Had a customer return a faulty DCC model railway shuttle unit.
The motor driver had failed.
So repaired it and sent it back.
Then same problem again.
I tested the over current protect circuit and it was signalling a overload ok.
Then had a dig into the software and motor driver routine checked overload and immediately returned a 1 if overload.
However the overload was then completely ignored !
One line of code to fix it. If (drivemotor()==1) goto broken;
Turns out he had used a buffer stop with LED's on it and it had a short.
The motor driver had failed.
So repaired it and sent it back.
Then same problem again.
I tested the over current protect circuit and it was signalling a overload ok.
Then had a dig into the software and motor driver routine checked overload and immediately returned a 1 if overload.
However the overload was then completely ignored !
One line of code to fix it. If (drivemotor()==1) goto broken;
Turns out he had used a buffer stop with LED's on it and it had a short.
The different phone system generations (G's) are not the same everywhere, and as with 4G, 5G isn't always true 5G , sometimes its remarketed 4G LTE with carrier aggregation (use of two simultaneous 4G streams).
In the early days of 4G all voice calls went over the 3G network while the 4G network was used for data only. This meant that a phone needed to work on 3G and 4G networks in order to function. All 4G networks were supposed to use the LTE standard, but some carriers like AT&T branded their high speed 3G HSPDA system as "4G." Legal issues led to the use of the terms "4G" and "4GLTE." They are not the same thing in the USA. The LTE (Long Term Evolution) spec was written such that it could be updated each year or so to keep pace with advancements in technology. VOLTE (voice over LTE) came a few years ago to remove the need for 3G function in modern 4G phones. It's called "HD voice" by AT&T and other names by other carriers. That spec version also brought us voice (phone calls) over WiFi networks.
This mess has led to a wide mix of phones and phone tower systems all over the world. In a nutshell a 4G or 4G LTE phone will work on 3G and 4G towers, but it doesn't even know 5G towers exist since most 5G systems use frequencies that were not allocated for cellular when those phones were made. Some phone carriers are deploying pure 5G in a recommissioned 3G frequency band. Many of these systems can communicate with a 4G LTE phone that supports VOLTE, but even this is not a given. A 5G tower will not recognize a 3G CDMA or GSM (Edge) based signal, so those phones will not talk through a 5G or pure 4G tower but they can still be used for a data terminal on 4GLTE.
Contractual obligations with GM's Onstar and some other emergency services kept a few 2G and 3G towers alive in many places. I used to get an occasional "emergency calls only" message along with the GSM icon on my Comcast (Verizon) based iPhone 10 when out of range of any 4G tower. Verizon never used GSM in the USA. This seems to be gone now, so those towers are being killed off.
I live in a rural area. There is no 5G here despite what the coverage maps say. A bit over two years ago AT&T told me that my old Motorola phone would no longer work on their system and I needed to buy a new phone. I ditched AT&T and put that phone on Mint Mobile which is a reseller of T-Mobile service. There is no T-Mobile service at our house, but the phone functions fine over WiFi in the house and goes through T-Mobile on 4G LTE when I go into town. T-Mobile is building out their 5G network on frequencies formerly used by broadcast TV nation wide. A spectrum analyzer reveals that there are no signals whatsoever on those frequencies here. They can be found when I get near Interstate 70 about 12 miles to the north. I don't use my phone enough to care about 5G so the cheap Mint plan works fine for my needs.
Today, I destroyed two IXTH08N100D2 MOSFETs...
Not even sure why but it was clearly a wiring error.
The surprise was they failed open! Every time I've blown a MOSFET, it turned into a wire.
Not even sure why but it was clearly a wiring error.
The surprise was they failed open! Every time I've blown a MOSFET, it turned into a wire.
Keysight is marketing test equipment for 6G.
Back to topic -- I blew up a halogen "top hat" bulb -- exploded and sent glass over part of the kitchen -- so hot that it melted a bit of a rubber cushioning pad near the sink! Turned off the power and removed the offender with needle-nose pliers, but can't fit an LED replacement into the light assembly.
Same here. My iPhone 6s Plus is one of the best electronic devices I've ever owned; I'll use it until Apple kicks it off their map. I cant even upgrade to the latest OS, as its 16G memory is full of Apple's un-retractable mess, with the only way to straighten it out is via backup and restore. Which means I'd have to install iTunes on some machine, and risk the success of that operation. I wont do it, as the phone works fine as it is. Kinda like this Laptop, with its lowly 6k Intel proc... See? I press "Post reply" and it works!
I feel the same way about my "ancient" Galaxy S5 (Android). Trying to take good care of it, because it'll be a sad day when it kicks off.
I don't understand all the mania for these overpriced new phones.
I don't understand all the mania for these overpriced new phones.
There is a thumb-drive with an Apple Lightning connector and software to back up to 64GB. I saw it at Office Max a few days ago.
Thanks, but the offending content isnt my own stuff, it's all these little deposits the iOS leaves in the storage that cant be deleted or simply copied off elsewhere. The only way to get rid of them is backup and restore. Must be some of it is currently necessary, much of it is garbage and it's all scattered randomly about within all the memory its taking up.
Computers - I remember the only way to defrag a "thrashing" HDD - back when they were washing machine size - was to do a tape backup and restore. That process would put the files back on the disk platter more contiguously, so the read heads wouldnt be seeking all over the disk for a file chunk here and there.
I dont know how Apple managed to replicate the same PITA solution to a very different problem, but they did.
Apple, and to a lesser extent Microsoft are attempting to implement seamless work transition across all of your devices. I have several PC's that are dedicated to single or a few tasks. MS seems to want to take all of the icons from every one of my PC's and put them on every desktop I have. At least it is possible to turn off backup to One Drive in each PC. I would rather not have all my digital life sitting on a Microsoft, or anybody else's cloud.
