Growler??

[hogluvr]

I bought an old armature growler, and upon further inspection it became obvious that someone had monkeyed around with the wiring inside. The wiring is a mess, things have been patched, disconnected, bare wires going nowhere, etc. This thing is old and there is no schematic to it, I was wondering if anyone had ever built (or rebuilt) one of these and had any idea how to wire one up? I did an internet search but came up empty...

Mike

[Perry Ruiter]

What brand? If it's the same as mine I'm happy to pop the bottom off and take some pictures. I wouldn't think it would be too complicated to deduce how it should be wired. It may not even be worth fixing. The last auto swap meet I was at there was a growler there for $25. Maybe toss this one and get another. If you're buying them on eBay it's the shipping that will kill you ... Perry

[hogluvr]

Perry,

Mine is made by Heyer Product Co., some may have more bells & whistles than others, but I would think they are all basically wired up the same way. It's probably a lost cause, but if it's not too much trouble I'd really appreciate it if you could take some pics of yours, I'm bound & determined to at least try to pull this thing out of the fire...

Mike

[Perry Ruiter]

My growler is just a basic unit. No meter on it. It's a "Silver Beauty" made by the Triple A Specialty Company. Anyway, attached is a photo of the guts. Three wires coming in from the wall plug. Ground to chassis, one directly to the transformer, one to the transformer via the on off switch. Transformer has 4 wires, the two previously mentioned inputs and two that seem to be a 6Volt DC output going to the test probes and indicator light.

I should add, when I bought my growler, the old guy I got it from told me the cardinal rule with a growler is never turn it on without an armature in it ... Perry

[T. Cotten]

Mike and Perry!

You quickly learn the reason for the rule when the magnetism pulls the armature from your hand, smacking it onto the growler, damaging the armature badly.

Actually I thought that was rule #2.
Rule #1 was: Never grab the commutator while it is excited!

(You will never forget it if you do.)

Mine has two leads with a continuity indicator bulb in series....and it seems to be 110v!

...Cotten
PS: Since I have a mental block about e-lect-trickity....I most often used my growler for magnafluxing rods, and occasionally gears.

[koanes]

My growler does more duty as a demagnetizer than armature tester. I use it mostly to knock the directions out of thrust washers and such after surface grinding.

[T. Cotten]

Doh!

I've been de-magnetizing after I've used the growler!

I just can't trust anything I can't see.... (attached)

....Cotten

[hogluvr]

Perry,

Thanks for the picture, I'll open mine back up later and see if I can make sense out of it. Mine is like Cotten's, it has a test lamp in it, as well as a high/low switch? I suppose if I can't make sense of everything, I can at least wire it up like yours and bypass the other stuff to at least try and make it work. (Can you tell I'm electrically-challenged?? )

Mike

[Perry Ruiter]

Here's what my unit looks like with the cover on. I'd like to get one with a meter. So many tools, so little time (and money!) ... Perry

[awander]

I have one with a meter, and I am pretty sure I have the schematic diagram for it. Let me see what I can find.

[awander]

Sorry it took so long; here is the schematic diagram of my growler. The mfr name has been mostly rusted off of the paint on the front, but it ended with "ER" and they were in Illinois.

As you can see, the meter just goes to a probe, which includes both leads in a small handle, and holds them about 1/4" apart, parallel to each other.



ANDY WANDER'S GROWLER SCHEMATIC.pdf