In my disgust of having to deal with that critter, the last thing on my mind was anything electronics.
I happen to have a large hawk and also an eagle gliding around my hood.
I would have to thank them for their work on the local squirrels and rats.
Also I have needed to replace wiring in a rental house that had squirrels in the attic.
We have too many squirrels to have a decent garden. Maybe this year the population will have dropped enough.
On the flip side, I have a small cat that only does outside with a doggy escort. She just knows better.
I would have to thank them for their work on the local squirrels and rats.
Also I have needed to replace wiring in a rental house that had squirrels in the attic.
We have too many squirrels to have a decent garden. Maybe this year the population will have dropped enough.
On the flip side, I have a small cat that only does outside with a doggy escort. She just knows better.
I am working on a repair of a Pilot Radio 602 AM-FM receiver. In truth, I got it in the electronics "tip" of the Millburn NJ recycling/garbage dump!. The Sams Photofact doesn't quite reflect what I see under the chassis. The audio section is working well, but the tuners are giving me a headache.
There are 555 based dog repeller circuits for use as pest protection.
They use tweeters, and a 9-12V supply.
They use tweeters, and a 9-12V supply.
Well, that didn't turn out well. The channel which was out could be coaxed into noise and behaved badly when probed by the scope. Examining the voltages it was apparent that there was an issue as the output from one half 12ax7 was perfect. Resoldered the plate resistors, turned back on and POOF! Smoke. No blown fuse, blown "on-off" switch. A boat anchor for salvage, not worth investing more time.
Few days back the microwave oven started to act up after having spilled a glass of water inside it for the umpteenth time, the turntable would turn on with oven lid closed but not engaged, engaging it and the turntable would stop, hmm.. eventually the turntable died, popped the hood and disassembled the synchronous turntable motor, signs of green copper oxide smudge on the coil former and a piece of burnt off magnetic wire dangling around the stator, cleaned the whole thing up, fishing up the end of the incredibly thin magnetic wire which wasn't easy, sprayed a bit of clear coat for extra protection, measuring the stator resistance to be 14.6 kOhm, ok.., test drove it before assembling together everything and it worked, ahh.. that satisfying feeling of having repaired something trivial. 🙂
I last fixed one of my cassettes...seems like it get wet and that thing inside got sticky and the tape wouldn't play well as a result
We had lots of trouble with squirrels over the years.
In one house they built a nest in the chimney. We didn't know until it collapsed into the fireplace, squirrel and all. Just left him there trapped behind the glass doors until he expired. I was just glad he dropped in before we decided to use the fire place.
In the next house they got into the attic before winter by chewing a hole under roof over hang. Couldn't get them out until spring. I patched the hole with 3/4" plywood and in the fall they chewed through and moved back in. Next spring I patched the hole with plywood covered with a sheet of aluminum siding. In the fall they chewed through the aluminum/plywood patch and moved back in. The next patch was made with plywood covered with ceramic tiles, which finally kept them out.
A few years later we started to get a bad Cable TV signal. Turns out squirrels had chewed some insulation off the coax between the pole and the house. Took four visits from repair crews before they figured it out.
At my job, a squirrel climbed on a power transformer that fed our building. The 13 KV arced through the little guy and blew a big fuse on the pole. Shut down three companies for several hours before power was restored. The power company repairman said it happens often.
Had a left channel cutting out. Redid the RCA jack soldering and all it well. Free repair and happy customer 🙂
https://cybersquirrel1.com/Squirrels are bigger threat than hackers
He no longer maintains that site, says "continuing to publicize our operations is detrimental to the cause."
Also:
Why was power out? Just in the one building? That was the smell. An opossum had found a loose cover in the building's power transformer and moved in. One wrong move and possum-scum all inside the box. The electricians who had to clean the stinky mess were not happy.
Fish says "I went down to see what they were doing. I've had a skunked dog, dead mice in the walls, and a squirrel rotting inside a radon fan. Popped possum tops them all."
