Never seen this device, you?

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MacG

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So I am aware of the improper romex in this pic but my question is about this face plate with the two pins normally seen on TV's, and other appliances for 'cheater cords' for inputting power to them but how were they used in these face plates?
 

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Whats going on with the NM raceway under the receptacle? Wonder how old that plate is? Sierra Electric (the manufacturer*) has been gone for close to 20 years, & doubt those connectors were in use much even in the 1990's.

*P&S was really the mfg. since they owned Sierra.
 
jumper said:
My guess is a funky NM tap to the receptacle with wire mold or such, dipped into the drywall.
Click to expand...

My guess is a handyman addition of another outlet without going back through the wall. I guess that's pretty much what you were saying, innit?
 
ptonsparky said:
This was a 300 ohm TV antenna connection. Supposedly a divider or no box at all in that area.
Click to expand...

Likely that is what it was but in all my years in the business I never saw one like that. Why the notch to maintain polarity?

Any ones I saw were female- just two holes in a wall plate to receive the round pins of the twin-lead plug.

Wondering if it might be a speaker connection or for some other LV device.

-Hal
 
Adamjamma said:
I would not be surprised if it was opened up and you found a low amp 12v transformer in there... since it is keyed...
Click to expand...

Yep, for power cord, not VHF balanced line. No idea what voltage thugh.

Open'er up and see what is back there to satisfy all our curiosity.
 
I was thinking this was done when cb was a fashion... light transformer to power a cb..lol... most draw my cb had was the radio shack one that looked like a telephone... 12 volts and seven amps on transmit, two amps on receive... I was learning Amatuer radio back then... lol... so measured amps to the radios and tried to learn output amps etc... still in my logbook from then...
 
With pins, even recessed, if it is a power coupling it's an inlet, not outlet. It doesn't fit any IEC 60320 pattern, as none had a single notch/bump.

This is what I recall as an antenna/rotor outlet:
IMG_0096.JPG
 
Craigv said:
With pins, even recessed, if it is a power coupling it's an inlet, not outlet. It doesn't fit any IEC 60320 pattern, as none had a single notch/bump.

This is what I recall as an antenna/rotor outlet:
View attachment 20993
Click to expand...
Two or three pins would be antenna. The old rotor receptacle would be a separate five pin connection, with power supplied by the control box, but sockets used on the wall plate nevertheless.
 
hbiss said:
Likely that is what it was but in all my years in the business I never saw one like that. Why the notch to maintain polarity?

Any ones I saw were female- just two holes in a wall plate to receive the round pins of the twin-lead plug.

Wondering if it might be a speaker connection or for some other LV device.

-Hal
Click to expand...

It might be speakers. The pins rather than sockets imply an output (if it's audio, anyway), and the polarity would be important for keeping the speakers in phase... my god, did I really just say that? I meant keeping the polarity of the speakers the same. :D

Aside: I don't know if they still do it, but back when I was in the audio biz, JBL marked the polarity of their speakers in reverse from everyone else. If you did the 9V battery thump test, JBL speakers would jump the opposite direction from anyone else's. Why would they do that?
 
GoldDigger said:
Two or three pins would be antenna. The old rotor receptacle would be a separate five pin connection, with power supplied by the control box, but sockets used on the wall plate nevertheless.
Click to expand...

Yep, it's coming back to me...this three pin is antenna, and the rotor would be a five pin below it on the same plate.

...which does nothing for the OP's picture, sorry......:D
 
ggunn said:
... JBL marked the polarity of their speakers in reverse from everyone else. If you did the 9V battery thump test, JBL speakers would jump the opposite direction from anyone else's. Why would they do that?
Click to expand...
One of the nice things about standards is that there are so many different ones to choose from.

Speakers mounted in the walls were common in the 1970s,
as was ignoring (or never knowing) the convention about inlets/pins and outlets/sockets.
 
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