Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
|
Electronics Repair (sci.electronics.repair) Discussion of repairing electronic equipment. Topics include requests for assistance, where to obtain servicing information and parts, techniques for diagnosis and repair, and annecdotes about success, failures and problems. |
Reply |
|
LinkBack | Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Getting old
Similar to Arfa not being able to see parts on the floor...
Yesterday, I decided to connect a simple circuit to tell me if I left the garage door open when going to bed. I found a reed switch and matching magnet in my junk box as well as an LED (with built in current limiting resistor) and a left over wall-wart power supply. After connecting it all up I realized the LED was on when the door was closed rather than open which I preferred. I didn't have a N.O. switch but I did find an old piece of breadboard and a 2n3904 transistor. All I needed was a 10K resistor to use as a pull up to make my own inverter. I also wanted to add a 470 ohm R in series with the LED to lower the current a little. Bottom line: It all works well, but took way longer than expected. Why? It took a long time to find the right R's in my old box containing hundreds of 1/4 w R's. The 1/4 Watt resistors in my box clearly have shrunk over the last 30 years! And, the color stripes have all faded to the same shade of darkness, too. I kept pulling 4700 ohm R's from the box when looking for the 470 because the red stripe looked brown to me. I'm glad I don't do this for a living anymore! Pat |
#2
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Getting old
"Pat" schreef in bericht ... Similar to Arfa not being able to see parts on the floor... Yesterday, I decided to connect a simple circuit to tell me if I left the garage door open when going to bed. I found a reed switch and matching magnet in my junk box as well as an LED (with built in current limiting resistor) and a left over wall-wart power supply. After connecting it all up I realized the LED was on when the door was closed rather than open which I preferred. I didn't have a N.O. switch but I did find an old piece of breadboard and a 2n3904 transistor. All I needed was a 10K resistor to use as a pull up to make my own inverter. I also wanted to add a 470 ohm R in series with the LED to lower the current a little. Bottom line: It all works well, but took way longer than expected. Why? It took a long time to find the right R's in my old box containing hundreds of 1/4 w R's. The 1/4 Watt resistors in my box clearly have shrunk over the last 30 years! And, the color stripes have all faded to the same shade of darkness, too. I kept pulling 4700 ohm R's from the box when looking for the 470 because the red stripe looked brown to me. I'm glad I don't do this for a living anymore! Pat Well, growing old may not be funny. Being old even less. But it seems to be the only way to live longer and most of us want to. As for the colors on resistors, they are often unreliable even on new ones. Even with perfect eyes that can see all colors sharp and clear you often can only guess what color it is supposed to be. So I always keep my Ohm-meter nearby. petrus bitbyter |
#3
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Getting old
On 5/15/2013 7:45 AM, petrus bitbyter wrote:
"Pat" schreef in bericht ... Similar to Arfa not being able to see parts on the floor... Yesterday, I decided to connect a simple circuit to tell me if I left the garage door open when going to bed. I found a reed switch and matching magnet in my junk box as well as an LED (with built in current limiting resistor) and a left over wall-wart power supply. After connecting it all up I realized the LED was on when the door was closed rather than open which I preferred. I didn't have a N.O. switch but I did find an old piece of breadboard and a 2n3904 transistor. All I needed was a 10K resistor to use as a pull up to make my own inverter. I also wanted to add a 470 ohm R in series with the LED to lower the current a little. Bottom line: It all works well, but took way longer than expected. Why? It took a long time to find the right R's in my old box containing hundreds of 1/4 w R's. The 1/4 Watt resistors in my box clearly have shrunk over the last 30 years! And, the color stripes have all faded to the same shade of darkness, too. I kept pulling 4700 ohm R's from the box when looking for the 470 because the red stripe looked brown to me. I'm glad I don't do this for a living anymore! Pat Well, growing old may not be funny. Being old even less. But it seems to be the only way to live longer and most of us want to. As for the colors on resistors, they are often unreliable even on new ones. Even with perfect eyes that can see all colors sharp and clear you often can only guess what color it is supposed to be. So I always keep my Ohm-meter nearby. petrus bitbyter My daughter went to a hamfest with me and bought a small electronic kit for her husband to build. I'm helped him learn to solder and recited a color code mnemonic for him. After a few mistakes reading the resistors, I found out he has some color blindness. Be glad you didn't have that problem. Mikek |
