André Silva At 16:00 the chap is showing a VFD, below which are some components that look like LEDs, and which have 'LED' written on the circuit board. Neat teardown, as I'm wondering about replacing the VFDs in an old desktop Fluke DMM - thanks Fran!
Love mail bag Monday and the impromptu teardowns. I'd like to vote for a VFD episode, I have a few I've scavenged but I haven't figured out how to drive them yet.
Great mailbag video! The Eurotemp was pretty cool, I remember back in the 1980's we had temp readers like that one test equipment for the Dept of the Navy at NAS, Norfolk, Va.
The 'Mark" output on the chopper amp is most likely for use with a roll chart recorder. The Mark output generates a little pulse when activated which makes the recorder pen move up and down quickly for about 1cm. This way you can mark the start of a new recording...
Have you ever thought of getting a surgeon's "Videoendoscope" ? Like they use to look into a human's body through a tiny cut in the skin. They are flexible and you can look very closely into things that you don't want to break/tear apart but still want to look at the components.
You'll actually be surprised how thick endoscopes are. Ask anyone that underwent an endoscopy and they'll tell you they're usually about a centimeter thick. They're that thick because they usually also have tools inside them to take samples..
ER1400 the oldest serial EEPROM as far as I know. Uses a supply voltage of -30V (yes, minus). Hence all those transistors and 4000 series stuff there to adapt the voltage levels. It was originally designed for storing 100 different TV frequency settings of 14 bits each for top notch TV sets in the 70s. There is another GI chip going with that, also using that weird -30V NMOS technology.
I would love to see a VFT video, last time i tried to drive one i got a nice pop and blew the heater! also common go for the full hour ... we wont complain XP
The followup on how to power up vacuum fluorecent displays would be great! I've got a lot of these displays which I would like to reuse and have no Idea on how to power them up
Interesting mailbag. It would have been nice to see that industrial controller powered up(if it was working), may be the bar code scanner as well to see the display.
3:25 I do wonder how the inductive coil that communicates with the pacemaker is supposed to stay on? Well I guess we'll hear about it soon during the tear down, maybe it's not for pacemakers at all, or maybe it's actually close-range radio-communication, because I do believe modern pacemakers have some RF stuff in them (which led to the whole hacker conference meetings focussing their attention on pacemakers, as they had no security in them whatsoever). So I guess the round thing might just be an antenna that you need to place near yourself and not directly on yourself
Hi Dave! you said if we get on our knees begging you might do a video on VFD displays! I hope you do! I love VFDs, I think their sexy and a nicer alternative to the LCDs and LED displays most new comers use in their projects. I think many see how VFDs work as voodoo, an explanation on their working and some demonstrations might help SAVE THE WORLD from the grip of display blandness. keep up the good work! :3
Those open multiturn pots used to be quite common in electronic tuned tv sets in the 80s . I wonder if they'd borrowed them from a TV manufacturer? The knobs look similar to TV channel tuners on british tv sets of the time too... so they may be off the shelf items. (They were used to adjust the tuning voltage on varicap pushbutton tuners)
I have a cat named Flynn, and anytime I open my bedroom door he runs inside my room. He's pretty quick so I can never prevent him from getting in. Every time he gets into my room I think of you 😂
Hi Dave just a note on the Eurotherm Controller. Its a very versatile bit of equipment where i worked we had a number connected to a horizontal furnace controlling "zones" of heaters so they ramped up along the funace to control the melt of the material inside they can be connected to a pc and using their software you have a graphic indication of the temps and zones along the furnace and can control as you go and you can program each one separately to control a ramp and dwell for each zone
METRAWATT was mostly taken over by the BBC in 1968 and then was called "BBC METRAWATT". After the merger BBC ASEA in 1988, the company was renamed to "ABB METRAWATT". 1992 ABB METRAWATT was then sold to Röchling. Röchling then bought Gossen GmbH, Siemens and combined both into "Gossen-Metrawatt". Since 2005, the company is owned by private equity firms.
