Digest for sci.electronics.repair@googlegroups.com - 9 updates in 5 topics

mike <ham789@netzero.net>: Oct 31 01:33AM -0700

BIOS Recovery Question
 
I bought an acer laptop of unknown history.
Acer E1-510-4828
Has no HD.
Shipped with windows 8.1
Apparently UEFI BIOS.
4GB PC3L ram.
 
I put a linux boot CD in it and applied power.
Draws 25W. Assume it's charging the battery, but the
charge indicator is not lit. The battery has gone from
not working to running the laptop, so looks like it's
actually charging.
 
Press the power button.
Fans run
CD spins up
No light on the screen.
Nothing on the VGA external monitor
Pressing the function F5/F6 keys does nothing.
Runs for about 5 seconds and restarts over and over.
 
If I remove the RAM, it powers up and the fans run
continuously.
Replacing the RAM doesn't help.
 
My conclusion is that the system is trying to run,
but the BIOS is borked.
 
I had the same system with a Gateway desktop with an
Acer board. I could get into the BIOS.
I installed win 8.1.
Win 8.1 seemed to install and run fine, but the
first reboot didn't.
Same symptom as above. Nothing on screen.
Can't enter bios. reboot loop.
 
Almost all the google hits about bios tell you how to
update/reinstall/recover using methods that require the system
to at least boot into bios.
 
I have two UEFI systems and both are borked.
 
I did find some info about recovery mode or crisis mode
or insyde, but they're vague about exactly what to do.
Vendors are vague about which systems support USB
BIOS recovery.
 
I did try recovery via flash drive and some multiple
keypresses on the Gateway with no success.
Couldn't even get the lights on the flash drive to blink.
Symptoms suggest the boot block is trashed.
 
There are a LOT of variables on the bios file formats
and file names and keypresses required to initiate
the USB recovery process.
 
Since I can't see what I have, I'm lost.
Any ideas on where to go from here?
c4urs11 <c4urs11@domain.hidden>: Oct 31 09:18AM

On Sat, 31 Oct 2015 01:33:04 -0700, mike wrote:
 
> the USB recovery process.
 
> Since I can't see what I have, I'm lost.
> Any ideas on where to go from here?
 
Reflash the BIOS off-board?
 
Cheers!
Ken <Ken@invalid.com>: Oct 31 07:02AM -0500

mike wrote:
> charge indicator is not lit. The battery has gone from
> not working to running the laptop, so looks like it's
> actually charging.
 
Before I would assume the bios is hosed, I would try another A/C adapter
on the computer. If the adapter does not come up fast enough with
enough current, the laptop will not boot or stay turned on. I have seen
this on laptops.
 
It seems that you should get something on the screen or VGA output if
the processor is starting. Some computers have problems starting with a
low CMOS battery, I would also check its voltage. Also check with
different RAM if possible, as most must have some working RAM in order
to start.
 
 
jurb6006@gmail.com: Oct 30 08:17PM -0700

How the hell do these posts get on other websites ?
 
http://www.edaboard.co.uk/hp-3561a-t553464.html
jurb6006@gmail.com: Oct 30 03:06PM -0700

>"If you *needed* equalization with decent drivers in a homebrew >speaker, I suspect that your crossovers may have needed work as >well, a..."
 
It was the fact that the cabinet was way too small. The passive radiator was much bigger than the original woofer. Kind of a slim cabinet also, not much volume. Actually they were a bit smaller than Boston Acousics A-70. Those had a relatively small cabinet, and shallow, which I like. The Bostons also have a dowel in the middle to stiffen the front and rear baffles. They handled the small volume by using a seriously low impedance woofer and a decent 12 dB crossover. I read the DC resistance of a woofer out of an A-150 and it was 3.2 ohms. I realize they are inductive but that is about the lowest I've seen on something supposedly 8 ohms. IRC lower than those famous 8 inch EPIs.
 
Anyway, by "AKer" I meant a member of Audiokarma. Them people are really into this stuff. Some of these guy have systems up into six figures, but that is really usually more than one system. They are into restoring old Marantzes, Pioneers, etc. and a bunch of high end brands I had never heard of. Separate arms and turntables, homemade solid plinths. Changing like ALL the caps in an amp or speaker crossover. Things like that. And tubes. There is a whole tube section and they are building tube amps. In fact I sold some big irons to a guy in Chicago last year, I'll have to dig up his phone number an find out what he did with them. They were a hundred bucks but worth it as they are Chicago BO-15s which are kinda hard to come by. They are full Williamson with BOTH screen and cathode taps. I have actually come to prefer solid state.
jurb6006@gmail.com: Oct 30 06:35PM -0700

> >90/100. "
 
> "And you are probably white clipping. "
 
> -got anything positive to add, jurb?
 
Do you know what white clipping is ? It is like when the display hits its maximum brightness than 100 IRE. Say between 70 and 100 IRE it does not get any brighter. It makes the picture white out on bright scenes.
 
Sometimes you are not aware of it. Without side by side comparisons you'll never know if it is in the source or the set.
 
I'm curious about that sensor you mentioned, what, it detects the color temperature ? Something like that ?
thekmanrocks@gmail.com: Oct 30 07:19PM -0700

jurb...@gmail.com wrote: "- show quoted text -
Do you know what white clipping is ? It is like when the display hits its maximum brightness than 100 IRE. Say between 70 and 100 IRE it does not get any brighter. It makes the picture white out on bright scenes.
 
Sometimes you are not aware of it. Without side by side comparisons you'll never know if it is in the source or the set. "
 
I usually set it via a scene with sunlit clouds in it if I
don't have my patterns with me.
 
"I'm curious about that sensor you mentioned, what, it detects the color temperature ? Something like that ? "
 
No! You're talking out the wrong end again. The
sensor senses ambient room light, and raises or
lowers the backlight to compensate. Has nothing
to do with color temp.
"Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@earthlink.net>: Oct 30 07:17PM -0400


> A primary source for many OEM manufacturers. And they make fine motors.
 
