Funny device

[ivconic]

[ivconic]

[ivconic]

Is it cable locator?
Is it ulitlity locator?
A man brought it the other day.
Kinda "working" but I am not sure is it faulty, broken...
There is 170mH coil on ferrite rod as the "sensing" component.
I was thinking to dismantle it and to take that coil for experimenting.
But, if this is the device of some value; I would like to know and not to take it apart just like that.
Didn't have time to pay more on analyzing it, these days too many responsibilities.
If anyone know more details on this; please share here, help me to preciselly classify this type of the device.

[waltr]

Very quick Google search result:
Hermann Sewerin GmbH Technology leader for gas and water leak detection equipment The Sewerin group of companies is an internationally successful, family owned group with its headquarters in Gütersloh, Germany. The core business is the development, production and global distribution of electronic measuring equipment for the gas and water supply and distribution industry. A global distribution network covering more than 80 countries makes Sewerin one of the leading companies in its field of expertise.

So it is probably a pipe detector.

[ivconic]

[Krzysztof]

The second part of the device will be a generator pinned to the pipe somewhere at the beginning, this device is a portable sensor / locator.

[Skippy]

Judging by the large ferrite transformers, I think this device is likely to be a generator as well as receiver. It could operate in receive-only mode, if used with a seperate transmitter unit. It's very clean inside, for a 1981 vintage device. The usual suspects are of course the electrolytic capacitors.

[Carl-NC]

Yes, pipe & cable tracer. Those big transformers are more likely the RX filters. There would have been a separate TX unit that either direct-connects or inductively couples to the pipe/cable. The swivel inductor is new to me. If you put it horizontal you get a peak reading directly over the line, if it's vertical you get a sharp null directly over the line, and placing it 45° lets you triangulate the depth of the line. Modern line tracers usually have 2 horizontal and 1 vertical sense inductors, plus a transverse "azimuth" coil for sensing rotation. The 2 horizontal coils are spaced vertically and can give you an on-the-fly depth reading.

[GeoMax]

It must be a very old device already. Because you can see it from the address sticker. The zip code is pre-1990's and it says "W. Germany" (West Germany). From the componets used on the PCB it looks like a typical mid 1980's device.

[ivconic]

Thanks for the comments.
I was attracted by the inductance of the coil as well as the ferrite rod, which is of larger dimensions and very hard to find today.
I also have the impression that the composition of the ferrite rod is different from today's.
When I get there I will open that part and take a picture.
I was already opening it, so I changed my mind and returned it to its original state.
Until I think about whether to destroy the whole device or save it in this state.
170mH coil on such a ferrite seems to me very suitable for making a more modern "ferro-probe", or a magnetometer with a passive sensor.
I still have an unfulfilled desire to make something like that. Modeled on Fisher ferro probes (I don't remember the exact name).
Dave Johnson once offered to send me one such coil. I don't remember the inductance but I think he mentioned about 20,000 windings!!!
I don't even have a schematic. Dave didn't want to give me the schematic directly, but he described the concept of that device to me in words.
There are several really interesting devices on the market today.
Once someone sent me a link to a Youtube private recording, where you can see a test with such a device, I think it's Ebingher Magnex 120.
The video shows a hole dug over 2 meters. At the bottom of the hole is an old military helmet.
And a demo of how that device reacts to such a "target" was shown.
To say I was impressed is an understatement.
But the price of that device is too high for my budget.
What I saw in that video is enough to make me believe that it would be an ideal detector for very deep militaries.
And here in my area there are many prehistoric sites where there are very valuable finds of hardened iron.
Such a finding is often much more valuable than if I found something of "noble" metal.
My magnetometer has such results. But there is no such agile and decisive response and immediate work.
So I still haven't achieved the ease and speed of work that I saw on that video.
You can make a very good device and be happy with it. But when you see something better afterwards; then you remain "challenged" and "dissatisfied".
That's why I'm still very interested in this topic.
This is a radio locator, pipe&cable locator. And as such I am not interested because I have seen much better. Cscope 33XD for example.
But I'm interested in how to use its coil for some of my work.
And since I mentioned the Ebingher Magnex 120... it would be good to know what kind of sensor(s) that device uses.
It would also be good if we had a schematic of the Fisher ferro probe. It is a long discontinued product. Fisher is no more.
I think it's about time some schematics are freely published.
Work and knowledge will thus continue to live among people long after.
Hiding such knowledge is stupid in my opinion. Maybe I'm an incorrigible idealist...

[ivconic]

Yes, pipe & cable tracer. Those big transformers are more likely the RX filters. There would have been a separate TX unit that either direct-connects or inductively couples to the pipe/cable. The swivel inductor is new to me. If you put it horizontal you get a peak reading directly over the line, if it's vertical you get a sharp null directly over the line, and placing it 45° lets you triangulate the depth of the line. Modern line tracers usually have 2 horizontal and 1 vertical sense inductors, plus a transverse "azimuth" coil for sensing rotation. The 2 horizontal coils are spaced vertically and can give you an on-the-fly depth reading.

Carl I think i told this story before, several years ago, maybe more.
I had Cscope 33XD and I posted photos of its inside, somewhere on this forum.
It has two separated coils on ferrite rods. I think 32cm distance from each other.
It has LCD and it can show depth in numerals. Say... if depth is 180cm it will show "180cm".
And if you walk along the pipe trace and the depth is changing; you will follow the real time depth readings changes too.
On a "good" days that feature is working flawless, 99% true and accurate.
On a "bad" days it will not display readings.
So I figured out how to make it 100% accurate and to show readings on "bad" days too. I made pretty simple and obscure TX for it.
I used clock crystal 32.xxx kHz and bridge configuration TX, pretty strong, amplitude was over 200vpp.
I made approximate coil, I think 30cm diam, tied to that TX.
So, on "bad" days I put that TX some 15-20 meters away from a "path" where I am about to locate a pipe.
And it works like a charm. 20 measures, 20 accurate and correct depth readings, up to 230cm depths (in manual they said 200cm is the max. but in practice I got 230cm as the max)
...
Short explanation on "good" and "bad" days. It is the radio propagation situation on some days or at some periods in a day.
Obviously 33XD uses some "stray" radio signal close to 33kHz. So on some days that distant signal is weak and on some days is good enough.
Therefore the "good" and "bad" days...
Using local TX overcomes the problem and gives always 100% accurate readings.