Stephen had gone down with Covid and was isolating the previous week so the meeting had been cancelled. As Laurence thought Stephen was still in isolation this week, he'd made other arrangements, so just Stephen and Geoff this week.
Worklist:
New power supply.
Install exchange boards control system (EBCS).
Stephen dismantled the temporary setup that used his EBSC wire/plug components and started to wire them into the control box. Meanwhile, Geoff investigated an old H&M Motorman transformer-rectifier. The unit had been 'modified', but after testing, it was still deemed to be viable. He was able fit a new rectifier and fit new cable connections, making it perfect for providing the AC & DC supplies required. No 4-core cable could be found and so a temporary arrangement using two separate 3-core cables with excess wires removed was employed. The last job was to fit the new 6-pin DIN plug and it was ready for use. The unit was connected to the local panel and everything worked perfectly.
Meanwhile, after finishing the rewiring, Stephen was at a loss how to test the unit. According to the lights, the switch boxes worked perfectly - each section could (theoretically) take or cede control of the exchange area (the two central adapter boards). Inserting the board plugs enabled power from the local panel to pass into adjacent adapter board 4, but the EBSC section switches didn't relay power to the exchange boards. Unfortunately, Stephen had very little recollection of how the main box worked and elements of it only returned slowly, as Geoff (who knew nothing about the system), asked salient questions. Individual circuits were tested, but as no flaws were found and with time elapsing without much progress, the problem was shelved for the following week.