> Peter Wieck
> Melrose Park, PA
 
 
You are all replying to a ten year old thread that was resurrected
by a Google spammer. He is spamming a lot of electronics newsgroups to
sell his garbage. No honest company has to resort to spam.
Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca>: Oct 30 05:14PM -0400

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Digest for sci.electronics.repair@googlegroups.com - 9 updates in 3 topics

"pfjw@aol.com" <pfjw@aol.com>: Oct 30 04:56AM -0700

On Thursday, September 22, 2005 at 11:36:13 PM UTC-4, JUD wrote:
> source that provides the original motor and substitutes.
 
> Any help will be greatly appreciated.
 
> Jim
 
http://www.pittman-motors.com/
 
A primary source for many OEM manufacturers. And they make fine motors.
 
Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA
Wond <gboot.phil@gmx.com>: Oct 30 03:35PM

On Thu, 29 Oct 2015 09:16:36 -0700, Ken Layton wrote:
 
 
>> Jim
 
> Servo City sells all types of small dc motors:
 
> https://www.servocity.com/html/motors___accessories.html
 
I had good service from this guy:
<http://www.techmax.com/small-electric-motors/index.htm>
Tim R <timothy42b@aol.com>: Oct 29 06:27PM -0700


> etc.
 
> Before you do that, check color temperature
> setting. Move it to Neutral, or Warm1, if available.
 
Here are my settings. It gives me a number and a point on a scale, I'm estimating percentages.
 
Backlight, about 48%
contrast, about 75%
brightness, 50%
color, 42%
tint 0
sharpness 0
color warm (dunno why two colors)
Noise reduction On
light sensor On
Black Stretch Off
Dynamic contrast Off
thekmanrocks@gmail.com: Oct 29 06:44PM -0700

Tim R wrote: "Backlight, about 48%
contrast, about 75%
brightness, 50%
color, 42%
tint 0
sharpness 0
color warm (dunno why two colors)
Noise reduction On
light sensor On
Black Stretch Off
Dynamic contrast Off "
 
Seem reasonable. I'd still turn off
noise reduction and the light sensor.
 
 
Run up one of the controls all the way to
the right: That will determine your scale.
On my Samsung LED, the scale is 0-100,
with 50 as midpoint. On my "bedroom"
tube Toshiba, scale is 0-64, with 32 as
midpoint.
 
 
Anywho, the cause of your "washed out"
image is (1) Being so used to the
exaggerated settings of Vivid or dynamic.
and (2) - nudge that Contrast up a little
higher - 85% or so. I keep mine at
90/100.
 
How many color temp. options does
your set have - just TWO? Warm and
....? There should be at least three
on any reputable/recognizable brand
name TV.
 
My backlight(scale 0-20) by the way
is set by me at 7. I had to bump
up brightness to 55 so as to not lose
detail in darker parts of the image, IE:
the texture of a dark suit jacket, etc.
jurb6006@gmail.com: Oct 30 01:22AM -0700

>and (2) - nudge that Contrast up a little
>higher - 85% or so. I keep mine at
>90/100. "
 
And you are probably white clipping.
"pfjw@aol.com" <pfjw@aol.com>: Oct 30 04:07AM -0700

Please note the interpolations
 
> >"Well - this is a horse of an entirely different color. "
 
> You an AKer ?
 
I am not from Alaska, but I do own several Atwater Kent radios made nearby. Otherwise, I do not get the reference?
 
> Anyway, in response, speakers run 5, 6, 7 dB off, microphones about the same. Amps, tuners, whatever, consider them good within 3 dB. And people are afraid to use tone controls ? Where is that in the Bible ? Where is that in the Constitution ?
 
Some do, some are better than that. Most of mine are in the "better" category. Most (not all) speakers that are in the better category are also power pigs. All of mine are in that category - which leads to having to have relatively high-wattage amps based on speaker type, expected volume and room size. My least powerful amp is a 12-watt EL84 based homebrew, my most is 225 watt solid-state beast.
 
> What's more, when turned all the way up that bass control is doing what it is supposed to do. Or all the way down. It was endowed by its creator with that ability. It is your free will to use it or abuse it. Like a gun, well at least as far as some woofers are concerned but they are just paranoid...
 
Have you ever looked at a 'full/min.' curve on a typical amp tone control? One runs out of words past "ugly". Not even the first cousin of the input signal.
 
> Bose had no shame in using a permanent EQ. Neither did I. Years ago I had speakers used to have a small woofer and like an 8 or 10 inch passive radiator which I replaced with a four ohm woofer.
 
On Bose - there is a very accurate descriptive phrase: No highs? No lows? Must be Bose. Of all the "popular" and/or mass-market "Name Brand" speakers out there, Bose were and are perhaps the worst of the lot. Their singular virtue was that they sounded just as wretched anywhere in the room due to that equalization. Which Bose managed to turn into a selling point. But, if that is your 'reference' speaker, much of what you have to write is justified, and heroic use of equalization is probably necessary. Generally not so much with decent speakers and sufficient power to drive them.
 
ASIDE: one day, I will fasten upon a set of Klipschorns - and retest my theories using fixed-location highly efficient speakers. Until then, I am quite happy with what I have, have no fears, constitutional, biblical or otherwise using equalization, bass, midrange or treble controls but just not having much of a need.
 
> It was not good, but using the full range off a Soundcraftsmen ten band EQ I got them to sound good. And when I played a few other things on them I started liking them better and better. Damn that bass was smooth.
 
> The settings were 31 Hz at +max, 62 at 0, 125 Hz at -max (min) and the rest gradually up to the center from there to about the sixth band. It sounded fantastic, but was inefficient as hell. First of all it was 2.3 ohms, poison to at least half of the amps known in existence, or not actually...
 