#4
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Getting old
On 05/15/2013 8:01 AM, amdx wrote:
On 5/15/2013 7:45 AM, petrus bitbyter wrote: "Pat" schreef in bericht ... Similar to Arfa not being able to see parts on the floor... Yesterday, I decided to connect a simple circuit to tell me if I left the garage door open when going to bed. I found a reed switch and matching magnet in my junk box as well as an LED (with built in current limiting resistor) and a left over wall-wart power supply. After connecting it all up I realized the LED was on when the door was closed rather than open which I preferred. I didn't have a N.O. switch but I did find an old piece of breadboard and a 2n3904 transistor. All I needed was a 10K resistor to use as a pull up to make my own inverter. I also wanted to add a 470 ohm R in series with the LED to lower the current a little. Bottom line: It all works well, but took way longer than expected. Why? It took a long time to find the right R's in my old box containing hundreds of 1/4 w R's. The 1/4 Watt resistors in my box clearly have shrunk over the last 30 years! And, the color stripes have all faded to the same shade of darkness, too. I kept pulling 4700 ohm R's from the box when looking for the 470 because the red stripe looked brown to me. I'm glad I don't do this for a living anymore! Pat Well, growing old may not be funny. Being old even less. But it seems to be the only way to live longer and most of us want to. As for the colors on resistors, they are often unreliable even on new ones. Even with perfect eyes that can see all colors sharp and clear you often can only guess what color it is supposed to be. So I always keep my Ohm-meter nearby. petrus bitbyter My daughter went to a hamfest with me and bought a small electronic kit for her husband to build. I'm helped him learn to solder and recited a color code mnemonic for him. After a few mistakes reading the resistors, I found out he has some color blindness. Be glad you didn't have that problem. Mikek Ohm-meters work even if you are partially colour blind...I have always used them due to my red/green deficiency that I first recognized in a Time/Life book back in the 60s... John :-#)# -- (Please post followups or tech enquiries to the newsgroup) John's Jukes Ltd. 2343 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 3C9 Call (604)872-5757 or Fax 872-2010 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games) www.flippers.com "Old pinballers never die, they just flip out." |
#5
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Getting old
On 5/15/2013 1:10 PM, John Robertson wrote:
On 05/15/2013 8:01 AM, amdx wrote: On 5/15/2013 7:45 AM, petrus bitbyter wrote: "Pat" schreef in bericht ... Similar to Arfa not being able to see parts on the floor... Yesterday, I decided to connect a simple circuit to tell me if I left the garage door open when going to bed. I found a reed switch and matching magnet in my junk box as well as an LED (with built in current limiting resistor) and a left over wall-wart power supply. After connecting it all up I realized the LED was on when the door was closed rather than open which I preferred. I didn't have a N.O. switch but I did find an old piece of breadboard and a 2n3904 transistor. All I needed was a 10K resistor to use as a pull up to make my own inverter. I also wanted to add a 470 ohm R in series with the LED to lower the current a little. Bottom line: It all works well, but took way longer than expected. Why? It took a long time to find the right R's in my old box containing hundreds of 1/4 w R's. The 1/4 Watt resistors in my box clearly have shrunk over the last 30 years! And, the color stripes have all faded to the same shade of darkness, too. I kept pulling 4700 ohm R's from the box when looking for the 470 because the red stripe looked brown to me. I'm glad I don't do this for a living anymore! Pat Well, growing old may not be funny. Being old even less. But it seems to be the only way to live longer and most of us want to. As for the colors on resistors, they are often unreliable even on new ones. Even with perfect eyes that can see all colors sharp and clear you often can only guess what color it is supposed to be. So I always keep my Ohm-meter nearby. petrus bitbyter My daughter went to a hamfest with me and bought a small electronic kit for her husband to build. I'm helped him learn to solder and recited a color code mnemonic for him. After a few mistakes reading the resistors, I found out he has some color blindness. Be glad you didn't have that problem. Mikek Ohm-meters work even if you are partially colour blind...I have always used them due to my red/green deficiency that I first recognized in a Time/Life book back in the 60s... John :-#)# I did give him the meter and showed him how to use it, and then explained about tolerance, and then told him about his body resistance and measuring high value resistors. Mikek |
