What's this please? (Component Advice)

[Richard Crowley]

They are called strain-relief bushings.  The prominent vendor (an inventor?) is Heyco.  https://www.heyco.com/Strain_Relief_Bushings/

They make literally hundreds of different styles and sizes of these things.

They also make special tools for installing (and removing) those things.


https://www.heyco.com/Strain_Relief_Bushings/product.cfm?product=Strain-Relief-Assembly-Tools&section=Strain_Relief_Bushings

But, like @Cubdriver said, I'm too cheap to buy one of those things for the occasional use I have for them.  So I just use a large pair of pliers.  Note that you have to squeeze the cord quite tightly to get the plastic piece out of the panel.

[Nusa]

I've done it with generic pliers or narrow-nose vice grips. Just pad the tips with tape so you don't chew up the plastic or scratch the metal panel.

[salbayeng]

I bought a kit of these in a plastic box (about 20yrs ago when in the US), including the special pliers, they were pretty cheap , just pressed metal , but they worked very well.

[Sceptre]

I would like to identify an IC on a toner cartridge reset module ('chip').  It's a 24-pin QFP labeled TN501 P1052 (the latter is presumably a date code).  The attached picture of the device is from a different model toner reset chip.

There are four large pads on the secondary side of the PCB for the printer interface, and six smaller pads for the programming/reset interface.  VCC and GND are routed to both sets of pads, so it appears that the programming is/can be performed using three dedicated signals to the IC (and not the SDA/SCL pair that connects to the printer).  Also note that Pin 4 is connected to GND through a cap, though it's possible that it's an additional power pin, connected to Pin 24 under the IC.

I want to reprogram this module from an Arduino, so need to figure out voltage compatibility (quick check on the printer pins indicates that it's 3.3V) and whether the I2C interface would work, or if I need to talk to the other device pins.

Thanks!

[Default Username]

I found this component inside a DAS E-2 amplifier and this was connected to the mute pin of the amps inside. 0.5mA is needed to be drawn from that pin and it doesn't seem to be happening. I kind of need to find what exactly this thing is to find the fault in my amp. any help would be appreciated. and google doesn't seems to be helping.

[Richard Crowley]

Looks like an ordinary transistor.  It was (is) common to leave off the "redundant" first character of the component identifier for parts with small bodies.  My first guess would be a 2S170 transistor.

[madires]

More likely a BS170.

[salbayeng]

I tried a few part numbers like BFS170 , MPS170, BSS170,
 the only one that scored a hit was BS170 which is Fairchild's number for a 2N7000 N Channel Mosfet (these are very common, 60v, 200mA, about 2v thresh).

[jitter]

Inside the base of a Honeywell Chronoterm IV... any ideas what this metal cased thing might be?

[salbayeng]

Might be a  thermal operated overload (bimetallic strip type)?
Is that a Y capacitor next to it or a MOV ?

[Cubdriver]

The temperature sensor, perhaps?  If the unit is operational, try looking at the ambient temp that's displayed, then pop it open and either heat or cool (with your fingertip, a hair dryer or a piece of ice wrapped in plastic) that part, then quickly put it back together and see if the reading has changed.  (Or put an ohmmeter across it and heat or cool it while watching the reading.)

-Pat

[rsjsouza]

I recall that, when I disassembled my Chronotherm III, I could not find anything else that resembled the room sensor and therefore by exclusion this was the one - especially because it sits close to an opening on both the PCB and the thermostat housing. It is most probably manufactured by Honeywell.

[salbayeng]

If it's the only part in there (excluding the capacitor), then it has to be the temperature sensor.
I've not seen a packaged sensor in a rectangular housing before, they are usually cylindrical.
https://sensing.honeywell.com/honeywell-sensing-temperature-sensors-line-guide-009033-4-en.pdf

If there are 3 wires going to the box (and two are connected together) then you will have an RTD , otherwise it will be a NTC thermister. Most probably your sensor will be 2000ohms or 10000ohms at ~ 25C . If you increase the temperature by 10C and the resistance approximately doubles then it is a thermistor.

[jitter]

I had a closer look and a little test, and I think I found out what its purpose is.

If I take the unit out of the base and insert the batteries, it still displays a temperature, so it doesn't need the base for that.
I found the temp sensor, it's a part called "RT1", is stood off the pcb and looks like a glass diode (without the cathode mark). Most likely the "135 series" discrete thermistor from the guide linked to in salbayeng's post above.

