Vintage HP power cords needed.

[Mark Zenier]

In article <e1p4735r8j48l8gibsnl1039inmed71ch8@4ax.com>,
JW <none@dev.nul> wrote:

I am looking for some vintage AC power cords for older HP test equipment.
I have a number of pieces of test equipment, and only one power cord. The
only marking on it is "Electricord". It is a three conductor cord that
uses three round female sockets on the end that terminates at the
equipment, and is similar to the old power cords that were found on coffee
pots and such (but with one more pin in the center offset from the other
two - a ground, I suppose). I believe it is typical of HP equipment made
in the 1960's to have these, such as the HP745A AC calibrator, among
others. Does anyone know where I might find some of these, or perhaps know
what the original HP part # is? (I know that I could hard-wire a standard
line cord to these units, but would much rather have the proper cords.)

There was a discussion here (sci.electronics.equipment) several years ago
that included the Belden part numbers.

Looks like I saved it. Here's the highpoints (minus the flamewar).

From: Jim Adney <jadney@vwtype3.org
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.equipment,misc.industry.electronics.marketplace,rec.radio.swap
Subject: Re: "Old" HP Power cords = Belden 17280
Date: Mon, 05 Mar 2001 23:07:29 -0600
Message-ID: <6oq8atgo45s5h6kian42a6ngpa7uf6ot8r@4ax.com
References: <3A96A4D4.599A3B44@arrl.net

"L. Mark PIlant" <n1vqw@arrl.net> wrote:

I've been seeing a fair number of these power cords being offered
as being *rare*. They ARE NOT rare.

These are still being made. They are listed in the current Newark
Electronics and Allied Electronics catalogs. If you look for a
Belden 17280 cord you will find them. They are about USD $5.00 new!
BTW, They may actually be under the Volex name, since Belden sold
the manufacturing to them a bit back.

I seem to recall going thru this 15-20 years ago. At that time I
checked the Belden catalog and discovered that there were TWO
DIFFERENT types of these. They differed in the way that the oval end
was wired.

The standard way has the ground on the center pin, but the old HP (and
Harrison Labs) equipment used a non-standard configuration that put
the ground on one side.

This left me with a quandry. Should I buy standard ones and rewire the
HP gear to be standard with the thought that it was less likely that
someone might come up with the correct, but uncommon, cord and make
the chassis live. Or should I buy the right cord and take a chance
that that cord might migrate to a more conventional piece of
equipement and make IT live?

In the end, I bought the conventional versions and rewired the 3
pieces of HP gear that we had.

That was easy, but in retrospect installing the newer style of power
entry module would have been better, as there would have been no
possible confusion thereafter.

So, does Belden still make both styles, or is someone here just
assuming that since the oval connector looks right it must BE right?

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org
Madison,Wisconsin USA
-----------------------------------------------

From: "L. Mark Pilant" <n1vqw@arrl.net
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.equipment,misc.industry.electronics.marketplace,rec.radio.swap
Subject: Re: "Old" HP Power cords = Belden 17280
Date: Wed, 07 Mar 2001 09:31:38 -0500
Message-ID: <3AA6464A.9F35642A@arrl.net
References: <3A96A4D4.599A3B44@arrl.net> <6oq8atgo45s5h6kian42a6ngpa7uf6ot8r@4ax.com

Jim, Belden/Volex still makes both versions. The 17280 is the
standard version and the 17952 is the one with the swapped line
and neutral. Oh yes, the 17280 is 7.5 feet long, and the 17952
is 8 feet long. I wonder if the length is different to allow you
to tell which cord you have without having to test it.

- Mark

From: "L. Mark Pilant" <n1vqw@arrl.net
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.equipment,misc.industry.electronics.marketplace,rec.radio.swap
Subject: Re: "Old" HP Power cords = Belden 17280
Date: Thu, 08 Mar 2001 13:37:54 -0500
Message-ID: <3AA7D182.E1EA6965@arrl.net
References: <3A96A4D4.599A3B44@arrl.net> <6oq8atgo45s5h6kian42a6ngpa7uf6ot8r@4ax.com> <3AA6464A.9F35642A@arrl.net> <q8vdatcup2t189n61imv060fk596rihh15@4ax.com

Thanks. At least it was the ground and neutral that were switched, but
even that could be lethal if swapped. A really bad situation.

