[Milsurplus] Suicide Clips!

[Michael D. Harmon]

I'm enjoying the comments about my reference to "suicide clips"!

I'm 72 and I think I learned that expression back when I was in high 
school and had befriended my local radio/TV repairman.  Yes, "suicide 
clips" are nothing more than a piece of zip cord with an AC plug on one 
end and a pair of alligator clips on the other end.  The primary use is 
to supply line voltage to something that doesn't have its own line cord, 
like the two black wires on a power transformer.  Actually I have 2 or 3 
of them laying around, but at least mine have boots over the clips.  
Just remember to unplug them from the receptacle after using them.  
Having a set of "hot" clips laying loose on the bench is a recipe for 
disaster!

If any of you have heard of a "dim-bulb" tester, it's nothing more than 
a resistive load (light bulb - or even an old toaster element) that you 
hook up in series with a questionable piece of equipment.  If you plug 
it in and the bulb glows or the the heating element gets red, then your 
equipment under test has a short!  If the bulb or element barely glows 
or not at all, you may have some leakage, but probably not a dead short 
(hence the name "dim bulb tester").

A lot of us old-timers didn't have a lot of the test equipment that 
techs use nowadays.  A set of tools, a roll of tape, a soldering iron 
and a Simpson VOM were the staples of most benches of yesteryear.  
Anybody remember the Sprague Tel-Ohmike capacitor tester with the 
magic-eye tube?

Mike, WB0LDJ