need help identifying electrical/comm stuff in S250 shelter

Bought an S250 shelter a while ago from a SS member, intending to turn it into a camper, but recently purchased another S250 shelter that I'm going to use instead. This one has a ton of electrical & communication stuff in it, and I don't need any of it. Was thinking I might want to use the air conditioning unit, but wanted to ask how well these things work first. The other box doesn't have any cutouts, so would be a bit of work to add. Hoping you guys can help me identify the rest of this stuff too. Would like to know what I've got and what it's worth before putting anything up for sale. Shelter itself is in pretty great shape, and would be happy to sell the whole thing complete, but thought I might want to keep the sealed battery box and power supply units if they would be useful in a motorhome or something? Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

few more pics

I'd be interested in a lot of what's there. Only limited by the distance from you in CA to me in VA, so those heavy power supplies aren't going to find a home here. But they are worth good money, I've seen those units bring $200-300 in good order. Those you should find a good home for them.

The square boxes are the remote control units for the AN/GRC-206 Pacer Speak radio set. Yours are missing parts, though. Also, a couple junction boxes, a multimeter of some sort, data boxes, cabling, etc. I'd be interested in the GRC-206 parts, the LS-147 intercom, and some of that cabling. The rest of the stuff, like the battery boxes and rack pieces, I would like but distance and shipping cost would break my bank.

The PP-6224 AC to DC power supplies look nice. 6224's were/are fairly standard in a lot of applications, both in and out of shelters. But I haven't seen exactly that variation before. The LS-147 intercom is another piece I recognize. They were used in a number of different types of shelters. They're commonly referred to as a "bit*h box".

Can you tell us what the nomenclature on the door reads or take a pic. That A/C unit is not one of the better ones. Nice to see a shelter that hasn't been gutted and made into a hazmat storage locker. But to be desirable it will need to house an interesting radio set.

maddawg308 said:

I'd be interested in a lot of what's there. Only limited by the distance from you in CA to me in VA, so those heavy power supplies aren't going to find a home here. But they are worth good money, I've seen those units bring $200-300 in good order. Those you should find a good home for them.

The square boxes are the remote control units for the AN/GRC-206 Pacer Speak radio set. Yours are missing parts, though. Also, a couple junction boxes, a multimeter of some sort, data boxes, cabling, etc. I'd be interested in the GRC-206 parts, the LS-147 intercom, and some of that cabling. The rest of the stuff, like the battery boxes and rack pieces, I would like but distance and shipping cost would break my bank.

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Got your PM, thanks. Won't get rid of anything before talking to you about anything you might want/need.

sigo said:

The PP-6224 AC to DC power supplies look nice. 6224's were/are fairly standard in a lot of applications, both in and out of shelters. But I haven't seen exactly that variation before.

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What else can you guys tell me about those power supplies? Curious as to their purpose and capacities.

NDT said:

Can you tell us what the nomenclature on the door reads or take a pic. That A/C unit is not one of the better ones. Nice to see a shelter that hasn't been gutted and made into a hazmat storage locker. But to be desirable it will need to house an interesting radio set.

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Absolutely. Will take a pic next time I go over to the yard. Glad I asked about the AC unit. As much trouble as it would be to remove and reinstall it in the other shelter, doesn't seem like it's worth the trouble. Will probably sell it with the shelter and get another AC unit for the other shelter if/when I need one.

Forgot to take pictures of all the different power/signal input panels around the outside of the shelter too. All those panels seem to be complete.

Got another trivia question: Pulled this box off a generator trailer a while ago. What is it? Looks kinda like a big battery isolator switch?

The switch is the changeover switch from generator A to B when one of them needs to be serviced. I think yours is from the 10 kW sets, these were mounted in 1.5 ton trailers.

The 6224 will take 115/230 VAC in and output 24-28 VDC at about 25 amps. I have most often used them to power tactical radios in a dismounted (non-vehicular) configuration. You can power anything from VRC-12/RT-524 to PRC-77 to SINCGARS, EPLRS, PSC-5, PRC-117, BFT, FBCB2, PRC-150, PRC-104 and so on. They're very useful. Looks like yours is an 6224A. I've used the 6224B most often, though 6224C is more common now. I've never seen a 6224A, but I assume it's about the same as a B, perhaps just in a slightly larger case.

