What is it really SUPPOSED to do?
March 13, 2012 1:06 PM
What is this thing, where did it come from, and is my house going to burn down now that Turtle (left) has repurposed it as a cat toy?
Found this being batted around the kitchen floor this morning. (Fun!) It's 6" long. The longer stretch of black insulation has white lettering on it: "...25°C HFT (2.0°)." [The latter '°' is actually more like a lower-case o with a vertical line through it.]
The small bit of wire protruding from the fused end looks like it's been melted into a tiny ball. There's very little of the white insulation stripped from the forked end -- i.e., no significant amount of wire is exposed.
To my knowledge, it's too small to ground anything. Is it some sort of antenna? What could it have come from? It just appeared out of the blue.
Found this being batted around the kitchen floor this morning. (Fun!) It's 6" long. The longer stretch of black insulation has white lettering on it: "...25°C HFT (2.0°)." [The latter '°' is actually more like a lower-case o with a vertical line through it.]
The small bit of wire protruding from the fused end looks like it's been melted into a tiny ball. There's very little of the white insulation stripped from the forked end -- i.e., no significant amount of wire is exposed.
To my knowledge, it's too small to ground anything. Is it some sort of antenna? What could it have come from? It just appeared out of the blue.
Looks like just a simple double wire setup. It isn't actually anything, has no standard purpose other than that which its creator intended. The black insulation would be heat shrinkable tubing, and the 2.0ø is its diameter (ø is as close to the diameter symbol as I can get). And as for what HFT actually stands for, its something along the lines of Halogen Free Heat-shrinkable Tubing.
Nothing to worry about in the slightest.
posted by Petrot at 1:19 PM on March 13, 2012
Nothing to worry about in the slightest.
posted by Petrot at 1:19 PM on March 13, 2012
It's some kind of wiring harness, splitting a coaxial cable into two separate wires. It might be a speaker connection of some sort, since speakers have two terminals to connect to. The melted part is where the center conductor of the cable was soldered into something. The wires seem too fine for this to have carried AC line voltage.
The black insulation is heat-shrink tubing, used to cover and insulate connections. You slide it over the wires and expose it to a heat gun to shrink it and seal.
This would likely have been inside something like a radio or speaker enclosure, rather than exposed, so if your cat is playing with it there's a good chance it was someone's electronic trash that your cat got into. Is it (or was it recently) trash day in your neighborhood?
posted by tommasz at 1:20 PM on March 13, 2012
The black insulation is heat-shrink tubing, used to cover and insulate connections. You slide it over the wires and expose it to a heat gun to shrink it and seal.
This would likely have been inside something like a radio or speaker enclosure, rather than exposed, so if your cat is playing with it there's a good chance it was someone's electronic trash that your cat got into. Is it (or was it recently) trash day in your neighborhood?
posted by tommasz at 1:20 PM on March 13, 2012
Is it (or was it recently) trash day in your neighborhood?
It was, but they're indoor cats.
Going to chalk it up to don't-really-want-to-know-where-the-cat-has-been, because-I-didn't-know-that-indoor-cranny-existed.
Thanks!
posted by mudpuppie at 1:32 PM on March 13, 2012
It was, but they're indoor cats.
Going to chalk it up to don't-really-want-to-know-where-the-cat-has-been, because-I-didn't-know-that-indoor-cranny-existed.
Thanks!
posted by mudpuppie at 1:32 PM on March 13, 2012
It's a two wire configuration for measuring temperature. The two wires are joined at the end to create resistance, and that resistance is measured to give an approximation of temperature.
I can't see it doing your cats any harm, but I would want to know where it came from.
posted by Frasermoo at 1:46 PM on March 13, 2012
I can't see it doing your cats any harm, but I would want to know where it came from.
posted by Frasermoo at 1:46 PM on March 13, 2012
on further refelction it is 'almost definitely' a thermocouple. I think it may be from a low cost multimeter. Probably dropped by a 'handyman'.
posted by Frasermoo at 1:59 PM on March 13, 2012
posted by Frasermoo at 1:59 PM on March 13, 2012
Mystery solved.
Came home from work, folded the blanket that had been piled on the couch, and found this -- the digital face of the insta-read meat thermometer that my partner left on the kitchen table.
Have no clue how long it will take to find the probe....
posted by mudpuppie at 5:59 PM on March 13, 2012
Came home from work, folded the blanket that had been piled on the couch, and found this -- the digital face of the insta-read meat thermometer that my partner left on the kitchen table.
Have no clue how long it will take to find the probe....
posted by mudpuppie at 5:59 PM on March 13, 2012
but, what is Turtle's friend's name???
posted by spinturtle at 6:50 PM on March 13, 2012
posted by spinturtle at 6:50 PM on March 13, 2012
The probe is probably under the aforementioned fridge or stove. Or couch. Or chair. Or wall unit. Or bed.
posted by deborah at 6:50 PM on March 13, 2012
posted by deborah at 6:50 PM on March 13, 2012
Have no clue how long it will take to find the probe....
Update: It was on my bed when I got home from work this afternoon.
posted by mudpuppie at 5:47 PM on March 16, 2012
Update: It was on my bed when I got home from work this afternoon.
posted by mudpuppie at 5:47 PM on March 16, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
It was probably living under the fridge or the stove and your (adorable) kitty just managed to fish it out.
posted by TooFewShoes at 1:18 PM on March 13, 2012