BBC Metrawatt is propably a doughter company of BBC (Brown Boveri & Cie., Mannheim) in Germany. Part of a workforce (BBC, SIEMENS, Kiepe, DÜWAG), they built the older Subway-Trains (B-Wagen) in Düsseldorf and Duisburg. This was around 1986-1989. The trains are still in service!!!
Wow and I thought my knife was big yours wins. :) It would be cool to get some stuff just to tear into it. I always did like getting into electronics.and seeing what was inside of them.
I work with payphones, if you want one, I would have to find out how much it would cost to send a 40lb payphone (with extra board and for you to rip apart) if you are interested lol
You should make some tutorial videos on how to get started in electronic engineering and circuit design. I want to get into it but i don't know where to start.
YEAH! Finally I get to rate video before I could have possibly seen it! :D So now to my review: the episode of mailbag monday was great... Especially because of the new knive!
The Intermec is a "Mobile Data Terminal". They could be programmed with simple programs for collecting data in a warehouse or factory. The unit you have is _seriously_ old compared to the more modern versions. Doesn't stop it from being one expensive piece of equipment back in the day (modern units are currently upwards of a thousand dollars, multiple-thousands for some IP-rated units). The version you have probably runs some simple interpreting OS for running the uploaded program. Newer devices have a full OS, usually Windows CE or Windows Mobile 5/6/6.5. Intermec (recently bought by Motorola) have announced they will be switching to Windows Phone 8 and Android for their MDT/Mobile Computers, though I hear murmurings that WP8 has lost the battle, and they will all be Android. I've only ever dealt with units like yours a very limited number of times, as the newer WinCE devices were industry standard when I entered the field. A teardown will likely not reveal much. You can pretty much tell everything inside the unit just by looking at it - battery, microcontroller, power management, keypad, display, beeper and scanner. One interesting thing to note is the barcode scanner on these devices does not use a rotating prism. It's actually an oscillating mirror, driven by a voice coil. Source: My job. Again. EDIT: I should watch the rest of the video before commenting, lol. You did the teardown, found the interesting stuff. :P
These eurotherm controler, a lot of not so new ( 1970/80) machine use this kind of controler, I work in a wire factory and they are everywhere ! Looks this one is a "all in one" so you can control the heat management on several stage on the screw (check wikipedia "extrusion"). Nowaday T° sensor goes straight into a specific PLC which manage solid stat relay for the heating element. Sorry for my english
I wonder if you would get away with taking that knife on your carry-on luggage. hahaha I lost my Swiss army knife at the Cambodian airport because I accidentally had it in my carry-on instead of my check luggage. I was so annoyed with myself. I like your mailbag videos because I share your excitement with the discoveries.
My Oscilloscope is from Goerz Metrawatt. It's basically the same as the HM 205-2 but in grey/black color. I don't know anything else about this company.
is there a place to collect Dave's sayings, many on each episode an TAH too. "rare as hen teeth" or somthing; "more than you can poke a CRO probe at." There should be a repository for these!
VFDs are awesome - Yes! Those 'Popsicle' LEDs at 16:00 are pretty cool too - never seen that particular case style before....
André Silva At 16:00 the chap is showing a VFD, below which are some components that look like LEDs, and which have 'LED' written on the circuit board.
Neat teardown, as I'm wondering about replacing the VFDs in an old desktop Fluke DMM - thanks Fran!
André Silva They have semiconductor junctions in them and the silkscreen says LED, so what are they if not LEDs?
André Silva Fran knows what she is talking about. The LEDs are under the VFD. It even says LED on the silk screen.
we used to call them tombstone leds, back in the 'old dart'
André Silva vê-se logo que és português... Nabo!
ER1400 was about the first nonvolatile memory chip - needs a 35V programming supply!
Hey, Mike!
***** It's 1400 bits, or 0.000175 MB!
***** You can store a LOT on 175 bytes
***** XD you can run tetris from 140b of code. See www.140byt.es/
***** They must have designed the chip to be twitter compatible back in the 80's lol.
Another Christmas on Monday video! Good stuff.
I think a video on salvaging and powering VFDs would be interesting.
