I took apart 
my 1982-vintage Nicolette oscilloscope last week. The power supply filter capacitors added up to around 100,000uF, the majority being three 25V 28000uF units on two completely separate linear power supplies. One of the 50V 8800uF capacitors (1.5" x 2.5" approx. ! ) was in such good shape that the guts will rattle when shaken.
haha, that's what happens when a cap. dries out. Still powered up, but I don't think the filtering is what it once was!
This thing was huge. I was thinking you would have room in there for about a case full of modern oscilloscopes that would all beat the pants off this one for capability while being 8x smaller and 30lbs lighter. Crazy.
my 1982-vintage Nicolette oscilloscope last week. The power supply filter capacitors added up to around 100,000uF, the majority being three 25V 28000uF units on two completely separate linear power supplies. One of the 50V 8800uF capacitors (1.5" x 2.5" approx. ! ) was in such good shape that the guts will rattle when shaken. haha, that's what happens when a cap. dries out. Still powered up, but I don't think the filtering is what it once was!
This thing was huge. I was thinking you would have room in there for about a case full of modern oscilloscopes that would all beat the pants off this one for capability while being 8x smaller and 30lbs lighter. Crazy.
Nicolet was a pioneer in FFT technology and was chock-a-bloc with first-rate minds; my time there was some of the most enjoyable of my career. The instruments were absolutely SOTA for the era, but the capabilities that I once found so impressive are now blown away by modern PCs. You've got a museum piece, the equivalent of an Apple II.
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