sci.electronics.repair@googlegroups.com

Today's topics:

* Laptop not charging. - 4 messages, 4 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.electronics.repair/t/3f52116e8141f1a4?hl=en
* What is the fifth transistor likely for? - 3 messages, 3 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.electronics.repair/t/cbdab6f7f9577f6d?hl=en
* surges slowly destroying - 2 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.electronics.repair/t/97cd7b53147e2809?hl=en

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Laptop not charging.
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.electronics.repair/t/3f52116e8141f1a4?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 4 ==
Date: Mon, Feb 7 2011 3:49 pm
From: who where

On Mon, 07 Feb 2011 01:37:39 +0000, T i m <news@spaced.me.uk> wrote:

>On Mon, 07 Feb 2011 08:54:59 +0800, who where <noone@home.net> wrote:
>
>
>>>But yes, bring on the 'generic / modular' laptop (so it works more
>>>like desktop clones) where not just things like optical drives can be
>>>swapped between brands (and CPUs, RAM, HDDs etc) but system boards,
>>>chargers and batteries.
>>
>>Have been watching this thread with some interest. We travel with a
>>Dell Vostro 1400 (Aug08 delivery), and in late 2008 we left the PSU
>>behind in sthn Calif. Noticed its absence in Vegas, and happened upon
>>a pooter shop who had new generic (non-Dell-branded) PSU's at a decent
>>price compared to the genuine Dell product.
>
>Ok.
>
>> On first use - as they
>>explained - the Vostro reported a non-genuine PSU but has worked fine
>>for the last two years.
>
>Including charging the battery you mean?

Yes

== 2 of 4 ==
Date: Mon, Feb 7 2011 5:32 pm
From: T i m

On Tue, 08 Feb 2011 07:49:33 +0800, who where <noone@home.net> wrote:

>>> On first use - as they
>>>explained - the Vostro reported a non-genuine PSU but has worked fine
>>>for the last two years.
>>
>>Including charging the battery you mean?
>
>Yes

Ok ta.

Thinking outside the box a bit and looking at this external /
universal charger ... if I had a known good Dell battery with the same
parameters as required by the laptop but that just didn't fit /in/ the
laptop a short extension lead might do the trick. Certainly sufficient
enough to ensure it /was/ a battery problem before buying another one?

Cheers, T i m

p.s. When I worked for British Telecom (and then later Kodak on their
Microfilm side) we regularly used 'external' cards / cables to allow
us to check the card / module whilst connected to the machine but so
we could still get to it.

== 3 of 4 ==
Date: Mon, Feb 7 2011 6:34 pm
From: Bob Villa

On Feb 7, 7:32 pm, T i m <n...@spaced.me.uk> wrote:
> On Tue, 08 Feb 2011 07:49:33 +0800, who where <no...@home.net> wrote:
> >>> On first use - as they
> >>>explained - the Vostro reported a non-genuine PSU but has worked fine
> >>>for the last two years.
>
> >>Including charging the battery you mean?
>
> >Yes
>
> Ok ta.
>
> Thinking outside the box a bit and looking at this external /
> universal charger ... if I had a known good Dell battery with the same
> parameters as required by the laptop but that just didn't fit /in/ the
> laptop a short extension lead might do the trick. Certainly sufficient
> enough to ensure it /was/ a battery problem before buying another one?
>
> Cheers, T i m
>
> p.s. When I worked for British Telecom (and then later Kodak on their
> Microfilm side) we regularly used 'external' cards / cables to allow
> us to check the card / module whilst connected to the machine but so
> we could still get to it.

We use extender cards...and "stack" the card you were working on. I
worked on Rockwell based archaic PMOS. *L*

== 4 of 4 ==
Date: Mon, Feb 7 2011 7:15 pm
From: "Michael A. Terrell"