Love mail bag Monday and the impromptu teardowns. I'd like to vote for a VFD episode, I have a few I've scavenged but I haven't figured out how to drive them yet.
20:30 hold down clip is asking to break off in a vibration environment to turn into a floating metal bit.
24:30 - nice bag diving
Great mailbag! Love the new knife! I hope it remains a regular part of the show!
I have an old vacuum display laying around - it would be awesome to see you make a recovery/hookup guide for them!
6:02 yeah it does look like an industrial device for monitoring fridge and freezer temperatures, where temperature needs to be maintained precisely
Dave, please do a separate video on the VFD and how to salvage and repurpose an old display. Thanks again for a great mail bag Monday.
Great mailbag video! The Eurotemp was pretty cool, I remember back in the 1980's we had temp readers like that one test equipment for the Dept of the Navy at NAS, Norfolk, Va.
The 'Mark" output on the chopper amp is most likely for use with a roll chart recorder. The Mark output generates a little pulse when activated which makes the recorder pen move up and down quickly for about 1cm. This way you can mark the start of a new recording...
I figured it was something like that.
At 28:00 the math for the "solar roads" campaign is still there on the white board, loved that video.
That's not a knife. THAT'S a knife!
I would very much like to see a separate video where you explain how to salvage and power a VFD.
I would love a fundamental Friday on closed loop control, PID would be a mind bend as it goes much further than an op amp:D
Yeah the Florescent display in our car's dashboard for the millage went out at about 230,000 miles
Thank You for opening my Box, Dave! :)
21:33 wow that's one hell of a big foil bag..
Have you ever thought of getting a surgeon's "Videoendoscope" ? Like they use to look into a human's body through a tiny cut in the skin. They are flexible and you can look very closely into things that you don't want to break/tear apart but still want to look at the components.
Also good for tearing down humans without doing any damage
You'll actually be surprised how thick endoscopes are. Ask anyone that underwent an endoscopy and they'll tell you they're usually about a centimeter thick. They're that thick because they usually also have tools inside them to take samples..
ER1400 the oldest serial EEPROM as far as I know. Uses a supply voltage of -30V (yes, minus). Hence all those transistors and 4000 series stuff there to adapt the voltage levels. It was originally designed for storing 100 different TV frequency settings of 14 bits each for top notch TV sets in the 70s. There is another GI chip going with that, also using that weird -30V NMOS technology.
I would love to see a VFT video, last time i tried to drive one i got a nice pop and blew the heater!
also common go for the full hour ... we wont complain XP
The followup on how to power up vacuum fluorecent displays would be great! I've got a lot of these displays which I would like to reuse and have no Idea on how to power them up
That's not a knife... oh wait, yup, that's a knife.
Interesting mailbag. It would have been nice to see that industrial controller powered up(if it was working), may be the bar code scanner as well to see the display.
On the pacemaker you can use those two wrist bands as ESD wrist bands since they have the same hook up button.
I love how in your last mailbag Monday thingy the knife intro was a Crocodile Dundee reference :-D
*thumbs up, as always*
Haha, 33:21 would get a whole other meaning if you didn't watch the video ;)
EcProjects LOL
Yes do a follow up video! I was just thinking to myself I need to grab a displays like that to mess with because they look really cool.
I have a massive VFD from inside an dead stereo I took apart once. I would love to know how to power the thing up and maybe even use it for something.
Hi Dave,
We are living in a strange world where people like to watch other people opening mail (or even eating :)), but I miss the old you.
3:25 I do wonder how the inductive coil that communicates with the pacemaker is supposed to stay on? Well I guess we'll hear about it soon during the tear down, maybe it's not for pacemakers at all, or maybe it's actually close-range radio-communication, because I do believe modern pacemakers have some RF stuff in them (which led to the whole hacker conference meetings focussing their attention on pacemakers, as they had no security in them whatsoever). So I guess the round thing might just be an antenna that you need to place near yourself and not directly on yourself
17:10 I clicked, but the video paused :P
Thanks again for a wonderful mailbag with some really cool thingies!