Good sound, especially Bass is a matter of moving air. It takes a certain amount of surface area to move sufficient air to get clean, smooth bass. In my direct experience concentrating mostly on vintage equipment (my most recent amp other than the homebrew is c. 1980) is that every one of them is perfectly happy down to 2 ohms, and my two front-line devices are stable to 1 ohm if short-term, and will shut themselves off if long term. I drive nominal 4-ohm AR3a speakers and nominal 6-ohm Maggies as the two extremes - no worries. The rest of the lot are much more conventional nominal 8-ohm devices.
 
> The lights dimmed when I cranked these babies up. Eventually they became the rear channels in my quad system. Fed them with a supposedly low power Sansui 771. I scoped it once and don;t remember the reading but it was well over a hundred a channel into that 2.3 ohms. The front was the Marantz 4270 running into speakers I put together. A 12 inch three way system, decent dome tweeters, noting fancy ad did not sound perfect, but I had an EQ for them as well. Separate EQs for front and back. Yup.
 
If you *needed* equalization with decent drivers in a homebrew speaker, I suspect that your crossovers may have needed work as well, and you were overcoming their limitations - no shame in that, but it also makes your fascination with equalization more reasonable. And a good thing that using such means did get you where you wanted to be in the end.
 
 
> Once set, I believe the sound was damn hard to beat. Nobody did back then, at least in the current crowd. And I had it with the Advent five foot silver screen job with the mirror out front, AND MINE WAS CALIBRATED. Someone has just changed all three CRTs but it had another problem nobody could fix. Nobody else that is.
 
You understand that Henry Kloss began to go deaf with increasing rapidity right around the time he moved away from speakers and audio to TV. His projection TV was a tour-de-force, with its biggest problem after the expense was in keeping it running, much less setting it up in the first place. Like the little girl with the pretty curl. When it was good, it was very, very good. When it was bad, it was just awful.
 
Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA
thekmanrocks@gmail.com: Oct 30 05:35AM -0700

jurb...@gmail.com wrote: ">"Anywho, the cause of your "washed out"
>and (2) - nudge that Contrast up a little
>higher - 85% or so. I keep mine at
>90/100. "
 
 
"And you are probably white clipping. "
 
-got anything positive to add, jurb?
Chuck <chuck@mydeja.net>: Oct 30 08:18AM -0500


>Once set, I believe the sound was damn hard to beat. Nobody did back then, at least in the current crowd. And I had it with the Advent five foot silver screen job with the mirror out front, AND MINE WAS CALIBRATED. Someone has just changed all three CRTs but it had another problem nobody could fix. Nobody else that is.
 
>You look at these things and the picture is trapezoidal, the convergence is shit, you can't read the letters sometimes because it is so bad. Not mine. Mine was perfect. Convergence within a raster line width everywhere on the screen. I figured out a little design defect that was keeping the others from having that. It was radiation from one wire to another, polluting one of the waveforms going to the convergence waveform board. It caused an error at the right side and most people just made it overscan, not me. On a five foot diagonal screen my overscan was less than an inch on each side. Now remember how long ago this was. Your TV picture got smaller when your fridge started not long before that.
 
>I wouldn't mind having one of those old sets now. Not that I have anywhere to put it, but if I did...
 
 
We had one of the Advents in our living room. One day the video died.
We didn't have a scope at the house and all the parts in the video
circuit checked okay. What we eventually found was that there was a
transistor with over 30v on the collector. It worked perfectly up to
29v, then when this threshold was surpassed, it ceased to amplify.
Hours of pure enertainment.
 
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Tim Schwartz <tim@bristolnj.com>: Oct 30 07:02AM -0400

Gentlemen,
 
This receiver was stored in humid conditions, and the glue (contact
cement) that was used to hold wires in place inside the transformer
attacked the wire coating and wire.
 
On this particular transformer it looks like there was a 'knot' of
wires soldered and glued, possibly a factory repair when the transformer
was made.
 
Regards,
Tim Schwartz
Bristol Electronics
tim@bristolnj.com
 
 
On 10/27/2015 8:04 AM, Tim Schwartz wrote:
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Digest for sci.electronics.repair@googlegroups.com - 16 updates in 4 topics

zwgearbox@gmail.com: Oct 29 12:52AM -0700

Sell:
China Shenzhen ZHAOWEI Machinery & Electronics Co. Ltd engages in designing, manufacturing and marketing all kinds of electric motors. They are mainly suitable for the following applications: smart home application used in smart kitchen and laundry, medical instrument for personal care, smart E-transmission applied in automobile, industry automation applied in telecommunication and a great variety of plastic/metal planetary gearbox in different sizes.
In order to develop the oversea market, we are current seeking new partners around the world to create a bright future together. ZhaoWei is a right choice and excellent partnership with sincere services.
 
Company: Shenzhen ZHAOWEI Machinery & Electronics Co., Ltd
URL: http://www.zwgearbox.com/
Contact: Anny Liu
Tel:+86-755-27322652
Fax:+86-755-27323949
E-mail:sales@zwgearbox.com
Add: Blk. 18, Longwangmiao Industry Park, Fuyong Tn., Bao'an Dist., Shenzhen 518103, Guangdong, China
Ken Layton <KLayton888@aol.com>: Oct 29 09:16AM -0700

On Thursday, September 22, 2005 at 8:36:13 PM UTC-7, JUD wrote:
> source that provides the original motor and substitutes.
 
> Any help will be greatly appreciated.
 
> Jim
 
Servo City sells all types of small dc motors:
 
https://www.servocity.com/html/motors___accessories.html
"pfjw@aol.com" <pfjw@aol.com>: Oct 28 10:26AM -0700

> Somewhat like the people who leave their stereo at flat response. the bass and treble controls are there to be used. Every recording is not perfect and every speaker is not perfect, especially in a real room.
 
Well - this is a horse of an entirely different color.
 