Why was power out? Just in the one building? That was the smell. An opossum had found a loose cover in the building's power transformer and moved in. One wrong move and possum-scum all inside the box. The electricians who had to clean the stinky mess were not happy.
Fish says "I went down to see what they were doing. I've had a skunked dog, dead mice in the walls, and a squirrel rotting inside a radon fan. Popped possum tops them all."
I have a small embedded system using a PIC microcontroller.
One of the inputs is a mode select.
For some reason it is always a zero even with shorting link removed.
Thought I might have the pin set as analogue instead of digital but that pin doesnt do analogue.
Took a while but it eventually hit me I had used the same name twice on 2 different PIC pins.
So other connected pin which was an output always held other pin low.
Never done that before. Sloppy design checking.
Easy to fix, just make both pins inputs.
One of the inputs is a mode select.
For some reason it is always a zero even with shorting link removed.
Thought I might have the pin set as analogue instead of digital but that pin doesnt do analogue.
Took a while but it eventually hit me I had used the same name twice on 2 different PIC pins.
So other connected pin which was an output always held other pin low.
Never done that before. Sloppy design checking.
Easy to fix, just make both pins inputs.
I had a microwave oven that would power on without anyone touching it.
I thought it was possessed !
Turned out the cheapo buttons on it had gone soft and sometimes made contact and set it off.
A bit strange to be in bed and there is a ding as the microwave finishes !
I thought someone had broken in and made themselves a meal.
You could have been on one of those paranormal ghost hunting TV shows and become famous!
Built up a USB scope and had a couple of problems.
Had to rework an SMD IC as a couple of pins didnt look soldered right.
Checked output of scope on PC and one channel was way down compared to the other.
So prodded the scope and it looked fine.
Then spotted I hadnt changed both channels to same voltage setting !
So trying fix something that wasnt broken.
Built up a mode lrailway digital controller.
Kept getting overload messages.
Checked motor driver IC and it seemed fine.
Checked overload circuit and looked fine.
So changed overload circuit transistor just in case but made no difference.
Then changed overcurrent current sense and it fixed it.
One of the resistors had a bad solder joint.
One of those days when nothing works.
But good fault finding exercises.
Had to rework an SMD IC as a couple of pins didnt look soldered right.
Checked output of scope on PC and one channel was way down compared to the other.
So prodded the scope and it looked fine.
Then spotted I hadnt changed both channels to same voltage setting !
So trying fix something that wasnt broken.
Built up a mode lrailway digital controller.
Kept getting overload messages.
Checked motor driver IC and it seemed fine.
Checked overload circuit and looked fine.
So changed overload circuit transistor just in case but made no difference.
Then changed overcurrent current sense and it fixed it.
One of the resistors had a bad solder joint.
One of those days when nothing works.
But good fault finding exercises.
Assembled a new car subwoofer for the house. Now I get to figure out how to turn a vented box with a slot into a sealed box to kill the 2nd harmonics and chuffing. I can hear 10Hz (I can't so it must be a harmonic).
I'm thinking a 4"x16" piece of plexiglass over the opening... I tried stuffing it with a towel but I couldn't get a good seal.
I doubt I'll ever need 10Hz on anything without highs to mask the chuff but it's annoying... It sounds great in the closet on the other end of the house though lol
Crossed over with a CX2100v2 and powered by a Yorkville AP1200 which will push 975W into 8R...
I'm thinking a 4"x16" piece of plexiglass over the opening... I tried stuffing it with a towel but I couldn't get a good seal.
I doubt I'll ever need 10Hz on anything without highs to mask the chuff but it's annoying... It sounds great in the closet on the other end of the house though lol
Crossed over with a CX2100v2 and powered by a Yorkville AP1200 which will push 975W into 8R...
Attachments
So instead of covering the port, I thought I'd try and champher it first. Good results with the course Dremel sanding drum. The 90° edge at the end of the port is now closer to 35°. I can't heat the same chuffing now so I might just call it fixed...
A 1/2 inch roundover bit chucked in a router does wonders for that.
I've done it many times with excellent results.