I'd like to see a video on VFD displays :)
1:00 the moment you can say "This is not a knife, THIS IS A KNIFE"
Hi Dave! you said if we get on our knees begging you might do a video on VFD displays! I hope you do! I love VFDs, I think their sexy and a nicer alternative to the LCDs and LED displays most new comers use in their projects. I think many see how VFDs work as voodoo, an explanation on their working and some demonstrations might help SAVE THE WORLD from the grip of display blandness. keep up the good work! :3
wow the coin validator 24:30 brings back memories. i used to work for the company!
LOOK at that crystal flapping in the breeze! one good gust of wind and the thing will blow away!
Yes, Please make a "How to salvage a VFD" video. :)
He is right about the knife thing. A knife that size in Massachusetts would be illegal.
I was really hoping the foil bag would just be empty...
I'm the one who sent in that pacemaker communication box. Looking forward to the teardown.
Those open multiturn pots used to be quite common in electronic tuned tv sets in the 80s . I wonder if they'd borrowed them from a TV manufacturer? The knobs look similar to TV channel tuners on british tv sets of the time too... so they may be off the shelf items. (They were used to adjust the tuning voltage on varicap pushbutton tuners)
Do a video on VFD-s!
Stayed up all night waiting for this. ^__^ Did not disappoint. Keep up the great work! Love the show!
haha, I didn't wait for it that die hard, but I was in a "happy expectance" mode :)
just curious, what did you do all night long? :D
me: study
Check out the Daewoo capacitor at 13:54
I have a cat named Flynn, and anytime I open my bedroom door he runs inside my room. He's pretty quick so I can never prevent him from getting in. Every time he gets into my room I think of you 😂
This knife is a classic :) great choice Dave!
Thumbs up from just seeing the huge knife again @ the thumbnail!
Hi Dave just a note on the Eurotherm Controller. Its a very versatile bit of equipment where i worked we had a number connected to a horizontal furnace controlling "zones" of heaters so they ramped up along the funace to control the melt of the material inside they can be connected to a pc and using their software you have a graphic indication of the temps and zones along the furnace and can control as you go and you can program each one separately to control a ramp and dwell for each zone
Would love to see a VFD salvage video!
METRAWATT was mostly taken over by the BBC in 1968 and then was called "BBC METRAWATT". After the merger BBC ASEA in 1988, the company was renamed to "ABB METRAWATT". 1992 ABB METRAWATT was then sold to Röchling. Röchling then bought Gossen GmbH, Siemens and combined both into "Gossen-Metrawatt". Since 2005, the company is owned by private equity firms.
thought he said Gatorade 29:24 but it's actually Gate Array :)
BBC makes a lot of high quality stuff like meters and other professional electronics in Europe
I'd like to see the VFD video!
Dave, please do a video on VFDs!
I have a temp control module that is read in Fahrenheit and is half that size with LED display. It came from P&G factory that makes Tide Soap.
GI made some cool chips that were used in the Intellivision.
The tempriture controller is a kiln controler.
BBC Metrawatt is propably a doughter company of BBC (Brown Boveri & Cie., Mannheim) in Germany.
Part of a workforce (BBC, SIEMENS, Kiepe, DÜWAG), they built the older Subway-Trains (B-Wagen) in Düsseldorf and Duisburg. This was around 1986-1989.
The trains are still in service!!!
That's not a knife, that's a short sword!
Wow and I thought my knife was big yours wins. :)
It would be cool to get some stuff just to tear into it.
I always did like getting into electronics.and seeing what was inside of them.
I have a VFD in a clock I built from a kit and the thing uses 70 volts, Crazy!
It would be cool to see tear downs of medical devices.
Heck yeah I'd love to see a how to power up a VFD! Please do.
put the temprature controller on your smd toaster
The video is looking a bit blurry today Dave. (And it's not my youtube setting :) )
Dave, don't be sorry about anything. Your videos are awesome, manual focus be damned.
Assume the "that's not a knife. This is a knife! " joke had been done? :)
6:23 XD huh, that's almost my zipcode, that's where I live, wow that's a first
I work with payphones, if you want one, I would have to find out how much it would cost to send a 40lb payphone (with extra board and for you to rip apart) if you are interested lol
You should make some tutorial videos on how to get started in electronic engineering and circuit design. I want to get into it but i don't know where to start.