#6
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Getting old
"amdx" wrote in message ... On 5/15/2013 7:45 AM, petrus bitbyter wrote: "Pat" schreef in bericht ... Similar to Arfa not being able to see parts on the floor... Yesterday, I decided to connect a simple circuit to tell me if I left the garage door open when going to bed. I found a reed switch and matching magnet in my junk box as well as an LED (with built in current limiting resistor) and a left over wall-wart power supply. After connecting it all up I realized the LED was on when the door was closed rather than open which I preferred. I didn't have a N.O. switch but I did find an old piece of breadboard and a 2n3904 transistor. All I needed was a 10K resistor to use as a pull up to make my own inverter. I also wanted to add a 470 ohm R in series with the LED to lower the current a little. Bottom line: It all works well, but took way longer than expected. Why? It took a long time to find the right R's in my old box containing hundreds of 1/4 w R's. The 1/4 Watt resistors in my box clearly have shrunk over the last 30 years! And, the color stripes have all faded to the same shade of darkness, too. I kept pulling 4700 ohm R's from the box when looking for the 470 because the red stripe looked brown to me. I'm glad I don't do this for a living anymore! Pat Well, growing old may not be funny. Being old even less. But it seems to be the only way to live longer and most of us want to. As for the colors on resistors, they are often unreliable even on new ones. Even with perfect eyes that can see all colors sharp and clear you often can only guess what color it is supposed to be. So I always keep my Ohm-meter nearby. petrus bitbyter My daughter went to a hamfest with me and bought a small electronic kit for her husband to build. I'm helped him learn to solder and recited a color code mnemonic for him. After a few mistakes reading the resistors, I found out he has some color blindness. Be glad you didn't have that problem. Mikek A long time ago, resistors had the value printed on them. I believe they were Ohmite resistors. |
#7
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Getting old
On May 15, 1:10*pm, John Robertson wrote:
On 05/15/2013 8:01 AM, amdx wrote: On 5/15/2013 7:45 AM, petrus bitbyter wrote: "Pat" schreef in bericht . .. Similar to Arfa not being able to see parts on the floor... Yesterday, I decided to connect a simple circuit to tell me if I left the garage door open when going to bed. *I found a reed switch and matching magnet in my junk box as well as an LED (with built in current limiting resistor) and a left over wall-wart power supply. After connecting it all up I realized the LED was on when the door was closed rather than open which I preferred. *I didn't have a N.O. switch but I did find an old piece of breadboard and a 2n3904 transistor. *All I needed was a 10K resistor to use as a pull up to make my own inverter. *I also wanted to add a 470 ohm R in series with the LED to lower the current a little. *Bottom line: It all works well, but took way longer than expected. *Why? *It took a long time to find the right R's in my old box containing hundreds of 1/4 w R's. The 1/4 Watt resistors in my box clearly have shrunk over the last 30 years! *And, the color stripes have all faded to the same shade of darkness, too. *I kept pulling 4700 ohm R's from the box when looking for the 470 because the red stripe looked brown to me. *I'm glad I don't do this for a living anymore! Pat Well, growing old may not be funny. Being old even less. But it seems to be the only way to live longer and most of us want to. As for the colors on resistors, they are often unreliable even on new ones. Even with perfect eyes that can see all colors sharp and clear you often can only guess what color it is supposed to be. So I always keep my Ohm-meter nearby. petrus bitbyter * My daughter went to a hamfest with me and bought a small electronic kit for her husband to build. I'm helped him learn to solder and recited a color code mnemonic for him. After a few mistakes reading the resistors, I found out he has some color blindness. Be glad you didn't have that problem. * * * * * * * * * * *Mikek Ohm-meters work even if you are partially colour blind...I have always used them due to my red/green deficiency that I first recognized in a Time/Life book back in the 60s... John :-#)# -- * * (Please post followups or tech enquiries to the newsgroup) * John's Jukes Ltd. 2343 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 3C9 * Call (604)872-5757 or Fax 872-2010 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games) * * * * * * * * * * *www.flippers.com * * * *"Old pinballers never die, they just flip out."- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I am fortunate that my wife is willing to help me with resistor color codes g.. I always knew I had a problem, even in high school 60+years ago. But in college I was never tested for that, so I assumed everyone had similar problems telling red-green-brown-gray, After we were married, I would ask her to confirm my codes, and she made it seem so simple that I got tested and was found to be just partially red-green deficient. For everyone, as a brightly colored light goes into the distance, the person can tell the light is lit, but not the color. For me, I lose the ability to tell the color whan the light is fairly close by. It is a matter of what the angle of the light subtends in my retina, I apparently have fewer of the receptors that differentiate between colors and so unless the light subtends a fairly large angle, I can't tell red from green, etc. However, when it comes to setting up a color tv set, I have no problems because the area I am looking at subtends a very large area of the retina. 10% of males have this problem, around 3% or less of females. |
#8
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Getting old
"Pat" ( snip) Why? It took a long time to find the right R's in my old box containing hundreds of 1/4 w R's. The 1/4 Watt resistors in my box clearly have shrunk over the last 30 years! And, the color stripes have all faded to the same shade of darkness, too. I kept pulling 4700 ohm R's from the box when looking for the 470 because the red stripe looked brown to me. ** The coloured bands on resistors do fade with age and red/brown confusion is common depending on the body colour. You DO need a bright light, NOT incandescent but fluoro with a "daylight" white character. A small magnifier may help too, but checking with an ohm meter is the safest. Particularly with any 1% types. .... Phil |
#9
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Getting old
On May 15, 10:21*pm, "Phil Allison" wrote:
...snip.... A small magnifier may help too, but checking with an ohm meter is the safest. Particularly with any 1% types. ... *Phil If you've ever gotten a package of 'mismarked' resistors; you will ALWAYS check with an ohmmeter. Especially watching the effect of putting 10 ohm resistors into the location meant for the power dissipation of a 10k ohm resistor! Or, the package I once got with the color bars painted in REVERSE order?! But since covered the whole body, not immediately discernible. |
#10
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Getting old
"Robert Macy" "Phil Allison" ...snip.... A small magnifier may help too, but checking with an ohm meter is the safest. Particularly with any 1% types. If you've ever gotten a package of 'mismarked' resistors; you will ALWAYS check with an ohmmeter. Especially watching the effect of putting 10 ohm resistors into the location meant for the power dissipation of a 10k ohm resistor! Or, the package I once got with the color bars painted in REVERSE order?! But since covered the whole body, not immediately discernible. ** How do you tell the coloured bands are in the reverse order ???? Does the value change dramatically if you apply ohm meter leads the other way around ? .... Phil |
#11
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Getting old
Robert Macy wrote:
If you've ever gotten a package of 'mismarked' resistors; you will ALWAYS check with an ohmmeter. Especially watching the effect of putting 10 ohm resistors into the location meant for the power dissipation of a 10k ohm resistor! Or, the package I once got with the color bars painted in REVERSE order?! But since covered the whole body, not immediately discernible. I ordered some blade type fuse holders and fuses from a Chinese eBay vendor. After 2 months they had not arrived, so they sent me another set. Eventually I got both sets, with any indication of when they were mailed or from whom removed. The fuses are small flat clear plastic cases with a fuse element inside, and a color coding for the amperage and the number stamped on top. The assortment was supposed to be 5, 7.5, 10, etc. However it seems that the 5 and 40 amp fuses are both the same shade of red. One batch came with 5 amp fuses, the other came with 40. To really mess things up, the wire on the fuse holders was stated as 3.5mm, and they came with 20 amp fuses. The wire was 3.5 mm including insulation, the conductor was closer to 1.5mm. I would not want to use a 20 amp fuse with it. Since I already had (and paid for) two sets of the holders and fuses, I notified the vendor of the problem but did not ask them to replace anything. Last I looked, they had not updated their listing. Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, N3OWJ/4X1GM/KBUH7245/KBUW5379 It's Spring here in Jerusalem!!! |
