A battery hack has revived the analog Triplett meter
Posted By RichC on April 27, 2016
A leftover weekend project was to see if I could get my dad’s old Triplett 630PL meter back to working shape. As a boy, I remember "carefully" using "his" meter when I was in junior high school and attempting to build Heathkit projects … 
like my shortwave radio. Thankfully I never has to depend o the homemade radio since I had a Zenith TransOceanic … which I still have to this day! What is interesting is that I now live where we could ONCE see the Voice of America towers (Bethany Rely Station) before they were taken down (the Cold War was over). Some great history and memories listening to VOA and other shortwave radio stations as a kid.
Back to reviving the old analog meter: Although the meter was in great shape and kept in its original boxes (with instruction book!), the 2 batteries inside the meter didn’t hold up so well. Thankfully no corrosion that did any damage and replacing looked to be simple … UNTIL trying to find an Eveready Energizer 413A 30 volt transistor battery … $37 ?? Yikes!
Thankfully there is a simpler solution. Put three 9 volt transistor batteries in series and the 27+ volts works great. 
Whew … now at an ultra-long life "D" battery to the mix and put the case back together.
IT WORKS GREAT!
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