Bob Villa wrote:
>
> On Feb 7, 7:32 pm, T i m <n...@spaced.me.uk> wrote:
> > On Tue, 08 Feb 2011 07:49:33 +0800, who where <no...@home.net> wrote:
> > >>> On first use - as they
> > >>>explained - the Vostro reported a non-genuine PSU but has worked fine
> > >>>for the last two years.
> >
> > >>Including charging the battery you mean?
> >
> > >Yes
> >
> > Ok ta.
> >
> > Thinking outside the box a bit and looking at this external /
> > universal charger ... if I had a known good Dell battery with the same
> > parameters as required by the laptop but that just didn't fit /in/ the
> > laptop a short extension lead might do the trick. Certainly sufficient
> > enough to ensure it /was/ a battery problem before buying another one?
> >
> > Cheers, T i m
> >
> > p.s. When I worked for British Telecom (and then later Kodak on their
> > Microfilm side) we regularly used 'external' cards / cables to allow
> > us to check the card / module whilst connected to the machine but so
> > we could still get to it.
>
> We use extender cards...and "stack" the card you were working on. I
> worked on Rockwell based archaic PMOS. *L*

They were Positive ESD was going to wipe their MOS. ;-)

--
You can't fix stupid. You can't even put a band-aid on it, because it's
Teflon coated.

==============================================================================
TOPIC: What is the fifth transistor likely for?
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.electronics.repair/t/cbdab6f7f9577f6d?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 3 ==
Date: Mon, Feb 7 2011 4:23 pm
From: Sjouke Burry

mm wrote:
> I was junking a moderately priced combo CD, AM/FM/Casette, from 1998,
> that I got out of the trash and which wouldn't play CDs anymore, and
> it had an array of five output trnasisttors, instead of the usual
> four. All are the same size, on one big heat sink. No schematic
> of course.
>
> The part numbers are obscured but I can see the ends of several.
> 1 B1370
> 2 B1020
> 3 B1415 (or 01415, or D1415, or ?1415
> 4 B1020 same as 2
> 5 same as 3
>
> What is the fifth transistor likely for?
>
> Don't put a lot of work in to this. The device is junked/trashed
> already.
Temperature measurement.
Used to keep the bias where it belongs.

== 2 of 3 ==
Date: Mon, Feb 7 2011 9:08 pm
From: isw

In article <iip2qi$deg$1@news.eternal-september.org>,
"William Sommerwerck" <grizzledgeezer@comcast.net> wrote:

> Temperature compensation for the bias? (This seems unlikely, as the devices
> would be silicon. But who knows?)

Not uncommon, and a B-E junction has a matching tempco, which a standard
diode does not. RCA used to make (when they made transistors) a special
"diode" which was a B-E junction in a two-wire package, for just that
purpose.

After saying all that, though, my bet is that the fifth device has
something to do with running the CD drive motor.

Isaac

== 3 of 3 ==
Date: Mon, Feb 7 2011 9:18 pm
From: mm

On Tue, 08 Feb 2011 01:23:08 +0100, Sjouke Burry
<burrynulnulfour@ppllaanneett.nnll> wrote:

>mm wrote:
>> I was junking a moderately priced combo CD, AM/FM/Casette, from 1998,
>> that I got out of the trash and which wouldn't play CDs anymore, and
>> it had an array of five output trnasisttors, instead of the usual
>> four. All are the same size, on one big heat sink. No schematic
>> of course.
>>
>> The part numbers are obscured but I can see the ends of several.
>> 1 B1370
>> 2 B1020
>> 3 B1415 (or 01415, or D1415, or ?1415
>> 4 B1020 same as 2
>> 5 same as 3
>>
>> What is the fifth transistor likely for?
>>
>> Don't put a lot of work in to this. The device is junked/trashed
>> already.
>Temperature measurement.
>Used to keep the bias where it belongs.

Thanks all. Very interesting ideas. Maybe it wasn't as cheap as I
thought it was. But I had no use for it. I just like to look at
things and fix them when I can.

==============================================================================
TOPIC: surges slowly destroying
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.electronics.repair/t/97cd7b53147e2809?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Feb 7 2011 6:22 pm
From: Fred

mm <NOPSAMmm2005@bigfoot.com> wrote in
news:ia10l6pq154b9ce0ri7m0tg2umc374l67t@4ax.com:

> What I don't understand: If I put it on pause for 20 minutes, it
> starts up again right where it left off, in the middle of a song. It
> continues wihtout a jerk, and I don't think it's playing just what was
> in my my buffer. Also, when I first start it, it always begins at the
> start of a song. Plus I don't use it, but it has the ability to skip
> a song or more. It's as if I have my own personal stream, instead of
> just listneing to what it sends everyone else who is on that channel.
>
> How can that be? Doesn't this take many times more processes
> running and more cpu's to run them all? And many times more RAM for
> many times more output buffers?
>
>

It's a server, not a live station.

