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| What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it? |
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| Kjelt:
Early 1980s I was early teens I got this little 25 electronic schematics book from the library. I saw this two led blinking light with two transistors two capacitors and a bunch of resistors, that would be my first circuit to build 8) I bought a 220V iron and solder that ofcourse was not fit to make this stuff (what did I know, nobody to teach me) and went with the bill of materials to the electronic parts store. There they had the resistors and leds but not the exotic old transistors from the schematic which was from the 70s. They told me I could use two other transistors that were plastick and not the metal can from the schematic and also the capacitors which were 16V rated they only had 25V ones which would not matter according to them. So I came home proud with my treasure parts and started to build the circuit just to burst in tears since the transistors looked completely different and I had no clue how to find out what was the emitter, collector or base. I did not even know what it was back then. I tried my best to solder everything together without pcb, just in the airlead manner. And ofcourse when I connected the 9V battery.................... nothing happened. Big tears chrsing the salesperson who told me the transistors were the same and the voltage on the capacitors did not matter, yeah right! :) No help, no friends with knowledge, a father who did not know a transistor from a capacitor so that was the end of it. Till half a year later I met someone at school who had a real analog Tandy (Radioshack in the US) multimeter 8) and knew how to measure these magic three pin components. He made it to work. Since then two years later I met my neighbour across the street, a real geek working at Philips tv labs who had an attick full of scopes, tv cameras, computer etc. Etc. It took a year before he agreed to teach me one and another about electronics and he was my inspiration and mentor to study electronics and the rest followed. |
| TimFox:
--- Quote from: themadhippy on November 26, 2022, 10:37:30 pm --- --- Quote ---.6 terminal DPDT switches are possibly the MOST common kind. --- End quote --- in the electronics world agreed,however what surprised me is --- Quote ---but I noticed the switches being installed were actually DPDT. --- End quote --- as ive yet to see a dpdt switch in a standard light switch format --- End quote --- Here is an American "four-way switch", as I discussed above, available from a standard manufacturer (Leviton) for $11.35 at Home Depot. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-120-277-Volt-15-Amp-4-Way-Commercial-Grade-AC-Quiet-Toggle-Light-Switch-White-54504-2W/300287591 |
| themadhippy:
--- Quote ---Here is an American "four-way switch", as I discussed above, available from a standard manufacturer --- End quote --- for some reason the link dont work for me,however a model search seemed to show something with 4,not 6 terminals,which is exactly what i was saying,that a full dpdt switch in a standard switch plate seems to be rarer than rocking horse turds |
| brucehoult:
--- Quote from: themadhippy on November 26, 2022, 10:37:30 pm --- --- Quote ---.6 terminal DPDT switches are possibly the MOST common kind. --- End quote --- in the electronics world agreed,however what surprised me is --- Quote ---but I noticed the switches being installed were actually DPDT. --- End quote --- as ive yet to see a dpdt switch in a standard light switch format --- End quote --- I'm having trouble finding them in online catalogues now too. It's easy to find DPDT mains switches e.g. ... https://www.clipsal.com/products/detail?CatNo=30MD2 ... just not mounted on a plate for mounting on a wall cavity. There is clearly no technical obstacle to making them. As I see now I know the name, you can get "intermediate" switches, no problem. Maybe the world -- or at least the New Zealand domestic market -- was just a little different in 1974 than in 2022. |
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