[ Craig Gockel asked, in 030112 MMDigest: ]

> Which side is Line, and which side is Load?

If I ever teach electrical engineering again, I'll use this on a test.

I'm assuming that the converter consists of an AC induction motor that
drives a DC brush-type generator.  The device likely has four darkish,
cloth-covered wires emerging from the same anonymous hole in the
housing.  The colors of the wires have long faded into history, as has
any color code.  (Dunno -- I've never seen this particular device.)

So we need an ohmmeter (or a battery and a light bulb) and some luck.
Unless there's some trick circuitry inside, one arbitrarily-selected
pair of wires should show low resistance (maybe ten ohms).  The other
pair should, as well.  That's the easy part.

About all I can think of that would differentiate between the motor
and the DC generator would be to get access to the brushes of the
generator.  Removal of one brush will break the contact between the
'load' pair of wires.  If the brushes can't be readily removed, there
still might be a way to thread a probe into the housing to contact one
brush or its housing.  This probe should show low resistance with
either one of the 'load' wires.

I'd sure be interested to hear what others suggest.

Mark Kinsler
Lancaster, Ohio USA
http://www.frognet.net/~kinsler