As my old mate Crocodile Dundee would say "Now that's a knife."
VFD video yes please! :) I'm doing diagnostic work every now and then on one of mine that doesn't work and i'm sure it would greatly help me out.
That catch you next time at the end sounded a but threatening... might be due to the knife
Would really like to see a video with the display powered up.
Would love to see a video of powering up the vacuum florescent display.
Heh, love the solar freakin roadways calcs still on the whiteboard!
E2 PROM in a coin validator? Don't be silly Dave, that's an oldschool Bipolar PROM ;)
YEAH! Finally I get to rate video before I could have possibly seen it! :D
So now to my review: the episode of mailbag monday was great... Especially because of the new knive!
Yeah PB screwdriver are the ultimate tool.
Greetings from Switzerland.
I really have a hard time believing in Protectionist Australia that a knife that big is legal.
Nice retro temp controller for your reflow oven with its ramp and dwell functions perhaps???
(If it worked and you had the instructions)
The Intermec is a "Mobile Data Terminal". They could be programmed with simple programs for collecting data in a warehouse or factory. The unit you have is _seriously_ old compared to the more modern versions. Doesn't stop it from being one expensive piece of equipment back in the day (modern units are currently upwards of a thousand dollars, multiple-thousands for some IP-rated units).
The version you have probably runs some simple interpreting OS for running the uploaded program. Newer devices have a full OS, usually Windows CE or Windows Mobile 5/6/6.5. Intermec (recently bought by Motorola) have announced they will be switching to Windows Phone 8 and Android for their MDT/Mobile Computers, though I hear murmurings that WP8 has lost the battle, and they will all be Android.
I've only ever dealt with units like yours a very limited number of times, as the newer WinCE devices were industry standard when I entered the field.
A teardown will likely not reveal much. You can pretty much tell everything inside the unit just by looking at it - battery, microcontroller, power management, keypad, display, beeper and scanner.
One interesting thing to note is the barcode scanner on these devices does not use a rotating prism. It's actually an oscillating mirror, driven by a voice coil.
Source: My job. Again.
EDIT: I should watch the rest of the video before commenting, lol. You did the teardown, found the interesting stuff. :P
I reckon you could sort out a lot of Huntsman Spiders with that knife....lol
Yes the knife is overkill.Packages usually don't have jaws ;)
It'll be so cool to switch on that vfd! I've used one by noritake and they are awesome!
"Australians every day carry knife" DAMM RIGHT
These eurotherm controler, a lot of not so new ( 1970/80) machine use this kind of controler, I work in a wire factory and they are everywhere !
Looks this one is a "all in one" so you can control the heat management on several stage on the screw (check wikipedia "extrusion"). Nowaday T° sensor goes straight into a specific PLC which manage solid stat relay for the heating element.
Sorry for my english
I wonder if you would get away with taking that knife on your carry-on luggage. hahaha
I lost my Swiss army knife at the Cambodian airport because I accidentally had it in my carry-on instead of my check luggage. I was so annoyed with myself.
I like your mailbag videos because I share your excitement with the discoveries.
Wear glasses when you work with a soldering iron.
I don't hate it when I get the wrong hole (24:44) jaja
With a knife like that I won't complain about false advertising; Good on ya, mate
that vacum display tutoreal would be nc ;-D good video dave
My Oscilloscope is from Goerz Metrawatt. It's basically the same as the HM 205-2 but in grey/black color. I don't know anything else about this company.
is there a place to collect Dave's sayings, many on each episode an TAH too.
"rare as hen teeth" or somthing; "more than you can poke a CRO probe at."
There should be a repository for these!
Hmm... What is next surprise for openning boxes?! Chainsaw? :o)
"The knife", more like a sword almost, haha. Great stuff!
Must be Dundee's knife :D
He is just like my friend, uses the biggest knife or sword (yes I said sword) nearby to open any and all packages.
My grandma lives in Norderstedt