***Official Electronics Thread of Officialness (it starts off with lots of Nixie Tube Clock goodness

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It looks great, Burnsy but I agree, it's wrong! How did you get the tubes at an angle like that, are they just standing off the board a bit? How about a picture of the inside.
 
Feek said:
It looks great, Burnsy but I agree, it's wrong! How did you get the tubes at an angle like that, are they just standing off the board a bit? How about a picture of the inside.
Click to expand...

They're mounted on halved PVC tubing, which is then mounted onto the scale at the back.

20g1g08.jpg
 
Well after four days of work, several hours of headbutting, a lot of cuts on my wrist (no, not intentionally), ripping through a plastic shroud after finding no other option and only noticing when i put it back together than there seems to be part of the case that's melted i am giving up on this hifi.

The sad thing is that it's a good hifi, it did work and all i needed to do was clean the cd lens. Why do they need to make it so hard? Good god manufacturers, please just screws, hand tight. Not too many of them. No stupid plastic knobs that are impossible to take off. No overly complicated case design that must have taken more effort to design than a normal one. And definitely no screws obstructed by a steel bar that holds the rest of everything in place.

Grargh! :mad:

/rant
 
Right, im a little stuck and my googlefu is weak with me tonight, im trying to find some 20mm ceramic FF5A AC250v fuses, i can find a whole shed load of the Glass ones but ceramic ones are eluding me..now im not sure if i could use the glass ones in place of the ceramic so thats another question for you electronic gurus.
 
If you are putting mains through them then I suspect you need the ceramic ones. I can have a look in the parts bin at work later today, but can't guarantee any FF ones.

<edit> Only have T5 Glass ones here :( RD do them if you are desperate. 80 odd pence each though. Minimum order 10 + VAT http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/cartridge-fuses/0420117/</edit>
 
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Im not putting mains through them, they are for my mothers mobility scooter, so 24v, and would you believe that none of the mobility shops have fuses for them and want a £5 for the 1 fuse lol (Order 1 in)....Anyways it takes 2 fuses, both FF 5 amp 20mm's, but one is glass and the other ceramic, could i get away with using 2 glass, as they are both the same rating?

The only difference i can tell is the glass v ceramic but as they are both rated exactly the same it should be fine i hope.
 
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Lakeland said:
Yeah that's the best place to post. The software is free here: http://www.genieonline.com

I'd use this LCD as it will link in with the genie software and save a lot of hassle:
http://www.rapidonline.com/Electronic-Components/Genie-Serial-LCD-Kit-13-6026
Click to expand...

Lakeland, I've being doing research into these kits and I before I order two of them I was wondering whether you could confirm something for me. I haven't yet tried the software but I will be doing so tonight, but would I be correct in saying that I could program the chip to convert the output from one of the potentiometers included into a different value ie. input x3 or whatever?

I found the techincal data sheets on the site not to be very helpful unfortunately and can't find any useful dimensions for the kit and there's a pretty terrible clarification of what you actually get in the kit. Am I right in saying that included are:
  • 1 lcd display
  • pcb
  • firmware ic
  • 14-pin DIL socket
  • 10-way SIL connector (x2)
  • 4.8mm spacers (x4)
  • 10k ohm pot
  • 10k ohm resistor
I rang their helpline and I thought the guy was going to look in the kits but it turned out he was looking at the same site as me and that was it.

Sorry to bombard you with questions! And thanks in advance for your help, it's very much appreciated :)

If everyone else wouldn't mind answering a couple of questions also that would be really helpful. I'm trying to do my research here but I just need to confirm things before I purchase the kit.

When buying a dc power supply, I just need to match the voltage required for the circuit board 4.5-5.5v in this case, so am I right in saying that this 3.8mm 5v dc supply would be fine? I'm going to have a much better search when I get home from uni later but I can't seem to find a 3.8mm socket/have no idea what it's actually called so if someone could let me know the name of it that would be great!!

Also, I need to have the pcb away from the screens a little bit so I'll be needing to use a ribbon. The LCD is 14-way so would this ribbon be the right one to use? With this connector?

