Re: Jackery 400

"Gerry"  wrote in message news:cs76hjd5p0qhg3argcc3n9bp3ucbccu3iq@4ax.com...
Like my $3 "some kind of electrical meter" (Fluke 77) around twenty
years ago!
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Good one!
I bought a Fluke 8800A for $25 and a Keithley 580 for $15 from sellers who did know what they were. They are both old enough to have no value to industry which complies with ISO standards, and more specialized and accurate than most hobbyists need. I don't either but high precision is a habit (obsession?) left from building and using scientific instruments. Often the bargains need some work, like fuel system cleaning on the Honda EU1000i inverter generator.
The 8800A still reads a 10.0022V standard correctly to the least significant digit after the 30 minute warmup. The 580 can show the resistance of an inch of 10AWG wire, which is about one milliOhm. Recently bought wire is near the high tolerance limit, as little copper as they could get away with. I can measure from a microOhm for high current contacts to a GigOhm for leakage at 500 or 1000V.
I made a gas tank pressurizer for the genny with a 1-5/8" rubber stopper, siphon bulb and rubber flap check valve under the stopper, as the siphon bulb lacked one. My thumb is the intake valve. The stopper doubles as the safety relief valve. It pushes -all- remaining gas in the tank, valve and lines out the carb bowl drain for safe indoor storage near a wood stove so it's accessible after a winter storm snows/ices me in, and primes the carb after refilling it. Their instructions use a kerosene suction pump to drain the tank which leaves some at the bottom. The EU1000i should NOT be turned over to drain it because motor oil goes where it shouldn't.
When I was little my father was an accountant at a company that made submarine telephone cable. They carefully tested all incoming material and rejected quite a bit of it, which went to local scrappers and employees offering to help dispose of it for free. Dad brought home enough steel and copper wire and foil for my projects, I've even seen the center wire used as flagpole rope. Apparently the extra time cost of selling it surplus was more than it was worth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAT-1
Simplex Wire and Cable of Newington NH made the long part on large spindle bore lathes with wire and insulation spools on the faceplates and passed it directly into the Monarch as it was completed and tested. The incoming cable was guided into tight spirals by hand. The repeaters contained $50,000 of platinum wiring each. They were powered from (several?) thousand volts DC on the center lead.