Jim, it isn't the ground and neutral which were swapped, but line
(a.k.a., hot) and neutral. (I think this is what you meant.

(You probably already know this Jim, but for those that don't...)

While this may not look like a real big problem because the line
and neutral simply go through a fuse and switch to the transformer,
there is a subtle issue which is potentially lethal.

In this case, the line and neutral are completely isolated from
the grounded case. Where the problem arises is the switch and
fuse are now in the neutral rather than hot line. This means
even after pulling the fuse, much more of the circuitry remains
"live." This is only slightly better if the power switch is used
to break both the hot and neutral.

From the Volex site (http://www.volexpowercords.com/) for the
17280 cord: 'Polarity as mandated by CSA electical (SIC) Bulletin
895B and UL817.' And for the 17952 cord: 'This cord is made with
non-standard polarization and has a cautin (SIC) label applied
to the cord stating this fact: "This cord is for replacement
only and is NOT intended for new original equipment."'

- Mark

Mark Zenier mzenier@eskimo.com
Googleproofaddress(account:mzenier provider:eskimo domain:com)

 

[Jamie]

Mark Zenier wrote:

In article <e1p4735r8j48l8gibsnl1039inmed71ch8@4ax.com>,
JW <none@dev.nul> wrote:

I am looking for some vintage AC power cords for older HP test equipment.
I have a number of pieces of test equipment, and only one power cord. The
only marking on it is "Electricord". It is a three conductor cord that
uses three round female sockets on the end that terminates at the
equipment, and is similar to the old power cords that were found on coffee
pots and such (but with one more pin in the center offset from the other
two - a ground, I suppose). I believe it is typical of HP equipment made
in the 1960's to have these, such as the HP745A AC calibrator, among
others. Does anyone know where I might find some of these, or perhaps know
what the original HP part # is? (I know that I could hard-wire a standard
line cord to these units, but would much rather have the proper cords.)


There was a discussion here (sci.electronics.equipment) several years ago
that included the Belden part numbers.

Looks like I saved it. Here's the highpoints (minus the flamewar).



if you can remember that much here in such detail? It shows signs of

CPU addiction.

Me, I can't afford to use any brain matter wastefully!



"I'm never wrong, once i thought i was, but was mistaken"
Real Programmers Do things like this.
http://webpages.charter.net/jamie_5

 

[Fred Abse]

On Fri, 15 Jun 2007 06:24:54 -0400, JW wrote:

I am looking for some vintage AC power cords for older HP test equipment.
I have a number of pieces of test equipment, and only one power cord. The
only marking on it is "Electricord". It is a three conductor cord that
uses three round female sockets on the end that terminates at the
equipment

If it's the one I think it is, Sphere Research have them:

http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/cables.html

8' long.

45 in stock.

Eighteen bucks a pop.

--
"Electricity is of two kinds, positive and negative. The difference
is, I presume, that one comes a little more expensive, but is more
durable; the other is a cheaper thing, but the moths get into it."
(Stephen Leacock)

 

[Mark Zenier]

In article <%70di.169$Cg7.125@newsfe05.lga>,
Jamie <jamie_ka1lpa_not_valid_after_ka1lpa_@charter.net> wrote:

Mark Zenier wrote:

Looks like I saved it. Here's the highpoints (minus the flamewar).

if you can remember that much here in such detail? It shows signs of
CPU addiction.

Me, I can't afford to use any brain matter wastefully!

Well, all it takes is an archive of the newsgroup* since it got
created and a vague memory of something. And then you "grep for it".
It takes a while though, (Google can be faster).

*(Proprietary interest, I got the damn thing created in the first place).

Mark Zenier mzenier@eskimo.com
Googleproofaddress(account:mzenier provider:eskimo domain:com)