On Mon, 10 Nov 2014 17:28:29 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
T i m wrote:
They are incredibly useful for other things too.

Yeah, I read though the list and looked at the pictures of them in
use.

they not only show if one is working or not but give the pinout and
type.

That is clever (well, if not actually clever, very handy). ;-)

It's clever to me as I have no idea how they do it. ;-)

Yes, and me, I meant that it probably isn't that clever in comparison
with some really clever things. ;-)

Saves having to look it up.

Good point. So, say I had an IR sensor device with 4 pins (2 pins = IR
LED and 2 pins = photo transistor), could I just plug all 4 pins in
and press go and it work out one or both of the connected devices? Or
would you typically just use pairs of pins and see what it comes up
with?

An optocouple?

More IR Opto-Sensor (proximity sensor) but would look (electrically)
just like an optocoupler yes. IR LED as the TX with photo transistor,
all in the same plastic block. [1]

Don't think it would test one of those in one go.

Ok ... just wondered ...

What would it think of a photo transistor (a transistor with no
'base')?

Dunno either - it should say in the spec what it will and won't test.

They generally state what they will (or should) do and what you
shouldn't do. ;-)

Hopefully I'll be able to find out for myself soon. ;-)

At under a tenner I'd guess you'll be well chuffed. ;-)

I hope I will be Dave and thanks again for the heads up.

Cheers, T i m

p.s. A mate, not know for particularly wise words once said something
that fits this sort of situation / test-gear very well and that is
'You can manage what you can measure'.

Along those lines, a mate bought one of those cheap / 20Mhz USB scopes
the other day and I set it up and showed him how to use it. We watched
two PWM outputs on an Arduino Minicontroller thingy and it worked
quite well. I can remember how often I turned to my scope (when an
electronics service tech), not just to scope 'signals' but as a
voltmeter. Having something as big (small) as an external hard drive
on my PC all the time (or available portably on a laptop) plus the
ability to print, snapshot etc, could be very handy / interesting
(like the USB microscope). ;-)

[1] I'm experimenting using an Arduino (or two) to provide an
automates section to my BILs OO model railway layout. I have managed
to butcher an existing 'Sketch' (program) to slowly take a train from
standstill to full speed, hold full speed (set medium by a bench PSU)
and then quicker than it accelerated, decelerated to a standstill,
pausing for 5 seconds before doing the same in reverse (using an 'H
bridge'). My next task is to build the PIC based 'chopper' IR sensors
(that sense the trains position / movement) and then try to make it
all work. I'm pretty confident with the wiring / electronics, I not
very confident re the programming. ;-(