The LSSM, VCFed and System Source acquired a large collection of VAX hardware couple of years ago and divided it up for their various museums (6000? 7000?). There is very little about it online, but I have seen the portions that made it to vcfed and System Source. If it wasn't a very large 6000 array, it was something contemporary and there was a plethora of terminals, parts, cabinets that would have been 6000-compatible. You should ask someone at VCFed to take a look at what they have in the warehouse. Also the Rhode Island computer museum may have some 6000 stuff, I was just there.
Bill On Wed, Jul 14, 2021 at 9:21 AM Paul Koning via cctalk < [email protected]> wrote: > > > > On Jul 13, 2021, at 11:34 PM, Chris Zach via cctalk < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > >> When we got an 8530 at work in the early 90s (needed a machine with a > >> Nautilus bus for specific hardware testing), it was definitely a > >> 3-phase machine and since we were in an industrial setting, I just > >> tapped into our panel at the back of the warehouse and wired up a > >> 3-phase outlet for it. It never sat on our datacenter floor as a > >> result, but it really only ever had one purpose and that wasn't a > >> daily driver. Too much power, too much heat for so few employees (at > >> that stage of the company). > > > > Interesting. Were the power supplies 3 phase input? Like you I have > noticed that most pdp and vax gear just pull 120 volt legs off the 3 phase > to balance power loads. So you can run them on a couple of 120 circuits. > Outside of say the RP07 (which is a real 3 phase motor) > > A number of the large disk drives use 3 phase motors; RP04/5/6 are > examples as well. > > Three phase motors won't run on single phase power without help from run > capacitors. (There is no such thing as "two phase power" -- 220 volts is > single phase, balanced.) > > If the issue is motors, a "variable frequency converter" will do the job > easily. I have suggested in the past that three phase power supplies could > run from those, but others have pointed out I overlooked some issues. So > that's probably not a good idea. > > If you need three phase power to feed power supplies or other non-motor > power consumers, the best answer is probably a "rotary converter". You can > find those in machine tool supply catalogs. Basically they are a three > phase motor equipped with run capacitors so they can be fed single phase > power; the three phase power needed is then taken off the three motor > terminals. You can think of these as rotary transformers -- dynamotors in > a sense, for those of you who remember electronics that old. :-) > > Don't look at "static converters" -- those are only for motors, it seems > they aren't much more than run capacitors in a box. They won't help you > for anything other than a motor, and even for motors they aren't very good. > > paul > >
