Solenoid valve tester

[Chris Bates]

Hi,
I was looking for a device to test solenoid valved. It's easy to check for continuity and magnetisation, but checking the actual operation is not always easy.

I couldn't find what I wanted, so I made my own.
It has proved useful when checking disinfection valves on Fresenius without the machine then requiring a mandatory disinfection/rinse.
Also used to check chair actuator motors.

If anyone knows where I could get a commercial version that would be good as it was a bit fiddly to make this prototype.
USB rechargeable (battery from a rechargeable vape!), Battery level indicator, output voltage display, capable of 2A - ish.

[Chris Pearson]

Hi Chris,
This was mine I built whilst I was on secondment at Riyadh Military Hospital in KSA in 1985.
I was given a large box of Seratron balance chamber valves to repair and test as they were costing thousands to ship in from Portland Oregon.
It also connected up to the compressed air line to check not only did the valve move but if the seal was working.
Saved them thousands of dollars by repairing rather than replacing.

Yours is much more up to date but sadly I think it would cost a fortune now to get either made up commercially.

[Chris Bates]

You haven't changed a bit.

Mine was fun to build but fiddly. Helped by replacing my 30 year old soldering iron, which was about as effective as using a warm spoon!

[Gareth Murcutt]

Hi Chris P

Were you ordering in for Drake Willock machines? I was in Amman, Jordan in 1986 and used to order parts for them from Portland. However no balance chambers in those so perhaps Cobe. Army started making parts for conc chamber pistons themselves from nylon - not PTFE - life expectancy of a Star Trek security guard but cheap...

[Chris Pearson]

Hi Gareth,
You are of course correct, my memory isn't what it was so thank you for correcting me.
The machines at RKH in Riyadh were the Seratrons made by Cordis Dow in Miami .
They were only ever sold to 2 UK units,The Jubilee Unit in Norwich run by Gordon Farquhar and Lodge Moor in Sheffield.
They were revolutionary in the their time,as far as I know the only machine to ever have a remote control for the patient rather than having to reach to the machine controls.
Sadly their reliability was dreadful due to component material degredation and again if my memory serves me right, which may not be correct so open to correction,I think they lost a court case to either Hospal or FMC for volumetric balance chamber patent infringement and had to pay about 1K Dollars per machine sold in damages.
They were replaced in Sheffield by the COBE Centry 2000 .