Yes, it's 3.3V. I'm gonna try to do a "variac" mode in a guitar pedal with it.
There's a ton of interesting stuff on ebay if you're willing to buy semi's from China. I bought a diode with a 5A rating in a DO-41 package; it had a unique Chinese part name and datasheet. I guess I'm about to find out if the DO-41 can do 5A.
Yesterday I bought one of those cassette to 1/8" headphone plug adapters for the Corvette.
There's a ton of interesting stuff on ebay if you're willing to buy semi's from China. I bought a diode with a 5A rating in a DO-41 package; it had a unique Chinese part name and datasheet. I guess I'm about to find out if the DO-41 can do 5A.
Yesterday I bought one of those cassette to 1/8" headphone plug adapters for the Corvette.
For a short time, yes. Otherwise there needs to be some heat removal through the leads, either copper on the PCB, or metal terminal lugs that the wires are soldered to. Ditto the "5 amp" bridge rectifiers in the small plastic square.
I have purchased quite a bit of electronics direct from China usually via Ebay or even Amazon.
Most has worked out OK, but when you see the exact same 24 volt power supply advertised as 3 Amp, 4 Amp, and even 5 Amp, you need to test it carefully to find its real rating. I need 2 amps average to run a DIY PC that I am building. It will hit 3 amps when pushed hard in "stress testing" and recharging a dead battery can pull another amp for the first 30 minutes or so.
I got the Chinese power supply for $20 and it worked, but got hotter than I would have liked on max load, so I bought a "medical grade" 5 amp supply from Mouser for $85......guess what, it gets almost as hot.
The 15.6 inch 4K display that I got for just over $100 (bare glass and PCB) is however, awesome.
On our way home from a visit to my brother on Öland, we noticed that gas prices were really low and we filled up our little Peugeot, paying a humble $5.90 a gallon.
US or Imperial Gallon? what was the price in real units?
US gallon.
In Swedish units - SEK15.30 a litre. Diesel is, of some reason SEK 1 more expensive than gasoline.
By the way, I saw a tip on Instructables (or Hackster) how to make a nice panel, so I bought two rolls of Panel vinyl.
In Swedish units - SEK15.30 a litre. Diesel is, of some reason SEK 1 more expensive than gasoline.
By the way, I saw a tip on Instructables (or Hackster) how to make a nice panel, so I bought two rolls of Panel vinyl.
Last edited:
Due to the possible "Assault Radio Ban" of 2018, I bought an analog Baofeng and a digital Radioddity two way radio while I can still get them.
These cheap ($29 to $99) Chinese radios have been available in the USA for several years, and some people are NOT happy about that (including the company I used to work for). They are user programmable on a large chunk of VHF and UHF spectrum, including public safety frequencies (police and fire) and could be used in an illegal manner, very easily.
They are marketed for ham radio and industrial use, but sold to anyone with a credit card.
The FCC has issued a memorandum stating that these can NOT be imported, sold or USED in the USA, even by someone like myself who has a valid ham radio license and would use it only on ham frequencies in a legal manner. It also appears to still be legal, and common ham practice, to take a high priced public safety radio and modify or program it to be used on ham frequencies where it was never intended to be used.
The wording of the FCC document is very unclear and can be interpreted differently by whoever reads it, so parties on both sides of the issue have demanded clarification. Meanwhile the radios are still abundant on Amazon and Ebay, but the prices are rising, especially on Ebay for USA stocked radios.
I have already received the Baofeng BF-F8HP and it does work well. The Radioddity GD77 is due later this week.
These cheap ($29 to $99) Chinese radios have been available in the USA for several years, and some people are NOT happy about that (including the company I used to work for). They are user programmable on a large chunk of VHF and UHF spectrum, including public safety frequencies (police and fire) and could be used in an illegal manner, very easily.
They are marketed for ham radio and industrial use, but sold to anyone with a credit card.
The FCC has issued a memorandum stating that these can NOT be imported, sold or USED in the USA, even by someone like myself who has a valid ham radio license and would use it only on ham frequencies in a legal manner. It also appears to still be legal, and common ham practice, to take a high priced public safety radio and modify or program it to be used on ham frequencies where it was never intended to be used.
The wording of the FCC document is very unclear and can be interpreted differently by whoever reads it, so parties on both sides of the issue have demanded clarification. Meanwhile the radios are still abundant on Amazon and Ebay, but the prices are rising, especially on Ebay for USA stocked radios.
I have already received the Baofeng BF-F8HP and it does work well. The Radioddity GD77 is due later this week.
Bought some pcb's for my latest revision USB oscilloscope project.
The previous revision had stray capacitance on the input and in x10 mode gave +50% gain reading ! As little as 1pf messes up readings.
So moved input pins further apart and put ground plane between them to help get rid of stray capacitance.
The previous revision had stray capacitance on the input and in x10 mode gave +50% gain reading ! As little as 1pf messes up readings.
So moved input pins further apart and put ground plane between them to help get rid of stray capacitance.
Recent trend in the US:
Gasoline---- $2.984
Diesel ------ $3.385
HeatingOil - $3.353
Diesel and Heating Oil are pretty near the same stuff. Diesel is taxed. Heating Oil is not taxed BUT this price is Delivered, not at-the-station.
1) Diesel Oil typically has more heat per gallon. Like 1.14:1.
2) Fuels are taxed. Taxes are political. There are (to now) more voters drinking gasoline than truckers using Diesel.
HOWEVER: the tax difference is near $0.11. The observed $0.40 difference is much closer to the difference in BTU/Gallon than the difference in tax.
We have been complaining since 1914. It was a crisis by 1915.
Gasolene was the waste from lamp kerosene, and nearly free at the refinery (it was commonly spilled on the ground or in a river to get rid of it).
1914, car-fuel overtook lamp-fuel and surged.
One short-term result was that gasoline got much less volatile, more heavy fractions to stretch the supply. Ultra-simple carburetors would not vaporize the new stuff without carb-heat.
Price was surging well past $0.15/gallon! (Which truly was real money then.)
And all oil-wells run dry. New ones are found, but wise men predicted we could run-out in the 1920s.
Yeas, a while back diesel actually got cheaper than petrol - but now it's more expensive again... I'm impressed that fuel is actually cheaper here -- by about 1 SEK...
