EEVblog #809 - Mailbag

[EEVblog]

Mailbag Monday
Dave opens his mail, just in time for the Back To The Future 30th anniversary! October 21st 2015



SPOILERS:
http://www.radiomods.co.nz
Back To The Future October 21st 2015
CNC Crafted OUTATIME number plate:

Cheap boost converters
http://www.ledsales.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1680
ZX Spectrum USB Keyboard conversion kit:
http://blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2015/04/zx-spectrum-usb-keyboard-conversion-kits.html
Tons of retro computers projects: http://blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/
SinCronos
Signal conditioner module: http://www.bloguetronica.com/2015/09/modulo-condicionador-de-sinal-sincronos.html
Lift control PCB
LeMaker Guitar ARM SoC Single Board Computer: http://www.lemaker.org/article-46-1.html
Dymo Letratag Label Printer

[Barny]

07:10 at the Video:

Lernen = teach
von Hand = "from hand"

=> manual teaching

[TheDefpom]

Thanks for the mention Dave, I have been updating my bench equipment recently, I purchased a siglent sds2102 from tautech a few weeks ago. And also picked up a few things from eBay too, so have dragged my lab into a more recent period in time... Not 1985...

I'm trying to attach an updated pic of my gear, but the forum doesn't accept a .jpeg which is what my phone saved images as (not jpg), so I took a screen shot of the image... Forum says image is too large... Face palm.

[AF6LJ]

Good Mailbag Dave. 

[g.lewarne]

I have been wondering - how do I get in touch with Dave to see if a couple of items I have are of interest to him?

I can send out:

Mainboard and Twin Optical Solar Cell Audio input board from a Dolby CP-45 Analogue Cinema Sound Processor (as used in actual cinemas on 35mm projectors)
Brand New 2kw Osram XBO Short-Arc Xenon Digital Cinema Projector Lamp

The lamp will be costly to send - fragile, huge box, regulations etc so don't want to waste my money if he isn't interested.

I know the lamp isn't really an EE thing, but he might have fun trying to power it, they need about 20-22v DC @ 80 Amps

[Rubi]

Hi Dave

Nice mailbag video.
You missed the link to Jussis website.

Cheers
Rubi

[crispy_tofu]

On the context of sockets (on the lemaker)...
No matter how much light I shine on this stick, it's still SODIMM... 

Nice mailbag too! 

[forrestc]

Just in time for the Back To The Future 30th anniversary! October 21st 2015

Dave:

The lack of a decent option for you to see the trilogy just plain sucks.  I can't believe they'd miss out on this opportunity.

Stateside, I'm looking forward to going and watching the trilogy in my local theater which obviously isn't going to miss out on any opportunity to get money from the movie-viewing public.   My local theater chain (Cinemark) has actually bumped "The Martian" from their largest screen for the evening to play the trilogy starting at 4:30pm.  It will be awesome to see this in a 4K theater with a oversized screen, even if it likely is only a 2K transfer - especially since I didn't get to see it on the big screen originally.

[g.lewarne]

I have been wondering - how do I get in touch with Dave to see if a couple of items I have are of interest to him?

I can send out:

Mainboard and Twin Optical Solar Cell Audio input board from a Dolby CP-45 Analogue Cinema Sound Processor (as used in actual cinemas on 35mm projectors)
Brand New 2kw Osram XBO Short-Arc Xenon Digital Cinema Projector Lamp

The lamp will be costly to send - fragile, huge box, regulations etc so don't want to waste my money if he isn't interested.

I know the lamp isn't really an EE thing, but he might have fun trying to power it, they need about 20-22v DC @ 80 Amps

The lamp is very explosive and dangerous, so if I were you, unless I am sending it to a lamp professional, I won't do that.

It is still in its original explosion proof plastic container, inside a box with a massive amount of foam padding, inside a wooden shipping crate.  I already have a international service that ships these things.  I know first hand how dangerous these things are, ive had several explode inside projectors and one while I was handling it during removal.  Always wear full body "armour" and face shield!

[westfw]

I've been wondering whether it's possible to hack those cheap label printers into printing arbitrary bitmaps (from an external microcontroller, presumably), but the internals (as you showed) tend to have a really high level of integration, and I can't find any data on printheads of the appropriate size (which are presumably completely custom for a given manufacturer/design.)  (this would allow printing things like chip labels, perhaps.  One at a time, as needed, rather than a sheet full of laser-printer labels...)   Has anyone done any experiments or found any data?

[Balaur]

I've been wondering whether it's possible to hack those cheap label printers into printing arbitrary bitmaps (from an external microcontroller, presumably), but the internals (as you showed) tend to have a really high level of integration, and I can't find any data on printheads of the appropriate size (which are presumably completely custom for a given manufacturer/design.)  (this would allow printing things like chip labels, perhaps.  One at a time, as needed, rather than a sheet full of laser-printer labels...)   Has anyone done any experiments or found any data?

There are USB versions of those that are basically printers. I have a Brother P-Touch PT-1230PC, bought for not too many euros.

