Tornado TV TAB DU: introduction

Years ago I was looking on the website of Helmut Singer and I saw the Tornado jet MRCA TV TAB display unit. Helmut Singer was a trader in surplus electronics and measurement equipment. Since the lack of budget I didn't buy one, but now, many years later I found the display unit on eBay and nowadays there is some budget for 'toys' like this. I thought it would be nice to do a tear down and (partially) reverse engineer the unit and find out what I can learn about it, what to use it for and otherwise is it a nice piece of equipment for aesthetic purposes. ;-)

I'll post my findings on this website, but It'll take some time to complete the pages! All the pieces of information will be published, but please be patient. Remind that the information is 'sketch' information untill the dot at the left of the hyperlink is green. ()

Helmut Singer

Years ago I saw this item at the website of the German equipment trader Helmut Singer. Unfortunately the business is closed and Mr Singer has passed away lately. I saved the information of the Tornado display as shown below. Back in the days I looked at the advertisement multiple times, but I never bought one...

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buy

Years ago I wasn't that handy with electronics and I definitely would not be able to get the device working and I probably would have used it as a 'show item'. But since my knowledge is grown it's likely I'll get the device in working condition. So after seeing the advertisement below I made an offer and after a couple of days the device was shipped. Yey!

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_{The eBay listing of the Tornado TV TAB display unit.}

The package arrived on the 8th of January 2021. The device was well packed and the related document was enclosed.

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_{A big box with a lot of fun in it! ;-)}
On the enclosed document is mentioned that the display unit is 'unserviceable' due to a very dim display. I guess this is good news. This indicates that the display intensity is weakened due ageing and not due to a technical failure. Since I don't have the intention to use the display in bright sunlight, I guess the intensity is good enough for me indoors. ;-) The hour counter at the back indicates 9.126 operational hours! This is more than 380 days of permanent use. The wear of the intensity is therefore rather normal.

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_{The enclosed service document which came with the device.}

first look

As EEVBlog host Dave Jones would say: "Don't turn it on, take it apart!" And since the device needs three phase 208 V @ 400 Hz ánd 28 VDC, turning it on is rather hard, so opening the device would be the next logical step. The device looks well organised and heavy duty built. There's a lot to discover and to tell about it so I decided to report the findings here. Before removing parts I spent some time to familiarize me with the equipment. At first is looks rather complex but after a while everything seems rather logical. Here are some first impressions of the device:

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_{The inside view from the top side after removing the panel.}

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_{The inside view from the bottom side after removing the panel.}

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