found some LCR0203s
Thought I'd re-visit this thread to mention that I managed to find some of the LCR0203's without buying a huge quantity, via Ebay, for about $2. I bought a dozen for some initial testing. Again, you can get these on Ali-Baba for some unspecified price between 0 and $1 (you have to write for a quote), but the MQO is 1000. So I was happy to be able to buy a small quantity at a price that was still much less than 1/2 the usual price for a VACTROL. I haven't attempted sophisticated analysis, because the bottom line is going to be how does it perform in actual use, using my EARS as the measurement instrument. So for I've only done basic electrical measurements, and here's what I'm finding so far.
The "on" resistance, measured with about 10mA on the internal LED, was consistently less than 200R, and seemed to get there fast 9at least faster than my meter could really respond). The off resistance spanned from a few megohms to near infinite over the course of a second. Here though I found one flaw in the design. You'll get much better off resistance in much less time in a darkened room, which simply means these units are made of something much less than "opaque". I do know that this isn't surprising, having worked with Cadmium cells as solar detectors, and just bout had to bury the damn things underground to get them to be unaffected by sunlight, sop they are sensitive as hell. So f I were to use this product inside an enclosure as part of a project, I'll have to make sure its a pretty thick black case to ensure it does not perform significantly different under lighted conditions. Imagine using it in a musicians product and having it go haywire when a spotlight hit the musicians gear!
Now along those lines, I have an intended use for these, for which I'd like some opinions... but that belongs in another thread, which I will call "controlling effects pedals via VACTROLS". I'll post that shortly, so please give it a look.
Thought I'd re-visit this thread to mention that I managed to find some of the LCR0203's without buying a huge quantity, via Ebay, for about $2. I bought a dozen for some initial testing. Again, you can get these on Ali-Baba for some unspecified price between 0 and $1 (you have to write for a quote), but the MQO is 1000. So I was happy to be able to buy a small quantity at a price that was still much less than 1/2 the usual price for a VACTROL. I haven't attempted sophisticated analysis, because the bottom line is going to be how does it perform in actual use, using my EARS as the measurement instrument. So for I've only done basic electrical measurements, and here's what I'm finding so far.
The "on" resistance, measured with about 10mA on the internal LED, was consistently less than 200R, and seemed to get there fast 9at least faster than my meter could really respond). The off resistance spanned from a few megohms to near infinite over the course of a second. Here though I found one flaw in the design. You'll get much better off resistance in much less time in a darkened room, which simply means these units are made of something much less than "opaque". I do know that this isn't surprising, having worked with Cadmium cells as solar detectors, and just bout had to bury the damn things underground to get them to be unaffected by sunlight, sop they are sensitive as hell. So f I were to use this product inside an enclosure as part of a project, I'll have to make sure its a pretty thick black case to ensure it does not perform significantly different under lighted conditions. Imagine using it in a musicians product and having it go haywire when a spotlight hit the musicians gear!
Now along those lines, I have an intended use for these, for which I'd like some opinions... but that belongs in another thread, which I will call "controlling effects pedals via VACTROLS". I'll post that shortly, so please give it a look.
Thanks for the report.
With a mad CB fan driving around my neighborhood emitting "Dixie" continuously performed by the TRS80, all my projects go in a steel box. I put inductors on the power lines in. I favor index card file boxes from the charity resale shops. I realize this would be a problem for a guitar pedal project, but enclosures impervious to radio waves are also usually impervious to light. PC's use shim stock captured inside the plastic covers.
With a mad CB fan driving around my neighborhood emitting "Dixie" continuously performed by the TRS80, all my projects go in a steel box. I put inductors on the power lines in. I favor index card file boxes from the charity resale shops. I realize this would be a problem for a guitar pedal project, but enclosures impervious to radio waves are also usually impervious to light. PC's use shim stock captured inside the plastic covers.
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.