First, a confession: Due to this being one of the facets of my hobby, I have no less than seven (7) functioning, dedicated audio systems in play. Four are in my "radio room" one in the living room, and the most serious one in the library. The seventh is at our summer house, and is primarily a weekend warrior. Speakers range from AR3a to Magnepan MG-IIIa, and include both Revox and AR sub-sat systems as well as vintage AR M5s. So, the vice has been well-established. The house is a center-hall colonial with 10' ceilings, plaster walls, hardwood floors and lots of wood trim. Room sizes vary from 17' x 24' x 10' (library) to 12' x 15' x 9' (radio room).
 
a) I have found that with some care and a very understanding wife, speakers may be placed in about any room without needing equalization.
b) Getting a good soundstage - which is emphatically NOT a single point - is a little more difficult, but not impossible - and why I favor placing speakers on the long wall of a room, not the short wall.
c) There are times when I will use the bass/treble/midrange controls on my pre-amps - but that will be specific to a recording, not a general setting. I do also own an equalizer - but in the last 10 years, it has seen use only to the extent that I make sure it is working properly. And I also own a Citation 17 with equalization built-in, nice but not much used.
d) I find that adequate power such that one may achieve substantial volume without the threat of clipping is far more useful to good sound than any sort of 'shaping' applied to the signal. I have a (very) few recordings with a peak-to-average of very nearly 30dB, such that 'enough power' is not an idle expectation.
 
Things that are 'there to be used' are often not of much use if any thought is applied.
 
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/46/156980933_1ea5a376db.jpg
 
Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA
jurb6006@gmail.com: Oct 28 09:39PM -0700

>in. By adjusting the bias/gain, and the RGBs, you can
>compensate for any backlight flaws and maintain
>correct color gamut. "
 
No. here is a reason there were no LED LCD TVs in the past. They could not get the color right because the wavelengths they needed were simply not there. So they built those HV supplies and used those CCFLs with their own special phosphor. Well it isn't all that special.
 
The LCD panel has to separate the colors, and there are only so many efficient ways of doing that. You have to have the colors it needs. The spectral output has to be right and matched to not only the panel, but the circuitry. The days of the 90 degree color demodulation angle being the last word are over. Red is not really red, green is not really green and blue is not really blue. At least as defined by the old standard. They can do whatever they want now, and DLPs took to using seven colors. Like having a seven gun CRT. Try just demodulating I and Q now. (the original red and blue signals, kinda)
 
One thing though, if you DO deem it that important, what is your reference ? A piece of paper ? Lit by what ? The way I see it you would need a lightbox such as used for color camera calibration. If you do not have that, how do you know what is white ?
jurb6006@gmail.com: Oct 28 10:06PM -0700

>"Well - this is a horse of an entirely different color. "
 
You an AKer ?
 
Anyway, in response, speakers run 5, 6, 7 dB off, microphones about the same. Amps, tuners, whatever, consider them good within 3 dB. And people are afraid to use tone controls ? Where is that in the Bible ? Where is that in the Constitution ?
 
What's more, when turned all the way up that bass control is doing what it is supposed to do. Or all the way down. It was endowed by its creator with that ability. It is your free will to use it or abuse it. Like a gun, well at least as far as some woofers are concerned but they are just paranoid...
 
Bose had no shame in using a permanent EQ. Neither did I. Years ago I had speakers used to have a small woofer and like an 8 or 10 inch passive radiator which I replaced with a four ohm woofer.
 
It was not good, but using the full range off a Soundcraftsmen ten band EQ I got them to sound good. And when I played a few other things on them I started liking them better and better. Damn that bass was smooth.
 
The settings were 31 Hz at +max, 62 at 0, 125 Hz at -max (min) and the rest gradually up to the center from there to about the sixth band. It sounded fantastic, but was inefficient as hell. First of all it was 2.3 ohms, poison to at least half of the amps known in existence, or not actually...
 
The lights dimmed when I cranked these babies up. Eventually they became the rear channels in my quad system. Fed them with a supposedly low power Sansui 771. I scoped it once and don;t remember the reading but it was well over a hundred a channel into that 2.3 ohms. The front was the Marantz 4270 running into speakers I put together. A 12 inch three way system, decent dome tweeters, noting fancy ad did not sound perfect, but I had an EQ for them as well. Separate EQs for front and back. Yup.
 
Once set, I believe the sound was damn hard to beat. Nobody did back then, at least in the current crowd. And I had it with the Advent five foot silver screen job with the mirror out front, AND MINE WAS CALIBRATED. Someone has just changed all three CRTs but it had another problem nobody could fix. Nobody else that is.
 
You look at these things and the picture is trapezoidal, the convergence is shit, you can't read the letters sometimes because it is so bad. Not mine. Mine was perfect. Convergence within a raster line width everywhere on the screen. I figured out a little design defect that was keeping the others from having that. It was radiation from one wire to another, polluting one of the waveforms going to the convergence waveform board. It caused an error at the right side and most people just made it overscan, not me. On a five foot diagonal screen my overscan was less than an inch on each side. Now remember how long ago this was. Your TV picture got smaller when your fridge started not long before that.
 
I wouldn't mind having one of those old sets now. Not that I have anywhere to put it, but if I did...
thekmanrocks@gmail.com: Oct 29 02:57AM -0700

jurb...@gmail.com wrote: "One thing though, if you DO deem it that important, what is your reference ? A piece of paper ? Lit by what ? The way I see it you would need a lightbox such as used for color camera calibration. If you do not have that, how do you know what is white ? "
 
 
This will be my last reply to you, since
it seems your mind is clearly closed to
TV calibration:
 
My ref. source is one of several good
test pattern DVDs out there: HD Digital
Video Essentials on Blu-Ray, Spears &
Munsil, etc. There are also pattern
generators out there, from Quantum
and Spectra Cal. You put up the patterns,
stick a sensor on your screen, and adjust
what the laptop software tells you to.
 