Once again, thanks in advance for any help! I'm trying my best but I just want to be sure on everything. I'm spending the university's money, not mine, and they need to know that everything will work!!
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Lakeland, I've being doing research into these kits and I before I order two of them I was wondering whether you could confirm something for me. I haven't yet tried the software but I will be doing so tonight, but would I be correct in saying that I could program the chip to convert the output from one of the potentiometers included into a different value ie. input x3 or whatever?

I found the techincal data sheets on the site not to be very helpful unfortunately and can't find any useful dimensions for the kit and there's a pretty terrible clarification of what you actually get in the kit. Am I right in saying that included are:
  • 1 lcd display
  • pcb
  • firmware ic
  • 14-pin DIL socket
  • 10-way SIL connector (x2)
  • 4.8mm spacers (x4)
  • 10k ohm pot
  • 10k ohm resistor
I rang their helpline and I thought the guy was going to look in the kits but it turned out he was looking at the same site as me and that was it.

Sorry to bombard you with questions! And thanks in advance for your help, it's very much appreciated :)

If everyone else wouldn't mind answering a couple of questions also that would be really helpful. I'm trying to do my research here but I just need to confirm things before I purchase the kit.

When buying a dc power supply, I just need to match the voltage required for the circuit board 4.5-5.5v in this case, so am I right in saying that this 3.8mm 5v dc supply would be fine? I'm going to have a much better search when I get home from uni later but I can't seem to find a 3.8mm socket/have no idea what it's actually called so if someone could let me know the name of it that would be great!!

Also, I need to have the pcb away from the screens a little bit so I'll be needing to use a ribbon. The LCD is 14-way so would this ribbon be the right one to use? With this connector?

Once again, thanks in advance for any help! I'm trying my best but I just want to be sure on everything. I'm spending the university's money, not mine, and they need to know that everything will work!!
Click to expand...

I've got one downstairs as a kit, I could take some sizes for you at some point today, is there any particular dimensions you need?

I'm not 100% sure what you mean about the input, do you want it to output a larger number than what the input is sending to the chip?

Here you go
vSgq5.jpg
 
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KnightStalker said:
Im not putting mains through them, they are for my mothers mobility scooter, so 24v, and would you believe that none of the mobility shops have fuses for them and want a £5 for the 1 fuse lol (Order 1 in)....Anyways it takes 2 fuses, both FF 5 amp 20mm's, but one is glass and the other ceramic, could i get away with using 2 glass, as they are both the same rating?

The only difference i can tell is the glass v ceramic but as they are both rated exactly the same it should be fine i hope.
Click to expand...

the ceramic ones have a hight breaking capacity than glass i believe. Not sure why you need an FF in that application, but if that is what it says next to the holder then I suspect you will be best going for one of the same type. We only have glass T rating ones here it turns out, so can't send you any I'm afraid.
 
Lakeland said:
I've got one downstairs as a kit, I could take some sizes for you at some point today, is there any particular dimensions you need?

I'm not 100% sure what you mean about the input, do you want it to output a larger number than what the input is sending to the chip?

Here you go
vSgq5.jpg
Click to expand...

That's great info, thanks a lot! Do you think you could confirm for me what comes in the kit please? Also, have you got any idea about power supplies? What have you used? And perhaps about the ribbon cable?
 
I have another question, for anyone who can help me. I need to supply 2 pcbs at 5v (with the kit discussed above). Would I need two power supplies or would I need a 10v power supply, or what? Thanks!
 
If the two kits are to be used independently of each other then you'd use two 5v power supplies. If the two kits are used together, say in one project enclosure then you could just use one power supply and split the power off to both PCBs.

If you did want to use a 10v supply then you'd have to regulate the voltage down to 5v using some other means.

I don't think wiring two projects in series would work, would it?
 
Yes I plan to use both kits in the same enclosure with 1 power supply. I don't want to have to regulate the voltage either so therefore would a 5v power supply with the voltage split (somehow), and run them in parallel I suppose?

Thanks dude!
 
You might not necessarily need two power supplies, it depends how much current they draw. Just hook one up, measure current drawn, hook the other one up and measure current drawn on that. If the total current is less than the power supply rating then it's fine. And yes they would go in parallel.
 
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