[EEVblog]

I have been wondering - how do I get in touch with Dave to see if a couple of items I have are of interest to him?
I can send out:
Mainboard and Twin Optical Solar Cell Audio input board from a Dolby CP-45 Analogue Cinema Sound Processor (as used in actual cinemas on 35mm projectors)
Brand New 2kw Osram XBO Short-Arc Xenon Digital Cinema Projector Lamp

The lamp will be costly to send - fragile, huge box, regulations etc so don't want to waste my money if he isn't interested.

I know the lamp isn't really an EE thing, but he might have fun trying to power it, they need about 20-22v DC @ 80 Amps

The lamp is very explosive and dangerous, so if I were you, unless I am sending it to a lamp professional, I won't do that.

Yes, I concur. Odds of being broken in transit is high.
Thanks for the offer though.

[g.lewarne]

I have been wondering - how do I get in touch with Dave to see if a couple of items I have are of interest to him?
I can send out:
Mainboard and Twin Optical Solar Cell Audio input board from a Dolby CP-45 Analogue Cinema Sound Processor (as used in actual cinemas on 35mm projectors)
Brand New 2kw Osram XBO Short-Arc Xenon Digital Cinema Projector Lamp

The lamp will be costly to send - fragile, huge box, regulations etc so don't want to waste my money if he isn't interested.

I know the lamp isn't really an EE thing, but he might have fun trying to power it, they need about 20-22v DC @ 80 Amps

The lamp is very explosive and dangerous, so if I were you, unless I am sending it to a lamp professional, I won't do that.

Yes, I concur. Odds of being broken in transit is high.
Thanks for the offer though.

No problem.  If I get chance ill send you the dolby board - it is quite interesting early 90s audio tech

[bookaboo]

I have been wondering - how do I get in touch with Dave to see if a couple of items I have are of interest to him?

I can send out:

Mainboard and Twin Optical Solar Cell Audio input board from a Dolby CP-45 Analogue Cinema Sound Processor (as used in actual cinemas on 35mm projectors)
Brand New 2kw Osram XBO Short-Arc Xenon Digital Cinema Projector Lamp

The lamp will be costly to send - fragile, huge box, regulations etc so don't want to waste my money if he isn't interested.

I know the lamp isn't really an EE thing, but he might have fun trying to power it, they need about 20-22v DC @ 80 Amps

Photonicinduction might be able to "test" your lamp at a lower postage cost.

[TheDefpom]

Those cheap DC-DC converters I sent in were brand new, never even connected to a load, I was hoping Dave could see why they blew up when just connected to a supply, as I have 7 more of them... Don't want to just bin them!

To me it looked like a bad trace bridging between a couple of pins of the device.

[Fungus]

Those cheap DC-DC converters I sent in were brand new, never even connected to a load, I was hoping Dave could see why they blew up when just connected to a supply, as I have 7 more of them... Don't want to just bin them!

It's a bit difficult to find out after they've melted down and you don't even know what parts are on the board.

Reason: Bad soldering? Go over the rest with a magnifying glass before you plug them in.

If you got them from eBay then find out how many of them are working and ask for a refund on the rest.

[rollatorwieltje]

Ah, the Siemens/Infineon C167 processor. 16 bit model, usually runs at about 20MHz. Altium bought a (the?) toolchain manufacturer for those, Tasking Software. Apparently these ancient processors still aren't dead after more than 20 years on the market.

[coriolan]

I couldn't find the link to the USB-LED driver in the description. Here it is:
http://jussikilpelainen.kapsi.fi/wordpress/?p=174

[BloodyRipper]

Any chance that the Hangout to watch Back To The Future is going to happen?

[crispy_tofu]

Any chance that the Hangout to watch Back To The Future is going to happen?

I would join that too if it went along. Promise I won't be annoying! 

[tommiph]

Hey, Dave! Another Fan from Finland! I just wanted to say you forgot Jussi's URL from your YT description: http://jussikilpelainen.kapsi.fi/wordpress/ Pretty cool stuff, hope nobody misses it!

[TheDefpom]

Those cheap DC-DC converters I sent in were brand new, never even connected to a load, I was hoping Dave could see why they blew up when just connected to a supply, as I have 7 more of them... Don't want to just bin them!

It's a bit difficult to find out after they've melted down and you don't even know what parts are on the board.

Reason: Bad soldering? Go over the rest with a magnifying glass before you plug them in.

If you got them from eBay then find out how many of them are working and ask for a refund on the rest.

I sent Dave three units, the blown one, one I desoldered the ic on and cut between the pads and replaced the ic, and one still in its original package as new never powered up.

Yes they are cheap, but I still expected something so basic to actually work!

They were a bit of a lesson for others, test these things before actually trying to use them!

[tommiph]

Might be a stupid question, cause I'm just learning things with the help of this vlblog, but was the trimmer potentiometer set to it's lowers setting from the start? I'm just combining stuff I've learned, might nothing to do with your case Sorry

[Xenon Photon]

Where can we buy the LeMaker Guitar?

[Fungus]

Yes they are cheap, but I still expected something so basic to actually work!

I've bought loads of those and never had a problem.