Mystery Brick!!! 

My guess would be that this was intended for some sort of lamp exposure thing, like for an automated darkroom process or silkscreen mask making or something.

I wish all power brick cases were built that way, instead of the welded together cases we get on most things. Would make repairing psu's so much easier.

When I was a kid, I made something like this for a TV my parents kept in their bedroom before TVs had built-in sleep timers. As an added bonus, I added a keyed power switch too so that they could keep my brother from sneaking in there and watching TV. Seems like this would have been in a photo dark room. Either way, pretty neat!

This was more satisfying than that time Geraldo opened Al Capone's vault live on prime time TV. At least this time there was _something_ inside to investigate.

You could bring a variable resistor out the front and use it as a photographic timer!

My guess at just the thumbnail was a schaffner EMI filter. Bit of a surprise!

_ 9 seconds sounds like it might be an exposure time for printing pictures from negatives or for exposing a contact sheet from negatives. _ I used to use a manual timer when I had a darkroom 50 years ago. The timer you have just shown us would have worked great if it had a rheostat for setting variable exposure times.

Little tip for writing on dark backgrounds, best medicine isn't a metallic Sharpie or a paint marker usually, it's a Wite-Out metal tip pen. Or a MeanStreak for larger surfaces but the Wite Out pen is the best for carrying in a pocket and writing on stuff. It doesn't dry out cause the nib is actually a needle valve, it's steel so they don't get all fuzzy, the ink is liquid and not in a weird tube sponge thing so you can leave them in any direction and you don't have to worry about em getting weak, and refills are 99 cents. Can even mix in a little oil paint or ballpoint pen ink if you want some color added. They'll even take the juice out of any failed paint markers too, as long as they're the oil/alcohol/xylene based ones and not the newer acrylic ones. Just remember the nib is reverse-thread, the slightly more expensive ones with the dual brush/squeeze bottle unscrew the normal direction but the cheap basic ones are reverse thread.

As soon as I seen the brick I instantly knew it was a nine second timer. Very popular items back in the day. I may still have one in storage.

I was a bit excited for a while thinking this was a "wait" timer: AC in, time delay, AC out. With a few of these and some variable resistors I could modify an AC strip to power on a number of devices in sequence (e.g. instruments first, then mixer, then amplifier). It's relatively easy to make it from scratch, but a solid-state timer would be more elegant.

The way you *thunk* the brick on the desk is so satisfying

Still better than the brick i pulled out of a Xerox wax printer. A 4x6x4 white box, with two wires sticking out of it. I thought weird... but never opened it until well after... to find out that it was an empty plastic box with a cast iron coupon inside, the wire looped back on itself to the connector. It's a shame i never bothered to take pictures of the code number on it and contents, because... damn.

I was thinking it was going to be a some sort of 1-1 transformer for isolating the actual output from the input for some reason.

At least there wasn't a dead cat in the box.

As an electrician for 20+ years I have seen a lot of rigged up stuff. If I had to guess this is for a door latch. Hit a switch and the latch will stay open for the predetermined time and automatically lock. This is definitely something that was built because someone was trying to be cheap and use something for what it wasn’t meant to do. The darkroom idea that another comment suggested is another likely candidate. It could even be for a motor or pump that only needed to run for a few seconds at a time.

I expected a ferrite, but I recognized the device as soon as you revealed. I encountered similar devices in tower light beacons. To flash at a specific rate, those are usually calibrated as per the faa spec for on and off durations and ppm. The hole in the middle is to bolt to a heat sink if you are using it at higher amperage draws. They will fail early if you don’t.

totally solid-state one-shot timer. spec sheet includes handy dandy chart for resistor value vs time delay

I looked up the datasheet. The time delay is set by using a resistive value equal to 0.1 megohms per second.

Find a spot in the box to mount an appropriate potentiometer and then you have an adjustable timer, seems more useful than fixed time to me.

My first guess was some sort of noise filter...at my last job, I built several noise filters...the basic coil and capacitor arrangement sealed in a can gizmos. I built them into plastic cases to make them office worker resistant..

Like many others, my first guess was an EMI filter; an interesting surprise for sure! Unrelated, it irritates me so much that they soldered to the terminals instead of using the proper crimp! It's not like it's a weird uncommon one, anyone doing AC wiring in devices should have a Faston crimper and terminals if ya ask me :P

Made to flash the display lights in a shop window,m so you could get attention to all the specials on display. I remember having one years ago, with a bimetallic flasher in series with the line, which flashed the 10 40W pygmy lamps in the window, to draw attention to the specials on for that week, and to get people to come in and shop. This was 1970's era tech, as the original owner had put this in in the late 1960's as his high technology flashing signage. Later on replaced with a red moving text display with attached programmer, and eventually went into disuse. for twinking lights there was also another box, with in it a pair of flourescent lamp starters, ST111, with a pair of strings of clear Xmas tree lights, with the starters doing a random flash on them, and the 2 strings to ensure you would have a sort of running display. Still have the Faraday motor and rolling contactor though from an old set of marquee lights, with the 4 outputs that ran a running light display, which used 144 15W lamps. You can bet I made the lamp supplier happy when I ordered spare lamps, needing 2 boxes of them at a time. That was replaced with a neon sign, with magnetic transformers and an electronic flasher that was sort of reliable, it would run at least 2 years before needing 3 new relays on the output side. Still have some of the spare neon sections I kept as spares, as otherwise it was expensive paying the call out fee for 1 failed section, so I had 2 of each of the common units, so I could swap them out, then wait till I had 3 failed ones before sending them in for repair.

Fran, does the timer eventually turn the power back on after the 9seconds ?

My first thought was that it was a "line conditioner" like what is sold to audiophiles to supposedly improve the sound quality (but usually doesn't do anything). Edit: I finally looked this up. It couldn't be used in any of the ideas that I stated. If it were normally open instead of normally closed, it could be used for something like an air conditioning compressor start delay.

I just love this because you are just so awesome.. . Quick and easy.. Excellent presentation

Sorry for the dumb question but... does it also shut off after 9 seconds, then back on in a loop?

Makes me want to construct a brick, with 25 screws that need the most obscure screwdriver. When you get inside, there's another box that needs 25 screws removing. When you get through that, it's just a cable going in one side and going out the other. Give it to someone you hate.

Timers like this can have various uses. I set up a timer to close the garage door in the evening so it wouldn't be left open over night. The timer was on for a minimum time of one minute so I used another timer with it to make it shut off in about 0ne second after it turned on. It was relay switched so I connected the relay contacts to the wires at the switch for the garage door opener. Had to add a couple switches to detect that the door was open so it wouldn't open the door if it was closed. I used another one to keep our motion sensor light from switching to manual and staying on after short power failures. It was connected before the switch for the light and set to delay the power from coming back on for about 3o seconds after the power came back on.

Those metallic sharpies are great. I use them for marking tube pretty frequently.

I love that now I know that such a specialized device exists if I ever need one.

Made something similar looking. Used a single outlet box and used a 1 foot cord cut in half. Connected the wires to a regular on/off switch. The reason behind the invention, was that the house was in total remodel, the can lights were installed but there was just exposed wires and no power. The electrician was nice enough and had already marked each wire for when they got the switches/outlet. Connected a small 150w inverter directly at first but the other workers would forget to unplug to save battery. So I made myself a switch using the old removed switches and connected to the lights. Now they would just flicker on and off when needed. Saving battery on the inverter (an 18v battery tool inverter)

Mystery brick that DOES SOMETHING! I am so excited :D

Weird, I was sure it would work the other way around - ie delay turn-on of the load either to allow for something else to be "ready" or to prevent startup of something until another thing with a high turn-on transient load had already started. But no.

My guess is it's like a big chonker of a ferrite core for line noise suppression. May have been useful for TV back in the analog days. Turns out it's not that, but what would you need that short of a timing interval for? Maybe it's for etching circuit boards via a photo-chemical process and a strong light source?

An ex merchant navy guy told about a similar device attached to the ships radio. on it was a label "Must never be opened". Someone opened one. What was in it? Nothing, a straight through cable. A very, very expensive cable. I'm sure those that have sailed the seas will know the companies name also embellished on the device. This may or may not be a true story, but it's what he told me, in a pub.

it was probably used for remote wall outlet for garage opener or something along that line. consider it could be triggered remotely in that case it has various uses

This is literally the first time I ever seen any of your videos and I'm not even disappointed. Love your voice.

