! That will teach you for making lumpy custard!"
Alan

{ Sorry Alan, I think that might have been getting a little too graphic for ECN. }



[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 05-11-2005).]

Alan,

I think you haven't been in France (or at least a French public toilet) for quite a long time. Those toilets have pretty much disappeared completely replaced by the other extreme: the automatic self-cleaning toilet, which British and Irish local councils also seem to love.

However, public toilets just about anywhere can be a truely vile experience. In general they're somthing to be avoided at all costs!



[This message has been edited by djk (edited 05-10-2005).]

Yep, "Pretty Blue Eyes" was released in 1960.

The Top Rank label (owned by EMI) disappeared a few years later, about 1963 I think.

Bonjour,
The last time I was in France was- just now!
Youre quite right, these beasts are getting rarer, but they ain't extinct yet! http://www.hurktoilet.nl/hurk-en.htm
shows a luxury dutch model and instructions for use. The more economy-minded French go for the plain cement version with genuine moulded bootmarks! The last time we saw one in 'full steam' was in a town in Brittany about 7 years ago. We didn't use it-it was foul, and instead went into the Mairie on a pretext and used the Maire's instead! Only large communes could afford a self-cleaning toilet, our village ones are very nice but traditional-modern flush with a cleaning lady. But, theres no door or screen, (or a wall for that matter!) for the mens urinal section- it's very common to see men urinating at the side of the road here. I believe that in the UK you were permitted to pee up an outside wheel of a wagon in the past (Carters' Law), but I expect you'd get nicked if you tried that today. As to French 'electric' shocks, to get back on thread, they do seem blase about safety. You can find ancient wiring still in use in many old houses, often wired three-phase, with the owner juggling the appliances to avoid tripping a phase. In Cognac in February this year we saw a friend's house with only 10A per phase, continually tripping with an electric kettle and one other item in use. I got the Poco out for them to raise these to 15A and arrange for a 15kw single phase rework, all this on a house that had been totally renovated in 2003 (by a Frenchman). And the reason for pushing the trips to the limit? It's because the bigger your company breakers, the more EDF charges for the electricity. .
A la prochaine!
Alan

Cool! We also call this kinda place a "flea market" (or other hungarians are here too?) :~)))

Back to Topic... I managed to get some signs of life out of the record player!
After bypassing the mains plug, fitting a new cord and plug, and permanently switching it to mains operation the motor turned and the amplifier hummed. At first the drive assembly produced horrible screeching noises but now it runs pretty smooth. Still give off a horrible noise level far from Hi-Fi though!
Now if I manage to get a new stylus I might even be able to fix it. On the other hand the first signs of life confirmed my suspections the beast was of rock bottom quality and is maybe too far gone to be of any future use. Basically I'd have to replace the queer molded-in mains connector (two long thin pins, bigger and much longer than those of the usual figure 8 connector) and I doubt that's possible without smashing the casing. Then I need a new stylus and needle and in the end I'd get an extreme el-cheapo record player that stinks.

Yeah, that's pretty much the case with a lot of old radio & phono repair.

You spend money on a device, countless hours of time and effort -- and you end up with the realization that in its day, it was bottom-of-the-line junk (that someone probably scrimped and saved a few months salaries to buy).

But then you're talking to someone who spent a few weekends glueing up various plastic parts on a 1970s transistorized clock radio made by General Electric in Singapore. The plastic had gotten so brittle it was cracking already.

Unfortunately, it does go that way with the bargain-basement stuff. Still, even if the unit itself isn't really worth repairing, it can sometimes yield a few useful spare parts for use on future restoratioon projects of a more worthwhile nature.

If I find the time I'll try to replace the mains connector with a standard figure-8 connector and check the price of a new stylus. Depending on the result it's fix or not.