The device in my photo is in parallel with the contacts of the relay inside the Chronoterm IV, and so is the yellow part (a 7N560K, a MOV).
Half obscured is the refdes "SW1" close to the component, so that would indicate a switch.

That got me thinking that this is some last resort frost protection, if the thermostat itself has failed (or its batteries completely drained) or removed from the base, and the temperature would drop below freezing.
And sure enough, if I blast it with freeze spray, it shorts itself, making the heater go on.

So most likely a bi metallic switch.
Perhaps the "+005" means +5 °C, and that would, IMHO, be a logical value.

[davidDac]

Hi all, I'm wondering if anyone can help me identify this mystery component?

I attached a picture of the component, sorry it's blurry but my iphone isn't being very cooperative. The dimensions measure:

9x5x3 mm, with a bevel shown by how the light reflects off of it.

The red plastic looks like a sheath on top of something, and there is what appears to be an epoxy between the legs.

Outer two legs measure .5 ohms resistance between them.

The middle leg does not measure continuity to either outer leg, but does measure capacitance of .35nF against either outer leg.

Diode measurement of the legs registers a value only between the outer legs, and it is 0.00V in either orientation/direction.

It was put in an Epson ink cartridge detection spoofing circuit by a Chinese manufacturer. The integrated components of the ink cartridge which couple to 9 contacts in the printer when installed include;
1) a little circuit with a blob of black epoxy for hiding the component and that appear to use 7 of the 9 contacts (no picture attached for this one)
2) what appears to be some sort of ink sensor (see photo), using 2 of the remaining contacts/leads, integrated physically into a little ink reservoir, about 1 inch away from the cartridge "chip" itself. The two contacts meet at what appears to be a tiny gap, held in place by a thin membrane or film no larger than .5mm.

The mystery red component is integrated again into the Chinese spoofing system, soldered in place where the 2 leads from the ink sensor mates to the printer. But, the Chinese ink sensor has 3 connections, not 2 like the actual ink sensor it is spoofing.

I'm trying to identify this because the Chinese ink spoofing system won't work on my printer at the level of this ink sensor. The only difference I can find between readings I can make from the 2 leads of the actual ink sensor and the Chinese mystery component to spoof it is one of capacitance. The actual ink sensor measures .25nF, where as the Chinese one measures .35nF.

I've found information about capacitive fluid sensors online, so I know they exist. I can't reason why the Chinese component would require 3 legs, or why if my theory was right, that it is a capacative ink sensor, why they would have put a 3 leg component in place of what could be achieved with a 2 leg capacitor.

My lack of understanding of these issues is clearly not great, so I was hoping some folks out there might have an idea, or suggestions on what else to measure to try to identify what those Chinese folks were trying to do, and then I might be able to adjust the specs possibly to make it work in my situation.

Thanks All ! David

[NivagSwerdna]

Can anyone tell me what these are likely to be?  (Found whilst sorting)

Thanks

[gamalot]

MCP1640 step down up DC-DC converter, see page 21:

http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/20002234D.pdf

[NivagSwerdna]

MCP1640 step down DC-DC converter

Awesome!  I wondered where I had put those!!! Brilliant!

[tautech]

MCP1640 step down DC-DC converter, see page 21:

http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/20002234D.pdf

MCP1640 step up or down DC-DC converter. 

[gamalot]

My bad, typo. 

[daveshah]

At work a whole load of these weird red devices turned up in a draw, it's suspected they haven't been used for more than 20 years. They measure as a standard diode (tip negative), about 0.6V on a multimeter but I can't figure out anything more about them, or why they would be useful - it looks like they would plug into something else. My best thoughts are that either they needed to be replaceable for some reason, or would be configured by the user (diode ROM perhaps?).

See the attached picture which is the best I could get on my phone, it would be really interesting to know if anyone knows any more about these things?

[PA0PBZ]

[d-chord]

You sank my battleship!

Thanks for posting that picture -- I'm not the OP, but I learned something about Diode Matrix Arrays

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diode_matrix

-David

[Richard Crowley]

Those things were pretty slick back in the day.
The plug-boards had separate row- and column-contact paths.
So when you plug in one of those "pegs" it interconnects a row with a column.
And the diode prevented unintended "back-circuit" connections.

They did a similar thing with mixing audio, using resistors instead of diodes.
For example....

[BU508A]

I have received from Pollin  (http://www.pollin.de/) some part, including these two golden 377 TO-3 from Motorola.

I have no idea, what they are. Any suggestions? (Yes, I thought they could be a LM377 voltage regulator, but I am not sure about this)

Picture: