On Friday, August 7, 2015 at 9:26:27 AM UTC-5, Uncle Monster wrote:
On Friday, August 7, 2015 at 8:22:35 AM UTC-5, bob_villa wrote:
On Thursday, August 6, 2015 at 5:21:25 PM UTC-5, micky wrote:

Maybe you were thinking about the diodes in the alternator**. If they
had had to depend on diode tubes, whether glass or metal, instead of
semi-conductor diodes, I don't think alternators would have been
possible.

...and before silicon we had selenium: http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...psxt2tpfbj.jpg

That picture brings back memories. ^_^

[8~{} Uncle Diode Monster

My dad had an RCA "beach radio" like this: http://www.tv-boxes.com/radios/rca-bp55.jpg
It had 2 large 6 volt batteries (carbon/zinc but motorcycle-sized) and one smaller 18 volt?
I thought you were a *hep-toad*? ༼ à²*ل͟ರೃ ༽