FJW Find-R-Scope power supply info

[shrad]

Hi All

I have a nice find-r-scope unit I purchased $75 on ebay, which revealed to be in pristine condition except battery leakage everywhere

After cleaning, it proved to be working but the old PSU (was still the mercury battery model, so old is a gentle term) soon died from an unknown reason

I disassembled it and it is a simple one transistor oscillator... replacing it did nothing so I disassembled the voltage multiplier and tried to test it, but it seems there is nothing out of it

Do someone have any information about this power supply and its schematic, especially the small transformer and the voltage multiplier?

I'm trying to restorate it to a certain degree and would like to reuse most of the original parts if possible...

Thanks all!

[macona]

The tube is a pretty generic IR converter tube and they like to run in the 10kv range, I believe. You can probably use a CCFL backlight inverter to drive the voltage multiplier to get the voltage you need. Does this unit have the cylindrical power supply that slides up into the handle?

[shrad]

Yes, I found some old balkan era night vision goggles use the same power supplies and are available on ebay for 50€ approximately, so it might be a decent replacement

the only thing is my unit has a battery retainer which is of the mercury battery era so it won't accept batteries of not modified (and 1.5V batteries are not available at a format which will enter in the barrel)

[macona]

I noticed those power supplies as well on ebay. I have a little IR image converter tube I want to build into a viewer and was thinking about trying that. In the case of my tube it has the voltage multiplier right on the tube so I just need to give it about 1kv to operate it. I got nailed testing the tube, though. Darn spark jumped a good 1/4" from the tube to zap me in the finger!

[andyf97]

That was cheap, I got a perfect condition one but it was like some hundreds.

Hi All

I have a nice find-r-scope unit I purchased $75 on ebay, which revealed to be in pristine condition except battery leakage everywhere

After cleaning, it proved to be working but the old PSU (was still the mercury battery model, so old is a gentle term) soon died from an unknown reason

I disassembled it and it is a simple one transistor oscillator... replacing it did nothing so I disassembled the voltage multiplier and tried to test it, but it seems there is nothing out of it

Do someone have any information about this power supply and its schematic, especially the small transformer and the voltage multiplier?

I'm trying to restorate it to a certain degree and would like to reuse most of the original parts if possible...

Thanks all!

[shrad]

That's why I jumped on it, even the tube is unaffordable at FJW website, and I have the complete handle and apparatus..

I also think a small HV module like those miniature 5V to 20kV black cylindrical modules might be OK with a 3V6 CR123 cell... but there are none I can find on ebay... maybe some wrong keywords?

[opcom]

Use care as the voltage rating on the tube should not be exceeded. I have one of those instruments as well. the manufacturer is still in business and makes an adapter to use modern batteries with it.

[mixedgas]

Does your tube have a tap for the focus electrode or do you have a self focusing tube?
If there is no focus tap, consider a module from Emco High Voltage.

Steve

[shrad]

opcom : yes I know, but the price for a power supply is rather high ($500) and the battery adapter itself is $50, so I'd better find an alternative

Steve : no focus tap, it's a self focusing one so I guess I'll be OK with a simple high voltage module... the olny requirement would be that it fits in the handle, or I could also put it in the top IR torch which is dead anyway (old battery leakage ate the copper battery clips and trashed interior)

thanks guys for the knowledge sharing