Comment by mikewarot
4 days ago
The thing I keep finding in old stuff, with point to point wiring, is connections that just aren't. One time I found a ground lug on a chassis of a grounded grid amplifier that didn't ground! Another time I found a bad solder joint that left the TV factory like that in 1947 and somehow escaped repair ever since.
It's usually something stupid.
Much respect for tackling older vintage gear than most :)
>It's usually something stupid.
Like trunk mounted car batteries in ICE cars.
Where the one long copper positive wire reaching up to the engine is longer & thinner than it should be, the short ground wire goes to some sheetmetal in the trunk, and that current eventually makes its way to the starter indirectly through a maze of non-copper pathways through the frame of the vehicle.
Then under ideal conditions the starter never sees more than 11 volts :(
Not even the full 11 volts when the lug in the trunk is painted over before connecting the terminal during assembly :\