#12
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Getting old
On May 16, 8:34*am, "Geoffrey S. Mendelson"
wrote: Robert Macy wrote: If you've ever gotten a package of 'mismarked' resistors; you will ALWAYS check with an ohmmeter. Especially watching the effect of putting 10 ohm resistors into the location meant for the power dissipation of a 10k ohm resistor! Or, the package I once got with the color bars painted in REVERSE order?! But since covered the whole body, not immediately discernible. I ordered some blade type fuse holders and fuses from a Chinese eBay vendor. After 2 months they had not arrived, so they sent me another set. Eventually I got both sets, with any indication of when they were mailed or from whom removed. The fuses are small flat clear plastic cases with a fuse element inside, and a color coding for the amperage and the number stamped on top. The assortment was supposed to be 5, 7.5, 10, etc. However it seems that the 5 and 40 amp fuses are both the same shade of red. One batch came with 5 amp fuses, the other came with 40. To really mess things up, the wire on the fuse holders was stated as 3.5mm, and they came with 20 amp fuses. The wire was 3.5 mm including insulation, the conductor was closer to 1.5mm. I would not want to use a 20 amp fuse with it. Since I already had (and paid for) two sets of the holders and fuses, I notified the vendor of the problem but did not ask them to replace anything. Last I looked, they had not updated their listing. Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, *N3OWJ/4X1GM/KBUH7245/KBUW5379 It's Spring here in Jerusalem!!! Here is the Chicago area of the USA also. Electronics taking a back seat to getting the tomatoes, beans and other veggies planted. |
#13
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Getting old
"Pat" wrote in message ... Similar to Arfa not being able to see parts on the floor... Yesterday, I decided to connect a simple circuit to tell me if I left the garage door open when going to bed. I found a reed switch and matching magnet in my junk box as well as an LED (with built in current limiting resistor) and a left over wall-wart power supply. After connecting it all up I realized the LED was on when the door was closed rather than open which I preferred. I didn't have a N.O. switch but I did find an old piece of breadboard and a 2n3904 transistor. All I needed was a 10K resistor to use as a pull up to make my own inverter. I also wanted to add a 470 ohm R in series with the LED to lower the current a little. Bottom line: It all works well, but took way longer than expected. Why? It took a long time to find the right R's in my old box containing hundreds of 1/4 w R's. The 1/4 Watt resistors in my box clearly have shrunk over the last 30 years! And, the color stripes have all faded to the same shade of darkness, too. I kept pulling 4700 ohm R's from the box when looking for the 470 because the red stripe looked brown to me. I'm glad I don't do this for a living anymore! Pat Ah, but were you looking at them under one of those crap CFL light bulbs. A while back, I put one in my bench light, and then found that I could no longer read resistors. The spectrum is so discontinuous that I was finding that it was almost impossible to tell brown from orange from red, and purple from blue or grey. Normal service was resumed when I went back to a 'proper' light bulb. Trouble is that frosted ones that give a nice even light across the work area, are now almost impossible to obtain because of all this eco-bollox nonsense, so I've since made an adaptor from fixing a bipin holder into a bayonet base culled from a CFL that failed after about 10 hours service (this is the only decent use I've ever found for one), and I now run the light from an old 12 volt lighting transformer, using a dichroic halogen bulb fitted into the adaptor. The light is a bit 'streaky' compared to a frosted bulb, and doesn't spread as far across the bench due to the shape of the reflector on those bulbs, but at least it does a 'proper' job of illuminating boards, and the colours of the resistors are right and readable. I used to keep all my resistors in a total of perhaps six or seven drawers. Sort of "1 ohm to 100 ohms", "101 ohms to 1K" and so on. But like you, as the bloody things got smaller and more complicated to read with 4, 5 and even 6-band marking systems, I did a major revamp of the storage, and now every value has its own drawer. I've only done this to E12 values level though. Any 'in-betweens' from the E24 range are put in the nearest value drawer with a bit of yellow tape around them, and the value written on in Sharpie. It's amazing how much time this has saved trawling through drawers with tangles of resistors of all different values in them ... :-) Arfa |