Apple however seems to think it is perfectly acceptable to keep a copy of every picture I take on my iPhone on the iCloud. They even charge me because I went over the size limit for the free cloud. OK, I can see the use in that after seeing a friend drop his iPhone in the Gulf of Mexico while we were playing outdoors in a hurricane in Florida a few years ago. Things get weird when Apple and their "seamless" mentality attempts to mirror a 256GB iPhone on an 8 year old 32 GB iPad. It seems that keeping the WiFi turned off on the iPad can keep the Apple away. I do need to turn WiFi on to download reading material, but I tend to do this only when away from the house, and for now Apple can't seem to find the iPad when it's connected to my Motorola cell phone on Mint Mobile which is being used as a hot spot.
Apple or not, it's possible to backup and restore an iPhone with a program called iMazing. They also have a converter to read and convert Apple's proprietary HEIC picture format.
Apple however seems to think it is perfectly acceptable to keep a copy of every picture I take on my iPhone on the iCloud. They even charge me because I went over the size limit for the free cloud. OK, I can see the use in that after seeing a friend drop his iPhone in the Gulf of Mexico while we were playing outdoors in a hurricane in Florida a few years ago. Things get weird when Apple and their "seamless" mentality attempts to mirror a 256GB iPhone on an 8 year old 32 GB iPad. It seems that keeping the WiFi turned off on the iPad can keep the Apple away. I do need to turn WiFi on to download reading material, but I tend to do this only when away from the house, and for now Apple can't seem to find the iPad when it's connected to my Motorola cell phone on Mint Mobile which is being used as a hot spot.
Apple or not, it's possible to backup and restore an iPhone with a program called iMazing. They also have a converter to read and convert Apple's proprietary HEIC picture format.
I have an 11 year old laptop... i3-2170u I think,,, Slow AF.
Then my main machine is a Ryzen R9 - 3900X.
I wouldn't upgrade the laptop, because I'd pay 500$ for a machine that's still crap from a different direction.
IMHO, the only Apple product that isn't crap, it one that has been "jailbreaked"
The fact they refer to it as a "jailbreak" speaks volumes about Apple and their walled garden, eh?
Then my main machine is a Ryzen R9 - 3900X.
I wouldn't upgrade the laptop, because I'd pay 500$ for a machine that's still crap from a different direction.
IMHO, the only Apple product that isn't crap, it one that has been "jailbreaked"
The fact they refer to it as a "jailbreak" speaks volumes about Apple and their walled garden, eh?
Beta/system testers who do that sort of thing are worth their weight in gold.
That's one of the reasons that I had a new, unique, and never before seen cell phone almost every month. Nobody could "destroy" or find faults in a phone like me, and I had access to places that most of the other engineers couldn't get to or didn't even know existed. I had roof access for several years at the Motorola plant. Ever climb the framework and sit on the top of a cluster of about 20 antennas carrying live transmissions on every usable frequency from 30 MHz to a few GHz (IMD immunity test). Who would think to hold the phone in the same hand that's holding a spark plug wire on a running engine (impulse noise interference test).
I also knew where the strongest cell, TV, and other towers in south Florida were. This pair were aimed west to cover the Everglades swampland. Maximum RF exposure to ground level humans don't apply to the cattle, horses. and goats on the ground to the west, nor the snakes and gators in the swamp a bit further west. Unfortunately, this mess trashed reception for police radio equipment. I spent many days in the fields west of the towers testing modified radios and making measurements. Another high RF environment is the east end upper deck at what is now known as Hard Rock Stadium. Here you are looking at 12 TV transmitters that each put out 1 MEGAWATT of Effective Radiated Power plus several lower power transmitters. Yes, I got the boss to sign for tickets to a few Marlins games, but he wouldn't go for a Dolphins game.
The picture shows the front page of a 12 page document I wrote back in 2003 detailing the testing and measurements I made at that site. Nobody wanted to do this kind of work. I never understood why someone would rather sit in front of a computer all day, every day, doing pretty much the same thing every day. At least I got to go outside and play while getting paid for doing it. I learned that goats will eat your notepad. That experience got me two extra days outside. It took a few years for the local cops to realize that the two guys driving around with test equipment strapped to the roof of their car weren't terrorists, as the World Trade Center incident was still current news. What's a cop to think when they see that you have about a dozen police walkie talkies, that are on their frequencies (with the transmitters disabled) and far newer and better models than what they had.
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But George, didn't you use a pair of diagonal wire cutters to remove a melanoma years back?
Use “/bin/rm -rf *” if you want to circumvent any protection measures that might have been put in place to protect one from himself.
Melanomas are nothing to mess with since in about 50% of the time they are fatal. A few years ago I removed a basal cell carcinoma from my forehead with a pair of wire cutters. More recently I chopped a squamous cell carcinoma off the back of my hand.
Built up a brand new model railway DCC controller.
Fired it up and dead.
Looked at power input and 15 volt from SMSP was bombing up and down.
So must be a short.
Pulled out PIC and 74hc164 and still a short.
Maybe a bad/wrong regulator so unsoldered it and still a short.
So good visual inspection.
Short on motor driver pins.
I had used heat gun to solder pins but had forgot to check for shorts afterwards.
So copper braided shorted pins and that fixed it.
More haste less speed.
Fired it up and dead.
Looked at power input and 15 volt from SMSP was bombing up and down.
So must be a short.
Pulled out PIC and 74hc164 and still a short.
Maybe a bad/wrong regulator so unsoldered it and still a short.
So good visual inspection.
Short on motor driver pins.
I had used heat gun to solder pins but had forgot to check for shorts afterwards.
So copper braided shorted pins and that fixed it.
More haste less speed.