That box is the internet.

That is exactly the kind of thing I would never throw away but would also never use..

Interesting device. When you first opened it up I though it worked in opposite - keep load off until input power was stable for a predetermined time. Agree with other posts likely darkroom timer or something similar.

The duration brings to mind a security "scare" light, triggered by a motion sensor. Meh, if so, they'd probably put the relay in the same package.

High build quality. Very cool. Thanks for the teardown!

My best guess would be for a UV light for photolithography. You would hook it up to a switched outlet, and then the light can be started by flipping the switch, and it will automatically turn itself off.

Very useful for knowing when nearly ten seconds pass. 👍

I know a man that has something like that in his wood shop. It controls the dust collector. The vac runs for about 10 seconds after the table saw cuts off. The vac cuts on with the table saw and runs while the table saw is running and keeps running for about 10 seconds after the saw cuts off.

I would guess that it had something to do with lab work or some kind of production process. Possibly like running a mixer/stirrer for a specific amount of time, or like viewer Fluffy said, A lamp for darkroom work or exposure to certain wavelengths of light for that set time. I wonder if it's a continuous cycle of 9 seconds on, 9 off, 9 on, 9 off... or is just 9 seconds on and then stays off until reset? If somehow it could be set to like one second on, off, on, off.. It would make a nice Christmas light blinker for the newer LED lights that don't blink.

I love when you pop open things and show us what it is inside. :)

My folks had security camera system in the 80s (video cassette) that had something very similar, I would say the same box but with screw terminals on either end and no m/f pigtails. There was a low-light camera over the garage that had a fixed point but every three minutes it would make a 120 degree sweep. At night the mechanism that controlled the sweep motor used one of these boxes to turn on a floodlight during the sweep. The “enable” of the flood light was controlled by a dusk to dawn sensor/switch. Everything was very modular and easy to repair. Clunky by today’s standards, but worked.

You could probably fit it with a rotary switch and multiple resistors and make it a more useful timer.

Great use for a metallic Sharpie. No doubt what it does now.

Keep on doing what you are doing? I am not an electrical engineer but I did have parents that got me Heath Kit stuff. I find your channel very entertaining.

Sorry Fran, I did try to go back and edit the monster link, but you had already removed it by then. weird how many people didn't bother to google the part number you so execellently showed. Thanks for doing that. IT seems to be a device that reset the mains every so often. bases on the 2-20 and the resistor value one could caculate the timing. It is in seconds. Fun idea is hook it up to an Led light bulb and see what it does.

I bet a delay, to stop blowing circuit breakers when everything powers up. Now going to watch.

Why not swap the resistor for a potentiometer to make it an adjustable timer?

Possibly for exposure control in a darkroom enlarger or something like that?

Our family plays games together when we gather together at Christmas and Thanksgiving and sometimes a nine second time would come in handy to privide a "consistant and fare" time to respond to a question, or do a task. It could be plugged into one of those extension cords used to turn on and off a christmas tree. Switch the inline switch the tree goes on, then a player has nine seconds to answer a question or complete a take before the tree orcould be a table lamp goes off. The inline switch is then switched off. Then turned back on again when next time limit for question or task begins.

9 seconds is exactly the right amount of time for a 4,300 watt toaster.

The Magical Mystery Brick Is coming to take you away Coming to take you away...

I also wonder if it was used for some kind of photo flash circuit, some kind of medical equipment, some kind of mechanical arcade game, some kind of vending machine, or some kind of industrial process equipment, some kind of display case used in a museum, or something. It seems like an odd interval timer. Also the fact that it outputs 120V and not a lower voltage also adds to the question of what it was originally for.

Well, your box was much better than mine. It just contained a mains filter. Would have loved this one much more! But that's the thing with mysteries! You never know!

"Mom can I turn on the Christmas lights." "Yea but only for 9 seconds"

I bet this was used in a photo lab for manual development of film.

why not replace FIXED resistor with a pot... to achieve variable timer?

You could put a potentiometer instead of a resistor to make it somewhat infinitely variable.

Probably used for developing photographs! Neat.