#14
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Getting old
"amdx" wrote in message ... On 5/15/2013 7:45 AM, petrus bitbyter wrote: "Pat" schreef in bericht ... Similar to Arfa not being able to see parts on the floor... Yesterday, I decided to connect a simple circuit to tell me if I left the garage door open when going to bed. I found a reed switch and matching magnet in my junk box as well as an LED (with built in current limiting resistor) and a left over wall-wart power supply. After connecting it all up I realized the LED was on when the door was closed rather than open which I preferred. I didn't have a N.O. switch but I did find an old piece of breadboard and a 2n3904 transistor. All I needed was a 10K resistor to use as a pull up to make my own inverter. I also wanted to add a 470 ohm R in series with the LED to lower the current a little. Bottom line: It all works well, but took way longer than expected. Why? It took a long time to find the right R's in my old box containing hundreds of 1/4 w R's. The 1/4 Watt resistors in my box clearly have shrunk over the last 30 years! And, the color stripes have all faded to the same shade of darkness, too. I kept pulling 4700 ohm R's from the box when looking for the 470 because the red stripe looked brown to me. I'm glad I don't do this for a living anymore! Pat Well, growing old may not be funny. Being old even less. But it seems to be the only way to live longer and most of us want to. As for the colors on resistors, they are often unreliable even on new ones. Even with perfect eyes that can see all colors sharp and clear you often can only guess what color it is supposed to be. So I always keep my Ohm-meter nearby. petrus bitbyter My daughter went to a hamfest with me and bought a small electronic kit for her husband to build. I'm helped him learn to solder and recited a color code mnemonic for him. After a few mistakes reading the resistors, I found out he has some color blindness. Be glad you didn't have that problem. Mikek From tests that were done on me when I was a kid, it was determined that I had some colour blindness. I think that it was something like green blind and red insensitive, meaning that I could not distinguish some shades of green at all, and had difficulty with distinguishing some colours amongst others. I was told that I would never have a career in anything electrical, because I would not be able to distinguish wire colours in a bunch ... Hmmm ... is all I can say to that. I have never had the slightest problem in that regard, and have been in electronic service, working to component level, for over 40 years. I guess that the brain just learns to compensate, as it does when you wear yellow or blue tint sun glasses. Constancy of colour is it called ? However, it does make me wonder if that is part of the reason that I have trouble distinguishing colours under the discontinuous spectrum of eco-bollox light bulbs. If my brain has learnt to compensate for the deficiencies of my eyes, under sunlight, and incandescent light which has a similar smooth spectrum, maybe it confuses the whole issue if some of the wavelengths of light that it is using to calculate the compensations, are completely missing ? Arfa |
#15
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Getting old
Arfa Daily wrote:
"Pat" wrote in message ... Similar to Arfa not being able to see parts on the floor... Yesterday, I decided to connect a simple circuit to tell me if I left the garage door open when going to bed. I found a reed switch and matching magnet in my junk box as well as an LED (with built in current limiting resistor) and a left over wall-wart power supply. After connecting it all up I realized the LED was on when the door was closed rather than open which I preferred. I didn't have a N.O. switch but I did find an old piece of breadboard and a 2n3904 transistor. All I needed was a 10K resistor to use as a pull up to make my own inverter. I also wanted to add a 470 ohm R in series with the LED to lower the current a little. Bottom line: It all works well, but took way longer than expected. Why? It took a long time to find the right R's in my old box containing hundreds of 1/4 w R's. The 1/4 Watt resistors in my box clearly have shrunk over the last 30 years! And, the color stripes have all faded to the same shade of darkness, too. I kept pulling 4700 ohm R's from the box when looking for the 470 because the red stripe looked brown to me. I'm glad I don't do this for a living anymore! Pat Ah, but were you looking at them under one