And now you are on your own. I'm going
to respond to someone who at least
seems curious about this subject.
thekmanrocks@gmail.com: Oct 29 03:14AM -0700

Tim R. wrote: "So you're making a good case for some
adjustments. Is this stuff in the owner's manual? "
 
Welcome to the newsgroup! :)
 
The owners manual mainly explains
how to access the settings and (sort
of) what each control does.
 
I can get you started, but first I need
to know what type of flat panel you
have: LCD/LED(both are backlit) or
Plasma.
 
For the backlight types, the first
things you want to do is (1) turn
the backlight down from full, to
about halfway, and (2) under
advanced settings, turn off
any "eye candy" - garbage like
skin tone enhancer, black level
enhancer, edge enhancer, and
digital noise reduction.
 
Next, get the TV out of "Vivid"
picture mode. All that is designed
to do is shorten the life of your TV
so you can go out and buy a new one
in 3-4 years(!).
 
Start with those things and tell me
what you see. It will not be as bright
as you were used with those showroom
settings, but it's not supposed to be.
Tim R <timothy42b@aol.com>: Oct 29 05:38AM -0700

> to do is shorten the life of your TV
> so you can go out and buy a new one
> in 3-4 years(!).
 
I did that (except I realize I left noise reduction on) and I get a kind of washed out appearance, like water colors instead of oils. I left it that way to see if I'd get used to it. My wife and daughter have not commented - really they watch the majority of TV. But I didn't tell them what I did, I'll wait a day and ask.
 
What made the most difference was removing Vivid.
thekmanrocks@gmail.com: Oct 29 05:50AM -0700

Tim R:
 
OK. Next I need you to select
picture mode "Standard" or
"Custom". I need to know the
scale and present setting of each
of the following:
 
Backlight
Contrast
Brightness
Color
Tint/Hue
Sharpness.
 
I.E. "Contrast: 0..........50.......100, presently 90.
 
etc.
 
Before you do that, check color temperature
setting. Move it to Neutral, or Warm1, if available.
Trevor Wilson <trevor@SPAMBLOCKrageaudio.com.au>: Oct 29 12:20PM +1100


> OK here's a link to where I asked the question on Stack exchange.
> http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/121845/polyfuse-resettable-ptc-lifetime
 
> Lot's of numbers there.. And I summarize the data from littlefuse.
 
**Raychem (the inventor and the only supplier I use) cites something
like 2,000 resets, before significant resistance changes occur.
 
 
--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au
 
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Chuck <chuck@mydeja.net>: Oct 28 01:01PM -0500

>> tim@bristolnj.com
 
>If that Tx is showing corrossion then any ceramic resonator is probably
>gone ohmic .
I believe these are from 1972 and don't have any ceramic filters.
 
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jurb6006@gmail.com: Oct 28 11:20AM -0700

Can you blueprint it ? I mean make a drawing showing the connections and dimensions like a mechanical drawing ? If so I can look in my boneyard. I don't have any Sonys lkike that but Marantz, Sansui, Pioneer, a few others. transformers are usually made by transformer companies. Also, the chip that drives it has an equivalent likely, finding tuners that use the equivalent might turn up the right part in a totally different unit.
jurb6006@gmail.com: Oct 28 11:25AM -0700

It has two in the FM IF strip. But the OP probably has already confirmed on a scope that the IF signal is getting through. That's probably what led him to the problem.
 
There was an era when every one of those things was the same almost. Everything but the Revox and you do not want to see the print of one. I can't figure out how the damn thing works ! Well actualy I can but it would take time, the Revox is an extremely sophisticated unit.
 
Anyway, Sony might have been the first one to use ceramic filters, because 1972 does seem early for that.
Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca>: Oct 28 02:56PM -0400

N_Cook <diverse@tcp.co.uk>: Oct 28 07:18PM

Even 1 volt DC on a ceramic resonator is enough to induce metalisation
creep over the edge of the thinest element inside , given some time.
Being 40 years old and/or dampness/condensation can induce it also,
whether powered up or not, dissimilar metals and moisture providing the
"DC".
Easy job to remove them , well 3 pin ones anyway, and of course should
show no DVM-R reading
Phil Allison <pallison49@gmail.com>: Oct 28 04:42PM -0700

Michael Black wrote:
> so maybe that's all that got mentioned in hobby circles. Later in the
> decade they did appear in Japanese products, low end shortwave receivers
> and CB sets.
 
 
** Murata ceramic filters for 455kHz, single and dual element, were available in the late 60s - my local parts store had them.
 

> I have no idea of when 10.7MHz ceramic filters became common.
 
** Murata 10.7MHz IF filters for broadcast FM were common in the early 70s.
 
 
.... Phil
... Phil
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Digest for sci.electronics.repair@googlegroups.com - 5 updates in 2 topics

Tim R <timothy42b@aol.com>: Oct 28 07:00AM -0700

> serious. And they live with their TVs looking
> like cartoons not knowing that they are getting
> only 5% of out of their investment's potential.
 
We bought our first flat screen this year when a CRT finally died. (still have 3 more in the garage, can't get rid of them)
 
I did not know there were settings until I read this thread.
 
I do recall the colors didn't look quite right at first, but ....sigh......we got used to them.
 
So you're making a good case for some adjustments. Is this stuff in the owner's manual?
"Rheilly Phoull" <rheilly@bigslong.com>: Oct 28 06:09AM +0800

"N_Cook" wrote in message news:n0o5a3$idm$1@dont-email.me...
 
On 27/10/2015 12:04, Tim Schwartz wrote:
> Tim Schwartz
> Bristol Electronics
> tim@bristolnj.com
 
If that Tx is showing corrossion then any ceramic resonator is probably
gone ohmic .
 
 
What does "Gone Ohmic" mean ??
dplatt@coop.radagast.org (Dave Platt): Oct 27 04:58PM -0700

>HP-210
 
> Anyone got a scrap unit that they'd be willing to pull the transformer
>or board from and sell me?
 