Your AC input cable should have a standard 3 prong male end and a 5 pin cannon/amphenol connector on the other end that will connect to the 6224. The output connector will take various cables designed to power tactical radios.

...and I'd probably take one off your hands if it works, you have at least the input cable, and the price/shipping was right.

NDT said:

The switch is the changeover switch from generator A to B when one of them needs to be serviced. I think yours is from the 10 kW sets, these were mounted in 1.5 ton trailers.

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Roger that. Will have to take a look at how it's wired to see if it might be useful as a battery isolator switch or something.

sigo said:

The 6224 will take 115/230 VAC in and output 24-28 VDC at about 25 amps. I have most often used them to power tactical radios in a dismounted (non-vehicular) configuration. You can power anything from VRC-12/RT-524 to PRC-77 to SINCGARS, EPLRS, PSC-5, PRC-117, BFT, FBCB2, PRC-150, PRC-104 and so on. They're very useful. Looks like yours is an 6224A. I've used the 6224B most often, though 6224C is more common now. I've never seen a 6224A, but I assume it's about the same as a B, perhaps just in a slightly larger case.

Your AC input cable should have a standard 3 prong male end and a 5 pin cannon/amphenol connector on the other end that will connect to the 6224. The output connector will take various cables designed to power tactical radios.

...and I'd probably take one off your hands if it works, you have at least the input cable, and the price/shipping was right.

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Thanks! So could I use one of these to charge a battery bank with shore-power then? Only wish it could handle a little more input, but still better than nothing.

NDT said:

Can you tell us what the nomenclature on the door reads or take a pic. That A/C unit is not one of the better ones. Nice to see a shelter that hasn't been gutted and made into a hazmat storage locker. But to be desirable it will need to house an interesting radio set.

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The AC looks like a 6000 BTU vertical AC. These were a standardized military design, and were built by several suppliers, such as Hollingsworth. The design was by the military (see MIL-A-52767D - Belvoir Research, Development & Engineering), and the suppliers had limited options on their sources of material to simplify field repairs/maintenance. The AC is probably NSN 4120-01-327-5447 (TM9-4120-403-14). The 6000 BTU AC was later replaced by a 9000 BTU AC when increased electronics in the shelters increased the waste heat as well. The MIL design is amazingly sophisticated - I've shown my AC to my plant's refrigeration maintenance personnel, and they were impressed by all the features that are normally not found in small ACs. Mine was purchased new from Coleman's-all I had to do to get it operational was to replace the obsolete charging valves with Schraeders, pump a vacuum, and refill with refrigerant. Now I have to figure if I want to build a mounting bracket and install it in my shelter.

The only GOTTCHA is that these were designed for use with R22, but R22 is still available at a price about the same as other refrigerants. If all else fails, there is a plug & play replacement available for R22 as well.

The installation shown is a little different than I've seen before in that the discharge grille was moved into the shelter - its more common to just see the entire AC stuffed up tight to the shelter.

The ACs are a bit noisy when they are sitting on a service bench, but a lot of the noise goes away when they are installed through a shelter wall.

These are the signal and power distribution boxes for the GRC-206 radio system. If you aren't interested in them I would like to get them for my radio. Please PM if you're willing to let them go.

Thanks,

Kurt

KG6KMJ

Thanks for meeting with me today about the shelter Jesse.

My son was left with an impression about your collection - he hasn't stopped talking about "big green monster truck" for about 5-6 hours straight. He keeps asking me "Daddy, when do I get one?" That stuff puts a smile on my face - start 'em young .

That's a big mix of a few different things...like someone's abortive custom amateur radio setup. As has been mentioned, there's two components to the GRC-206 system there and a bunch of other miscellany. Weird. Not sure why anyone would dive into those 206 boxes and remove/ alter bits like that either. Curious.

The AC unit uou have isn't worth saving. It's built like a Mack truck, with all top grade components, but it uses R22 refrigerant, and sounds like a Cessna when it's running. The many flare joints in it means you'll regularly need to add more Freon.

It's rated at about 6000 BTU to cool the electronics, but without the radio gear, the smallest window AC will be big enough.

Coleman Surplus had some new ones about 5 years ago for about $400-500 as I recall