Give this one a try:
http://www.radiosure.com/
Download/install for Windows (only I think)
It's safe....no spyware, adware, crapware.

Stations found: 17664 on the webpage list tonight.
You can probably find something to listen to without the damned car ads
on US AM stations. They never learn.....too bad. I miss real AM on my
1939 Motorola "D" 4-tube portable. At night, it's big loopstick picks up
Cuba and Central America on AM. Every part in it, except batteries no
longer available is ORIGINAL! Its only fault was the glue holding the
4" speaker cone in place disintegrated. I fixed the speaker and added a
mini stereo cable to the voicecoil using two 5 ohm resistors, one to each
channel so both channels will play through the radio's original speakers.

The screws in the back had holed the cardboard back so I added two
cabinet magnet latches to get inside and keep the flat loop in place when
it was carried. A friend with a leather shop made me a new handle.

An old Archos Studio 20 hard drive MP3 player was resurrected and filled
with OTR and 1930-40 big band music. With the radio actually off, a
little IC amp board from an old Radio Shack computer speaker powers the
speaker from some nimh cells in a holder. Plug that amp into the MP3
player and slide it in over the homemade battery packs that really power
the radio on AM and the radio plays the same AM stations it did in 1939,
not the noise and hate on AM radio today.

Set on any diner booth table, it attracts lots of fans who want to hear
The Green Hornet or Amos N Andy or the 1930's recordings of the World
Series baseball games.....like would have been on a diner radio before
WW2.

HI HO SILVER, AWAY!

== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Feb 7 2011 7:12 pm
From: Fred

mm <NOPSAMmm2005@bigfoot.com> wrote in
news:pb30l6lb358te66o4e7cuhvol2h06m7cci@4ax.com:

> I notice that radiosure has to be downloaded. Do radiossure or
> shoutcast have any drawbacks, like requiring a tool bar or anything?
>

Shoutcast is commercial but you can listen to anything on it with your
fav media player like Winamp. There are pointers to the M3U playlist for
each station that outputs MP3 or other formats. I think AOL/Winamp owns
Shoutcast.

The Linux boys have a great, open source of course, radio system you
might want to listen to called Icecast.
http://icecast.org/
The software on the site is SERVER software for Linux and Windows so you
can become one of their radio stations and get sued by the RIAA money
mongers. They'll just want their license fees when they catch you....or
else. Click on STREAM DIRECTORY to get to the station list. Again, any
player that supports M3U or XSPF playlist streaming can connect directly
to the servers across the planet. Icecast has:
Statistics

* Total streams: 7274
* Ogg Vorbis: 269
* MP3: 6677

on it tonight. Totally open source supported, like any good Linux group.
All free to anyone who cares to connect. Many national radio stations,
like Radio Swiss, use Icecast for free distribution so there's some
really great professional sources across the planet to listen to without
being trashed by spam, spyware and hounded to death to buy something.
Spamming is not allowed on Icecast...jealously protected by a dedicated
group of hackers.

Radiosure has no load. I've never seen it do anything in all the time
I've used it. It's not a commercial venture....just a bunch of radio
lovers and hackers.

My nighttime station is classic country and western from KSEY in Seymour,
Texas. If you're gonna listen to cowboy music, you need to be in cowboy
country. The local ads with that Texas drawl are great. At night KSEY
plays a syndicated classic country feed called "Legend Radio", very well
done, the old network way! They're playing "Just Another Bridge To
Burn" as I'm typing this. The former pirate radio kid from high school
inherited it from his mother, still a true family radio station. His
picture of his pirate station is on the webpage...(c;] KSEY also has a
repeater in KS. His server supports 4 different protocols. The low-res
24Kbps mono MP3 feed sounds just like AM without the static, of course,
which goes along with the historic music being played. "I Got Texas In
My Soul" is on now. He bills the station as "Anything you'd hear from a
honky tonk jukebox"...and it's very close!

Teens from the high school take control of the console after school in
the afternoon and he trains his continuing replacement operators from the
high school. The kids also do the high school basketball and football
games with LIVE narration just like they did when I was a kid. KSEY is a
great little station in N central Texas town of Seymour, where you can
still get lunch at the old folks home, CHEAP!...(c;]

http://www.radioksey.com/

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