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  1. dave9

    Power inverter for car?

    Most lighter outlets are fused at no more than 15A, upstream and depending on the vehicle, that 15A may supply more than just the outlet. You could run lower gauge wires to the outlet direct from the battery but the inverter may have its own 15A fuse, and the outlet itself really isn't good for...
  2. dave9

    Power inverter for car?

    If the 1000W version doesn't cost much more (depending on your definition of much) then I would wonder if you are just bottom basement price shopping and a quality unit would cost more than those minimal prices, that you are just observing the price difference after the majority of the cost is...
  3. dave9

    Atari 2600 power supply not working

    ^ Pop the console open and look around. Given its age, I'd look at the capacitors first, but of course any burn market, cracks in the PCB or solder joints, and then whip out a multimeter and probe around. Just as a sanity check I'd try a different game cart first. Sometimes I'll pop open PSU...
  4. dave9

    Atari 2600 power supply not working

    It depends which way you want to tackle this. Way 1: Substitute a different PSU with the same voltages and at least as much current per voltage. You may need to reverse engineer the original PSU a little if you can't find a pinout for the connector to determine which voltages are on which...
  5. dave9

    Led stairs railing

    Do you really need a motion sensor? Any well designed home/et al should have a switch at both ends of stairs for an outlet that lights them. Then again, unless the downstairs is living area, a switch at the top would work as you'd be coming back up soon enough and a decent LED setup won't burn...
  6. dave9

    Self-Burnt CD problem

    Yeah it's the same old, same old... gotta buy more gear to make new tech happen. I hate to replace things that work unless it's a substantial upgrade, which it is in the case of modern smart TVs. Even if you don't otherwise use the smart features, that almost always means a USB port capable...
  7. dave9

    Self-Burnt CD problem

    One other issue is how old they are. Once upon a time ago, people used to say they'll last 50 years. Some types of CDRs I burned back in the day, degraded to an unreadable state in less than 5 years, and I did take precautions to make sure they had no direct sunlight exposure in storage. I...
  8. dave9

    Self-Burnt CD problem

    There could be a few different reasons. Is the CFD-S01 an enhanced player, that can read more formats? Possibly the CDs you're burning aren't a standard CD format? You may be able to read the format/details of the discs in the burning app or some 3rd party app. Possibly the error rate is...
  9. dave9

    Retrofit house with LEDs

    ^ I agree in an ideal circuit, but some buck circuits are pretty crude and their output power goes down with input voltage, so you may not see near the same level of current reduction. IMO many manufacturers are already hitting a price floor on how cheaply they can make their bulbs.
  10. dave9

    Retrofit house with LEDs

    I would do as Steve suggested, measure their current with a variable voltage PSU, or (at a risk to the bulbs) pull all the 35W bulbs and measure current at the existing bulb socket using a makeshift pin header with leads to one of the LED bulbs. With all the old bulbs pulled you should have max...
  11. dave9

    Tactlle switch

    You need to trace the circuit to see what it's switching, and with it powered, measure for voltage change with operation of the switch.
  12. dave9

    Retrofit house with LEDs

    There are MR16 bulbs with their own regulation circuit inside. They typically specify they are capable of a wide input voltage range, and are never those corn-row looking bulbs with a zillion LEDs on PCBs soldered together. You are correct that you lose some efficiency continuing to use the...
  13. dave9

    Something zapped it

    ^ While I don't have the schematic for this, it is possible there is a significant difference between the headphone jack and the speaker output. Some cheap/simple amps may just use a resistor divider for the headphone output, especially if the amp is based on a single IC, but in this case...
  14. dave9

    Energizer CHPROWB4 Project

    Sure a PM is fine.
  15. dave9

    How can I light a led from a scanner lamp using 1,25 V X 0.054 ma input ?

    Accept that you're not going to get the brightness you want when you have less power than it takes to get there.
  16. dave9

    Energizer CHPROWB4 Project

    Your 5V/500mA solar panel would produce that in best case conditions. Outside, pointed at the sun (following the sun's track in the sky), no clouds, etc. These are significant variables. If you expect it to charge well when the sun comes up, you'll need to aim it before you go to sleep, and...
  17. dave9

    Energizer CHPROWB4 Project

    The most efficient way to do it would be to put a diode in series with the panel output and run that straight to a 1 x AA battery holder, then actively monitor the battery voltage -or- keep feeling the battery to pull it when it starts to get hot. Not knowing what the expected current output of...
  18. dave9

    Energizer CHPROWB4 Project

    ^ How high means what voltage? Doing what exactly? Your two parameters, that charger, and a 5V panel, are both sub-optimal choices. I would go as high with solar panel voltage as you can reasonably go, because it's easier to shed voltage than gain it, especially on cloudy days. 0.5A @ 12V...
  19. dave9

    Powerbank battery level meter?

    I have a 18650/USB output power bank with a % indicator LCD display, but it's not very accurate. If your power bank design uses cells in parallel instead of series, then they will self-balance and you could just use a voltmeter module to see remaining voltage. While not a percentage, it would...
  20. dave9

    Li-ion battery pack

    Is it technically possible to convert it to Li-Ion? Sure, given the time and money. AFAIK, "some" newer Dewalt drills have some of the battery management electronics in the tool itself, or maybe I am only thinking of the battery power level indicator. Regardless, yours being NiCd or NiMH...
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