of those crap CFL light bulbs. A while back, I put one in my bench light, and then found that I could no longer read resistors. The spectrum is so discontinuous that I was finding that it was almost impossible to tell brown from orange from red, and purple from blue or grey. Normal service was resumed when I went back to a 'proper' light bulb. Trouble is that frosted ones that give a nice even light across the work area, are now almost impossible to obtain because of all this eco-bollox nonsense, so I've since made an adaptor from fixing a bipin holder into a bayonet base culled from a CFL that failed after about 10 hours service (this is the only decent use I've ever found for one), and I now run the light from an old 12 volt lighting transformer, using a dichroic halogen bulb fitted into the adaptor. The light is a bit 'streaky' compared to a frosted bulb, and doesn't spread as far across the bench due to the shape of the reflector on those bulbs, but at least it does a 'proper' job of illuminating boards, and the colours of the resistors are right and readable. I used to keep all my resistors in a total of perhaps six or seven drawers. Sort of "1 ohm to 100 ohms", "101 ohms to 1K" and so on. But like you, as On a tangent- how do people here organize their resistors and other parts? By range or by the first significant digits? I don't do repair work full time, so I just have boxes of stuff, mostly in smaller bags already marked with values since I just get those "engineering sample kits" from digikey to cover common ranges of stuff. I can't stand the screech of those little plastic parts drawers so I never use them. |
#16
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Getting old
"Cydrome Leader" wrote in message ... Arfa Daily wrote: "Pat" wrote in message ... Similar to Arfa not being able to see parts on the floor... Yesterday, I decided to connect a simple circuit to tell me if I left the garage door open when going to bed. I found a reed switch and matching magnet in my junk box as well as an LED (with built in current limiting resistor) and a left over wall-wart power supply. After connecting it all up I realized the LED was on when the door was closed rather than open which I preferred. I didn't have a N.O. switch but I did find an old piece of breadboard and a 2n3904 transistor. All I needed was a 10K resistor to use as a pull up to make my own inverter. I also wanted to add a 470 ohm R in series with the LED to lower the current a little. Bottom line: It all works well, but took way longer than expected. Why? It took a long time to find the right R's in my old box containing hundreds of 1/4 w R's. The 1/4 Watt resistors in my box clearly have shrunk over the last 30 years! And, the color stripes have all faded to the same shade of darkness, too. I kept pulling 4700 ohm R's from the box when looking for the 470 because the red stripe looked brown to me. I'm glad I don't do this for a living anymore! Pat Ah, but were you looking at them under one of those crap CFL light bulbs. A while back, I put one in my bench light, and then found that I could no longer read resistors. The spectrum is so discontinuous that I was finding that it was almost impossible to tell brown from orange from red, and purple from blue or grey. Normal service was resumed when I went back to a 'proper' light bulb. Trouble is that frosted ones that give a nice even light across the work area, are now almost impossible to obtain because of all this eco-bollox nonsense, so I've since made an adaptor from fixing a bipin holder into a bayonet base culled from a CFL that failed after about 10 hours service (this is the only decent use I've ever found for one), and I now run the light from an old 12 volt lighting transformer, using a dichroic halogen bulb fitted into the adaptor. The light is a bit 'streaky' compared to a frosted bulb, and doesn't spread as far across the bench due to the shape of the reflector on those bulbs, but at least it does a 'proper' job of illuminating boards, and the colours of the resistors are right and readable. I used to keep all my resistors in a total of perhaps six or seven drawers. Sort of "1 ohm to 100 ohms", "101 ohms to 1K" and so on. But like you, as On a tangent- how do people here organize their resistors and other parts? By range or by the first significant digits? I don't do repair work full time, so I just have boxes of stuff, mostly in smaller bags already marked with values since I just get those "engineering sample kits" from digikey to cover common ranges of stuff. I can't stand the screech of those little plastic parts drawers so I never use them. Mine don't screech, and I've got hundreds ! I debated long and hard how to re-organise my resistors, and eventually decided to keep them together by decades. So the first four drawers have 0.1 ohm, 1 ohm general, 1 ohm fusible and 1 ohm w/w. Next comes the varieties of 10 ohm, then 100 ohm, then 1k, 10k, 100k, 1M, 10M. Then it moves onto the "15's" as in 1.5 ohms, 15 ohms, 150, 1.5k, 15k and so on. The last drawers are the "82's". I don't know in the end if this was the best way to do it, but I quickly got used to it, and am now able to reach to the right area for a value, without even looking. Arfa |
