Outlet strip with Edison fuse used as a dim bulb tester

[wa2ise]

Picked this up at a garage sale. An old Japanese outlet strip, 2 pin, using an old fashioned Edison base fuse (the kind you should not put a penny behind of). Remove the fuse, and replace it with a light bulb, and now you have a dim bulb tester to test a radio under repair. Use a bulb of wattage of twice the radio's power consumption rating, and if the bulb lights brightly, you have a problem like a short in the radio's power supply (shorted filter cap or such that could ruin a power transformer).

[cwysong]

That's cool! Is there a make and model for it? I'd love to find one.

[egg]

Chris you've got mail.

Greg.

[wa2ise]

That's cool! Is there a make and model for it?

It's a "Fedtro" model CON-6 Electric outlet control center. Made in Japan.

[Flipperhome]

Well, I'll be. In all the years I've had the thing I never opened the 'fuse box'.

FEDTRO CON-6.jpg (69.05 KiB) Viewed 4169 times

Thanks. That's a slam dunk no brainer.

[johnS.]

Watt a bright idea!

Sorry...just had to say it.

[Don Cavey]

Fedtro, I think that was a brand that we sold when I was in retail, working at E.J. Korvette, 1966-67. (Then the army got me...)

[radiohenry]

I also have had one all these years and never opened the fuse cover. Who knew?
Henry

[stevebyan]

Fedtro, I think that was a brand that we sold when I was in retail, working at E.J. Korvette, 1966-67. (Then the army got me...)

I had one of those Fedtro's on my electronic workbench as a kid. We moved from Parkville to Towson in 1966 and I build my first workbench and installed one of those outlet strips. I probably bought it at Korvettes.

[Don Cavey]

Fedtro, I think that was a brand that we sold when I was in retail, working at E.J. Korvette, 1966-67. (Then the army got me...)

I had one of those Fedtro's on my electronic workbench as a kid. We moved from Parkville to Towson in 1966 and I build my first workbench and installed one of those outlet strips. I probably bought it at Korvettes.

The Korvette on Perring Parkway in Parkville. We called that the "Towson" store. I worked on Baltimore National Pike and that was store 57 in Catonsville. I always had fun working there. Who knows, if you bought it at the Catonsville store, you may have bought it from me. I also worked in the Audio Department. Talk about died and went to heaven? A teenager, working with audio equipment... for a living! It was cool. I only wish I had taken pictures...

[Adam Vaughn]

I did something similar several years back. While looking around in the garage, I found something which looked like a metal outlet plate, but in place of one of the outlets, it had a Edison socket with a metal cover over it, which I realized was meant for an old-style screw-in fuse. Eventually, I needed to build a dim-bulb tester to check out an old TV, and decided to put the fused outlet to work. Connected it to a line cord, mounted it in a junction box, and screwed a 100W bulb into the fuse socket. Sure enough, it worked like a charm. I still have it, though I generally use a current-metered variac for the purpose nowadays.
-Adam