[ARC5] What's a Transformer?

[Robert Eleazer]

I previously mentioned my salvaging a big transformer out of a AM/FM stereo receiver.  Late yesterday I was walking my dog and ran into a young guy I know, the grandson of my next door neighbor, and told him about my find.

The kid's  a real wiz at computers and has his own workbench in the garage with electronic parts and a soldering iron.  He is not afraid to take things apart and fix them.  But he responded by saying "What's a transformer?  What's it look like?"

It turns out that he had also salvaged a home video receiver system, one with a 700W max output, and got an even bigger transformer out of it but did not know what it was. Aside from the many IC's he only recognized the big electrolytic capacitors.  He brought me the remains of the device last night.

It never occurred to me that someone who did so much with computers would not know what a transformer was.  But inside a PC you really don't encounter them.  Power supply repair there consists of swapping out the whole thing with a known good one.  I think I'm going to have a little educational session with him.

Wayne
WB5WSV

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