[Milsurplus] Smoked Eico 950

[CL in NC]

My trusty Eico 950 cap checker that I have used for decades, had the HV secondary open up.  I was using it and when I bumped it I noticed a small arc between the bottom of the panel and the test equipment it was sitting on.  I moved it around a bit and could see little arcs between the 950 bottom and the grounded audio wattmeter below it.  The eye tube started to grow bright and dim at the same time.  Opened it up thinking Iost filter cap, but no, open secondary.  It would not read on R X 10K on my VOM, but turn it on and it would blink  the eye tube, but nothing else worked.  The wax bypass cap to ground from the AC line cord developed  a low resistance path for 
AC to the chassis, causing the arcy sparky, guessing that AC somehow backfed the secondary and cooked it.  Found a company that supposedly was the original transformer supplier for Eico and known to still provide some transformers or build one, emailed them but no answer yet.  I opened up the paper on the transformer to see if it was something simple like the winding/lead solder joint, but no.  That HV secondary uses wire that is the smallest I have seen on an XFMR, it must be close to a #50.   I can use two 4 winding 120 VAC bobbin transformers phased right and get about 560AC which is what the secondary originally was, as a back up plan.  Should have cut that cap out a long time ago.

Charlie, W4MEC in NC