Early November 2021 I found a Tandy Power Switching System at a thrift store for all of $4.00, so I picked it up expecting at best it might need some minor repairs. It was yellowed and missing most of the feet on the bottom swivel but it had potential and would make for a fun small project.
Once I got it on the workbench a quick smoke test was due and sure enough it was dead. Not surprised by this I opened it up to do a quick inspection, surprisingly for the age of this unit the inside was fairly clean. Now I am no electrical engineer, just an electronic hobbyist and realized looking at the components of this unit there were two issues. The first being one of the red radial varistor (MOV) had its side blown off and sitting on the board, the second was what looked like a resistor but was really a small fuse encased in a plastic shield that had blown and was bulging. However, I felt it would be best to get a 2nd and 3rd opinion from folks who know better. Sure, enough soon as I posted these pictures online a handful of people identified the blown varistor and the very small inline fuse that was blown.
Now that the culprits were identified I was off to order the parts, 1 pack of V120LA20AP Varistors and 1 pack of 3A Fast Blow Axial Lead Ceramic Tube Fuses. While I wait for the parts to arrive, I proceeded to disassemble the whole system to clean and lube the switches, thoroughly clean all the connections to the rear outlets and remove the front plastics along with the push switches to retrobright them. After the retrobright process of the plastics they once again color match the metal enclosure making the whole unit look like brand new again! After a week of waiting the varistors and fuses arrived and were easily soldered back into the positions of the blown units. Some quick reassembly and six new rubber feet on the bottom swivel, this unit is ready for action!
This was a quick and fun little project, what took the longest was just waiting for the parts to arrive. I would really like to thank those on Facebook that helped identify the exact components and also offered their own visual inspections of the many photos I uploaded there. The best part is having this Tandy Power Switching System back in action and looking like new again!