You might want to post a query on the FM-tuners group on Yahoo
(affiliated with the www.fmtunerinfo.com site). Lots of tuner
collectors and tuner-repairers hang out there, and they may be your
best chance to locate a parts unit.
 
From the look of the schematic of one of the models you cited, it
looks as if the Sony transformer is essentially a standard one for a
ratio detector, with a center-tapped primary and with a cap across the
full primary winding (presumably to resonate it at 10.7 MHz, adding
some amount of IF filtering). You might be able to adapt a more
common ratio-detector transformer (if you can still find one, and if
it has a center-tapped primary winding) by adding such a cap.
 
Unfortunately it looks as if ratio-detector transformers are pretty
much unobtanium these days, at least on the new-parts market. Opening
up and rewinding a 10.7 MHz IF transformer to add the extra winding
and the resonating cap(s) might turn out to be your only solution, if
you can't find one in a junked Sony.
M Philbrook <jamie_ka1lpa@charter.net>: Oct 27 08:35PM -0500

In article <z_-dnaE0EeGYa7LLnZ2dnUU7-QmdnZ2d@westnet.com.au>,
rheilly@bigslong.com says...
 
> If that Tx is showing corrossion then any ceramic resonator is probably
> gone ohmic .
 
> What does "Gone Ohmic" mean ??
 
as in, it shows resistances via an Ohm meter?
 
more like, leaking DC, or leaking period..
 
Jamie
dplatt@coop.radagast.org (Dave Platt): Oct 27 05:50PM -0700

In article <MPG.3099f059a50d5db7989d5b@news.eternal-september.org>,
 
>> What does "Gone Ohmic" mean ??
 
>as in, it shows resistances via an Ohm meter?
 
>more like, leaking DC, or leaking period..
 
Or, has had its internal series resistance increase to unacceptable
levels; this would lower the Q of the resonant circuit, increase
losses, and make it less effective as a narrow-bandwidth filter.
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Digest for sci.electronics.repair@googlegroups.com - 18 updates in 5 topics

thekmanrocks@gmail.com: Oct 26 12:04PM -0700

Cyndrome Leader wrote:
"yes, and there are different types of phosphor. Some look better than
others where color temp matters. "
 
And there are adjustments available
on most panels to being all of those
into grayscale spec.
Cydrome Leader <presence@MUNGEpanix.com>: Oct 26 10:05PM


> And there are adjustments available
> on most panels to being all of those
> into grayscale spec.
 
Adjustable backlight color temp on cheapo televisions?
 
I've seen color corrected LED backlights on high end computer displays. I
use a 4k Eizo that has this feature, it's not tunable but the color temp
has a few settings and only the highest one is harsh blue, as it should
be (and also not used as it looks bad, like televisions at the store).
thekmanrocks@gmail.com: Oct 26 04:14PM -0700

On Monday, October 26, 2015 at 6:05:40 PM UTC-4, Cydrome Leader wrote:
com wrote:
> > on most panels to being all of those
> > into grayscale spec.
 
> Adjustable backlight color temp on cheapo televisions?
 
Not the backlight - the overall picture.

> use a 4k Eizo that has this feature, it's not tunable but the color temp
> has a few settings and only the highest one is harsh blue, as it should
> be (and also not used as it looks bad, like televisions at the store).
 
"harsh blue, as it should be" ???
 
Are you serious?
Cydrome Leader <presence@MUNGEpanix.com>: Oct 27 03:53PM

>> > into grayscale spec.
 
>> Adjustable backlight color temp on cheapo televisions?
 
> Not the backlight - the overall picture.
 
exactly. If you try to compensate for a horrible backlight you're going to
lose the full gamut the display should have been able to show.
 
>> be (and also not used as it looks bad, like televisions at the store).
 
> "harsh blue, as it should be" ???
 
> Are you serious?
 
Serious. 10k color temp looks bad on a good monitor, and that temp is even
far exceeded by cheap displays.
thekmanrocks@gmail.com: Oct 27 09:43AM -0700

Cydrome Leader wrote: "thekma...@gmail.com wrote:
 
"exactly. If you try to compensate for a horrible backlight you're going to
lose the full gamut the display should have been able to show. "
 
And this is where colorimeter-based calibration comes
in. By adjusting the bias/gain, and the RGBs, you can
compensate for any backlight flaws and maintain
correct color gamut.
 
 
"Serious. 10k color temp looks bad on a good monitor, and that temp is even
far exceeded by cheap displays. "
 
So given that, and your first quoted statement
above, would you still keep the OOB settings
on a consumer display, or would you at least
attempt to get the basic settings closer to
standardized positions?
Tim Schwartz <tim@bristolnj.com>: Oct 27 08:04AM -0400

Hello all,
 
I need a 1-403-290-11 detector transformer which after 35 or 40 years
is no longer available from Sony. It was used in the tuner section of
many models. Unfortunately, the wiring is badly corroded so the
transformer is not repairable. Among them (there may well be others):
 
STR-6120
STR-6050
STR-6055
STR-6065
STR-7045
STR-7055
STR-7065
HP-188
HP-210
 
Anyone got a scrap unit that they'd be willing to pull the transformer
or board from and sell me?
 
Thanks!
Tim Schwartz
Bristol Electronics
tim@bristolnj.com
N_Cook <diverse@tcp.co.uk>: Oct 27 03:32PM

On 27/10/2015 12:04, Tim Schwartz wrote:
> Tim Schwartz
> Bristol Electronics
> tim@bristolnj.com
 
If that Tx is showing corrossion then any ceramic resonator is probably
gone ohmic .
ggherold@gmail.com: Oct 26 09:55AM -0700

> Cylindrical. Axial leads.
 
> Ordered caps for a speaker crossover because the leads had literally been shaken out of the originals. But I had no luck finding those bulbs. I would rather not jump it out. I guess I could and just put a beefier horn in it.
 
How big are they? We buy little incandescent bulbs from Mouser.
http://www.mouser.com/ds/2/423/T-11_2WedgeBase-T-13_4WireTerminal-552494.pdf
 
They might have others.. not the best search engine.
 