Post credits scene: 1:54: *The timing resistor isn't actually connected to anything. That box inside the box actually contains wifi-connecting hardware.* 4:13 *the hidden device sends a coded message halfway around the world, activating a sleeper agent living in Italy. He reaches into his bedside table, and, with hands visibly trembling, pulls out a transceiver and a slip of paper with something typed onto it. He makes a call, and speaks slowly and clearly into it..* 4:31 *...but upon receiving the coded message second , the agent, sweat dripping down their brow, abruptly stops speaking into the receiver mid-word. He turns off the transceiver, sighs deeply, and goes back to bed, to resume his normal life.*

You could read the resistor and bring up the sheet on the timer to find out what it set for

That reminds me of the DIY timer my university had for our enlarger in our darkroom... Most of it was old and built by a physics professor.

oh lawd. This looks like a hum eliminator that I made like 15 years ago. Same ugly improper project box and power cable. My heart nearly stopped when you opened it. Turns out it's not my hum eliminator :)))

The power company doesn't want you to know about this.

I could see the use of a 9 second delay til on timer. If you have a household generator you might want to spread out the turn-on time for things like refrigerators or air conditioners.

So it doesn't even turn itself Back on and reset the timer? Just a hard out at 9 seconds and that's? Nice butthead reference btw

Well if you can find the resistance range for the timing terminals you could simply add a potentiometer to make it adjustable assuming that you find one in the resistance range.

Put a pot on it and make it variable. I buy stuff like this at DAV or Goodwill all the time ! fun !

Many have suggested a darkroom timer. A darkroom timer that is not easily settable would be worthless. This thing is almost certainly just to turn some sort of lighting on and off and on and off to get attention, probably for light or sign at a place of business.

My guess is that this was built for the purpose of featuring it in a RU-vid teardown. It didn't disappoint.

As far as I can measure, the first light lasted for 9 seconds + 26/60 second. The second light lasted for 8 seconds + 47/60 second. That equals 9.43 seconds and 8.78 seconds. Average on-time was 9.11 seconds, slowing down 6.9 % from the first to the second run.

just in time for your christmass tree

When i first seen this oddball creation... I immediately assumed it was going to be a fancy ferrite. But as fluffy previously commented, i believe this is a timer for developing one particular product of some sort. maybe someone who built this will show up and let us know?! thanks Fran!

2:02 This is a time machine. Quickly! Put it back together! You'll let out the time circuit schmoo. That "Timing Resistor" has to be changed and set to the time you wish to travel back or forth to. 😆

Walk-out-of-a-large-room-light where the room has an inconvenient wall light switch maybe?

Maybe that was use for the earlier version of motion detection spot lights or alert sounds. Turn on for a brief moment and shuts off to conserve power. So, awareness or alertness sound, I don't know? That's what I would use it for. lol

I love that it doesn't even include a reset button. For another 9 seconds, you have to literally unplug it.

when I first saw it I thought it would just be a basic isolation transformer, because safety is important.

Is the off interval also 9 seconds, or does it stay off?

Good for Christmas lights

Disappointed in a lack of passive investigation prior to physical access. I did these exercises with my kids all the time.

Photography...it's to give a certain wattage bulb a pre measured dose of light to a film or paper or something.

You could add a trim pot and you'd be able to change the time easily. Still don't know what you could use it for though.

They could of made it smaller but I like it big so it is better insulated. and probably easier to work with.

Maybe for school photos? A photographer could use this to know exactly when to take a pic cuz kids always blink lol

9 seconds is a precise time which would give a reasonable exposure time for silver oxide paper, it's likely used for a darkroom enlarger.

I was kinda hoping for a "Tice Clock" kinda brick

Why not replace it with a Potentiometer so you can make it variable?

Plot twist, Franc actually put this together 25 years ago and doesn’t remember what for.

Not for hooking up to the basement stair light…

Metallic Sharpies aren't bad, but try Posca Acrylic Markers! They're like enamel paint markers, but better in about every way.

I have seen these used on towers. Have you left it on to see if it comes back on and then goes off at a steady interval? They used it as a warning light indicator.

I have the biggest crush on this woman 😂 such a nerd, I love it.

Reminds me of when I went to picture day.they had light like this with flash lights.