What is this?

[akroper]

Not fishing related (as far as I know) but I'm hoping the Ohana hive mind can help.  I'm clearing out my late brother-in-law's garage and found this under a bench.  It is a home made wooden case about 12x10x5 inches.  The front has two rows of ten small lights and one larger round red light.  The left side and the bottom are solid, there is a 3/8 inch hole centered in the right side, a plastic strap on top, and a toggle switch centered on the back.  The case is put together with screws, so it isn't meant to be opened very often.
Inside is a maze of wires, capacitors, and I believe diodes and/or resistors.  Whatever this is, it is powered by a 90V (yes, 90V, not a typo) Eveready battery about the size of a deck of cards.  Battery No.490 NEDA 204. The toggle switch is inline between the battery and the rest of the innards.  The battery is dead.  I'm going to build a pack of 10 9V transistor batteries and see if I can burn the house down.
Mike liked to fool around with old portable vacuum tube radios from the 30's-40's.  I also found about 250 old vacuum tubes and a tester.  I'm guessing this thing is related to that, but what is it for?   

[JasonGotaProblem]

It's a machine that divides by zero. Don't turn it on you'll kill us all.

Just kidding I have no idea.

[Crow]

Sure is a nice one, whatever it is! Be sure to post pix of the fire!!

[MACflyer]

Doesn't appear to be a tester of any type. My guess is a box of flashing lights, maybe sequential, with all the different capacitors. Not sure why 90 VDC is needed though? Why build it? Because he could. Pretty cool.

[Keta]

48v DC can kill,  90v DC and that many capacitors is a safety hazard.

[oldmanjoe]

  It`s a Bootleggers beacon ,used on the beach to signal ships that the coast was clear to unload .

[Dominick]

It`s a Bootleggers beacon ,used on the beach to signal ships that the coast was clear to unload .

Is that for real Joe?  It does make sense.  Keep us posted if you power it up.  Dominick

[OhReely]

With all due respect it's not voltage that kills it's current. DC current, 100-200 ma (milliamperes), maybe even less depending on a bodies resistance and the duration, is enough to cause fibrilation.

My guess, based on what you said about his interests, would be some type of test set although I don't see any input or output jacks. That battery is pretty small, not much current. 90vdc is nothing in the world of vacuum tubes.

Edit: spelling

[quang tran]

Using battery to charge up all that capasitors the light show how many capasitors are charged then they can shot out to catch a shark . I guess base on fisherman mind

[Keta]

With all due respect it's not voltage that kills it's current. DC current, 100-200 ma (milliamperes), maybe even less depending on a bodies resistance and the duration, is enough to cause fibrilation.

My guess, based on what you said about his interests, would be some type of test set although I don't see any input or output jacks. That battery is pretty small, not much current. 90vdc is nothing in the world of vacuum tubes.

Edit: spelling

The capacitors are the issue.

[boon]

Based on the combination of capacitors and resistors, and the lack of any input or output other than the switch and lights I would say it's some sort of timer. If the caps and resistors are different values they will charge at different rates meaning the lights should come on in some sort of sequence, although almost certainly being filament bulbs and with no sign of any transistors in there they will probably slowly increase in glow as the voltage rises. With 90v on tap I would have to guess the whole operation is wired in series as well.

As for whether it's dangerous, I'd want to understand the wiring configuration of the capacitors before I poked around too much. If the caps are in fact at 90v then I'd say there's enough stored juice there (assuming the capacitors haven't all leaked their electrolytic goop out) to do you a mischief. There also doesn't seem to be any sort of overcurrent protection (read: fuse) in there so any kind of short will likely result in the battery dumping as much current as it can, which will almost certainly cause the magic smoke to escape.

[foakes]

Unfortunately, it may have had a use at one time —- whether fun, educational, or testing —-

However, I would take out the battery, stick the contraption into a heavy duty sack, and destroy it with a 10 lb. sledge hammer —- then send it to the dump.

Be interesting to know the purpose, however in the wrong hands the capacitors could spoil someone's day.  Especially some kid messing around that might cause a fire by connecting 120V AC to it.

Best, Fred

[Brewcrafter]

I hit up one of my buddies that is into vintage electronics.  He in turn sent me this link.  Cautionary word as anyone that has ever spent anytime on any of the fishing/fishing gear forums on Reddit will know; there is a LOT of bad advice pure misinformation on Reddit (but also a lot of good stuff too).
https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisit/s/HxbNseTe4s

Sent from my iPhone

[Keta]

Nice to ID it, TY.


"Safety Warning: Be careful poking around inside. 90 volts is enough to give you a dangerous shock, and if it has old capacitors inside, they can hold that charge for a long time."

[Gfish]

A torture device? "Tell me or I will keep adding capacitor shocks until you do!" How well did you know your Brother-in-law?... kidding.