George H.
ggherold@gmail.com: Oct 26 09:58AM -0700

On Sunday, October 25, 2015 at 7:12:18 PM UTC-4, Trevor Wilson wrote:
 
> ---
> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
> https://www.avast.com/antivirus
 
Hi Trevor, I'm not an audio guy. But one thing about polyswitches is that
they do age.. the more times they trip the lower the trip point.
I don't know if that would be an issue where you use them.
 
George H.
Cydrome Leader <presence@MUNGEpanix.com>: Oct 26 06:27PM

> of wireless - apparently it was used as a detector.
 
> The type I remember from the days of AC/DC TVs and radios was an iron wire
> filament enclosed in a hydrogen filled envelope.
 
What did these tubes look like, any idea why they used iron and hydrogen?
"Ian Field" <gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com>: Oct 26 07:23PM

"Cydrome Leader" <presence@MUNGEpanix.com> wrote in message
news:n0lr9m$57i$1@reader1.panix.com...
>> wire
>> filament enclosed in a hydrogen filled envelope.
 
> What did these tubes look like, any idea why they used iron and hydrogen?
 
They were long-ish tubes with an octal base. There was a glass stem inside
with radial support spring struts and the wire zig-zagged up and down to
complete a circle inside the tube.
 
When I got into the trade, they'd been largely superseded by rod type
thermistors, there was just the odd one or two turned up in older gear - as
they never gave me any problem, I never bothered researching it much.
 
Searching; "C1.pdf" will get you a datasheet, or search; "barretter" will
get you some old radio museum pages for stuff they're used in.
Trevor Wilson <trevor@SPAMBLOCKrageaudio.com.au>: Oct 27 07:43AM +1100


> Hi Trevor, I'm not an audio guy. But one thing about polyswitches is that
> they do age.. the more times they trip the lower the trip point.
> I don't know if that would be an issue where you use them.
 
**Whilst I have not noticed the effect you describe, I do not suggest
that you are wrong, but it would be instructive to know how many trips
lead to unacceptable aging. That figure would need to be balanced
against the life-span of a baretter.
 
 
--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au
 
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mroberds@att.net: Oct 27 12:08AM

> I located and measured a long, thin filament lamp (which looks like a
> baretter). Part # GE1936. Nominally, I would guess it is a 12 Volt
> lamp. At 12 Volts, current consumption is 0.75 Amps.
 
For what it's worth, this lamp appears to be a 22 V, 1 A nominal rating.
 
http://www.donsbulbs.com/cgi-bin/r/b.pl/1936~general-electric.html
 
Standard disclaimers apply: I don't get money or other consideration
from any companies mentioned.
 
Matt Roberds
Trevor Wilson <trevor@SPAMBLOCKrageaudio.com.au>: Oct 27 04:57PM +1100


> Standard disclaimers apply: I don't get money or other consideration
> from any companies mentioned.
 
> Matt Roberds
 
**Nice catch. That is, indeed, the lamp. At 22 Volts, current
consumption is 1.04 Amps. Near enough.
 
--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au
 
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Phil Allison <pallison49@gmail.com>: Oct 27 01:35AM -0700


> Hi Trevor, I'm not an audio guy. But one thing about polyswitches is that
> they do age.. the more times they trip the lower the trip point.
 
** Absolutely correct and it can be a real PITA.
 
Polyswitches go high resistance at about 100C and running one for long periods near the trip temp reduces the current needed to cause tripping.
 
For predictable long term operation, the trip current needs to be at least double the running current of the device.
 
FYI: Average DC or RMS AC values must be used in all tests.
 
 
... Phil
ggherold@gmail.com: Oct 27 07:47AM -0700

On Monday, October 26, 2015 at 4:44:13 PM UTC-4, Trevor Wilson wrote:
> that you are wrong, but it would be instructive to know how many trips
> lead to unacceptable aging. That figure would need to be balanced
> against the life-span of a baretter.
I wrote an email to littlefuse a while back when I noticed this effect.
I went looking (for where I might have put the data.)
 
OK here's a link to where I asked the question on Stack exchange.
http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/121845/polyfuse-resettable-ptc-lifetime
 
Lot's of numbers there.. And I summarize the data from littlefuse.
 
George H.
"Bob F" <bobnospam@gmail.com>: Oct 26 11:47AM -0700

John Robertson wrote:
 
> You can not charge a computer (traditional laptop) using the USB port.
 
> Probably won't hurt the USB port, but why take a chance? If you have a
> dead charger you will need to replace it I'm afraid...
 
To put it another way - There is no way power introduced by a USB port would
charge a computer battery.
jurb6006@gmail.com: Oct 26 12:01PM -0700

Well well well, they did not misname them, the raster lines are vertical. So I finds a cap off the flyback causing the compression.
 
Now the phasing is off. I looks like there is a foldover on the bottom but there isn't. Turning up the brightness to the point of seeing the whole raster it is fine.
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Digest for sci.electronics.repair@googlegroups.com - 11 updates in 6 topics

thekmanrocks@gmail.com: Oct 25 02:37PM -0700

For those that don't think calibration - or at least
proper adjustment of the basic six controls - is
important:
 
http://www.avdomotics.com/listmanager/images/CalibratedVersusUncalibrated.jpg
thekmanrocks@gmail.com: Oct 25 02:40PM -0700

How do you prefer your Kidman? ...
 
http://www.recordere.dk/indhold/articlefiles/1270-isf7b.jpg
Cydrome Leader <presence@MUNGEpanix.com>: Oct 26 04:39PM


>> How do you suggest adjusting a projection system?
 
> WHite LEDs are actually blue, with a phosphor to make it into
> something near white light. They fail in that attempt.
 
yes, and there are different types of phosphor. Some look better than
others where color temp matters.
"Gareth Magennis" <sound.service@btconnect.com>: Oct 25 07:32PM

"Trevor Wilson" wrote in message news:d930b6Fctf6U1@mid.individual.net...
 