#17
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Getting old
"Arfa Daily" wrote in message ... "Cydrome Leader" wrote in message ... Arfa Daily wrote: "Pat" wrote in message ... Similar to Arfa not being able to see parts on the floor... Yesterday, I decided to connect a simple circuit to tell me if I left the garage door open when going to bed. I found a reed switch and matching magnet in my junk box as well as an LED (with built in current limiting resistor) and a left over wall-wart power supply. After connecting it all up I realized the LED was on when the door was closed rather than open which I preferred. I didn't have a N.O. switch but I did find an old piece of breadboard and a 2n3904 transistor. All I needed was a 10K resistor to use as a pull up to make my own inverter. I also wanted to add a 470 ohm R in series with the LED to lower the current a little. Bottom line: It all works well, but took way longer than expected. Why? It took a long time to find the right R's in my old box containing hundreds of 1/4 w R's. The 1/4 Watt resistors in my box clearly have shrunk over the last 30 years! And, the color stripes have all faded to the same shade of darkness, too. I kept pulling 4700 ohm R's from the box when looking for the 470 because the red stripe looked brown to me. I'm glad I don't do this for a living anymore! Pat Ah, but were you looking at them under one of those crap CFL light bulbs. A while back, I put one in my bench light, and then found that I could no longer read resistors. The spectrum is so discontinuous that I was finding that it was almost impossible to tell brown from orange from red, and purple from blue or grey. Normal service was resumed when I went back to a 'proper' light bulb. Trouble is that frosted ones that give a nice even light across the work area, are now almost impossible to obtain because of all this eco-bollox nonsense, so I've since made an adaptor from fixing a bipin holder into a bayonet base culled from a CFL that failed after about 10 hours service (this is the only decent use I've ever found for one), and I now run the light from an old 12 volt lighting transformer, using a dichroic halogen bulb fitted into the adaptor. The light is a bit 'streaky' compared to a frosted bulb, and doesn't spread as far across the bench due to the shape of the reflector on those bulbs, but at least it does a 'proper' job of illuminating boards, and the colours of the resistors are right and readable. I used to keep all my resistors in a total of perhaps six or seven drawers. Sort of "1 ohm to 100 ohms", "101 ohms to 1K" and so on. But like you, as On a tangent- how do people here organize their resistors and other parts? By range or by the first significant digits? I don't do repair work full time, so I just have boxes of stuff, mostly in smaller bags already marked with values since I just get those "engineering sample kits" from digikey to cover common ranges of stuff. I can't stand the screech of those little plastic parts drawers so I never use them. Mine don't screech, and I've got hundreds ! I debated long and hard how to re-organise my resistors, and eventually decided to keep them together by decades. So the first four drawers have 0.1 ohm, 1 ohm general, 1 ohm fusible and 1 ohm w/w. Next comes the varieties of 10 ohm, then 100 ohm, then 1k, 10k, 100k, 1M, 10M. Then it moves onto the "15's" as in 1.5 ohms, 15 ohms, 150, 1.5k, 15k and so on. The last drawers are the "82's". I don't know in the end if this was the best way to do it, but I quickly got used to it, and am now able to reach to the right area for a value, without even looking. Arfa That's how I do it for 5% parts. The third band selects the drawer. tm |
#18
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Getting old
Cydrome Leader wrote: On a tangent- how do people here organize their resistors and other parts? By range or by the first significant digits? I don't do repair work full time, so I just have boxes of stuff, mostly in smaller bags already marked with values since I just get those "engineering sample kits" from digikey to cover common ranges of stuff. I can't stand the screech of those little plastic parts drawers so I never use them. Two values per drawer, with a divider. From 1.0 ohm to 22 Megohm. Most of the drawers are close to full. Wax the bottoms of the drawers and they are very quiet. |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|