I recently bought a box of "stuff" (also other s word) in hopes of getting a few things that looked useful out of it. Let's just say, it was mostly a $45 bust.
But, this one oddity was in there and I don't know what it is. No markings on it. Looks to be in good shape. Any ideas?
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Let's see what's inside the box.
Larry
I was afraid you were going to ask that...
Open it up!
Looking at the outside controls, if the box was train stuff, it appears to be a home-built throttle. Or if not a box of train stuff, maybe an audio control device?
@prrjim I was thinking about some type of audio control device given what appears to be a headphone jack on the top.
If it's homemade, I may never know what it is. If it's commercially made, I was hoping someone has one and would know it on sight.
Its homemade. Not very well made at that. Looks like an audio amplifier.
Pete
The key is the module on the left. I think the 4 wires coming out the top go to a (4-wire, dual coil) stepper motor. The black chip is a microcontroller with custom software that does who knows what. DC power would need to get into the box. That might be one of the two "audio" connectors. The other audio connector might be a trigger to activate it. The control knobs, if this indeed drives a stepper motor, could adjust the rate and duration of the motion in response to a trigger.
It looks to be a one-off and cannot imagine this was commercially produced.
I think the other contents of your surprise box and the previous owner (was it a train guy?) would be the best clues as to whether this is a plant, animal, or mineral...
Ah, yes, the former owner... well it was an auction at the same auction company that is doing the MTH warehouse sales, which is the only reason I found out about them. Turns out the auction warehouse is only about 30 minutes from where I live. So, sadly, my best guess is the prior owner is deceased, or at least incapacitated.
And, thank you all for the various insights! I think I will probably put this "back in the box" for "safekeeping!"
Gee, nice to see I'm not the only one who "kludges" something together to prove if idea works. 
Would agree who knows what the PIC program does. And without a clear view, its hard to tell what that multileaded heatsunk IC function is. Then there are some butt spliced wires that appear to disappear under the commercial board to???.
Definitely a black box item inside a real black box!
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