On 25/10/2015 11:54 AM, Gareth Magennis wrote:
 
> Do you think you would be able to hear such a compression problem?
 
**Absolutely. I've proven it, under blind test conditions, to clients
who own speakers that are equipped with such things.
 
 
 
 
OK, but the point I didn't quite make yesterday was that you would only hear
such a compression "problem" if the system was being abused, i.e.
overdriven.
This is when the compression kicks in, to protect the tweeter.
 
To single out the compression as a problem is to completely ignore the
simple fact that this is happening because of a far bigger problem
elsewhere, and the volume needs to be reduced before something blows up.
 
 
Gareth.
"Ian Field" <gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com>: Oct 25 09:19PM

"Ken Layton" <KLayton888@aol.com> wrote in message
news:acf71a4b-959e-4f4e-ae72-6f4d49e497ad@googlegroups.com...
>> would rather not jump it out. I guess I could and just put a beefier horn
>> in it.
 
> It's called a "barreter". It's just a lamp used as a current limiter.
 
The earliest reference I could find to baretter was from the pioneering days
of wireless - apparently it was used as a detector.
 
The type I remember from the days of AC/DC TVs and radios was an iron wire
filament enclosed in a hydrogen filled envelope.
 
The series chain of heaters had a very low cold resistance, so the baretter
was included in series with any dropper resistor to reduce the surge current
when switching on from cold.
 
In later equipment, NTC themistors became the norm, they reduce in
resistance as current through them causes them to heat up, so they
compensate for the low cold resistance of heaters.
 
The Polyfuse is a PTC thermistor; the resistance increases with temperature,
at room temperature the resistance should be insignificant in the
application, too much current causes heating and the Polyfuse has a sharp
knee, so it cuts off current to the load till it cools again.
 
The thermistor types have significant recovery time - the PTC thermistor
used to deliver a decaying burst of AC to the degauss coil in a CRT display
had about 6 minute recovery time.
Trevor Wilson <trevor@SPAMBLOCKrageaudio.com.au>: Oct 26 10:11AM +1100

On 26/10/2015 6:32 AM, Gareth Magennis wrote:
> hear such a compression "problem" if the system was being abused, i.e.
> overdriven.
> This is when the compression kicks in, to protect the tweeter.
 
**Well, yes it does. However, it depends on the system. For sound
reinforcement, the compression effects are not likely to be a problem,
though most professional systems use far more sophisticated electronic
compression systems.
 
 
> To single out the compression as a problem is to completely ignore the
> simple fact that this is happening because of a far bigger problem
> elsewhere, and the volume needs to be reduced before something blows up.
 
**In domestic systems a Polyswitch™ is, IMO, a better choice.
 
I located and measured a long, thin filament lamp (which looks like a
baretter). Part # GE1936. Nominally, I would guess it is a 12 Volt lamp.
At 12 Volts, current consumption is 0.75 Amps. Here is the resistance
plot, vs. current:
 
0.1 A - 1.7 Ohms
0.2 A - 2.15 Ohms
0.3 A - 3.4 Ohms
0.4 A - 6.3 Ohms
0.5 A - 9.68 Ohms
0.6 A - 12.53 Ohms
0.7 A - 15.13 Ohms
0.75 A - 16 Ohms
 
A Polyswitch™ typically exhibits insignificant resistance changes, until
the switching point is reached. They're self-resetting and, provided
Voltage ratings are not exceeded, quite reliable.
 
--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au
 
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vjp2.at@at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com: Oct 25 07:18PM

Laptop with a "regular" adaptor/charger.
 
If pumped in power via USB:
 
Would it work?
 
Would it blow?
 
Much Obliged
 
- = -
Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist
http://www.panix.com/~vjp2/vasos.htm
---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}---
[Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]
[Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Phooey on GUI: Windows for subprime Bimbos]
John Robertson <spam@flippers.com>: Oct 25 01:17PM -0700


> Would it work?
 
> Would it blow?
 
> Much Obliged
 
You can not charge a computer (traditional laptop) using the USB port.
 
Probably won't hurt the USB port, but why take a chance? If you have a
dead charger you will need to replace it I'm afraid...
 
John :-#(#
 
--
(Please post followups or tech inquiries to the USENET newsgroup)
John's Jukes Ltd. 2343 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 3C9
(604)872-5757 or Fax 872-2010 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games)
www.flippers.com
"Old pinballers never die, they just flip out."
"Ian Field" <gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com>: Oct 25 07:34PM

"Seymore4Head" <Seymore4Head@Hotmail.invalid> wrote in message
news:fpib0b1ruh4p5k9i424lqbq7oq1ksssrj4@4ax.com...
 
> If not, that means that the kid had to plug the clock in during class
> and also program it to alarm. The clock can not accidentally go off
> without battery back up. Right?
 
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=ahkmed+the+dead+terrorist&FORM=VIRE5#view=detail&mid=8B62D1281D2DE0B7E5008B62D1281D2DE0B7E500
vjp2.at@at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com: Oct 25 07:22PM

Sometimes I get a different problem, the adaptor plug isn't fully in!!!
 
I wish I had seen the other reply before buying a new battery..
 
- = -
Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist
http://www.panix.com/~vjp2/vasos.htm
---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}---
[Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]
[Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Phooey on GUI: Windows for subprime Bimbos]
vjp2.at@at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com: Oct 25 07:21PM

FLIR has smartphone thermal cams for $250.
 
Ok, much cheaper than the $100k I first saw them for.
And so nice and small.
 
Anyone seen them for (much?) less?
 
These are good for finding missing insulation, leaks in your roof,
and if you watch too much television, warmly buried bodies.
 
- = -
Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist
http://www.panix.com/~vjp2/vasos.htm
---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}---
[Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]
[Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Phooey on GUI: Windows for subprime Bimbos]
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