Craig Posts A New Pic

[bobdole369]

While you can't necessarily prove that an electronic poroduct is "good" just by looking at the circuit board, you can often tell that a bad one is bad - poor soldering, tracks cut and circuit rewired/repaired with patches, even corrosion. Nothing is foolproof, but a visual check is a lot nicer to have than not IMHO

As a "quasi-EE" - (that is someone who does not hold a degree, but has done a good amount of pose-secondary schooling and a decades worth of practical experience) - Just looking at it - I can tell a number of things.

1. It is either a hybrid switching power supply or a pure magnetic.(impossible to tell without seeing numbers on the chips, I'm leaning towards a pure magnetic.)
a. 3 types of PS exist for this kind of work - pure magnetic, hybrid, pure electronic input.
b. In order of efficiency they follow that same order (least to most)
c. In order of reliability and longevity they follow the reverse order.
d. In order of cost they follow the reverse order.
2. The design is that which costs about $15USD in parts at retail to replicate, If she's a hybrid than I'm fairly sure it's a buck converter of sorts.
3. I don't see (but I very well could be wrong, a number of methods exist for this, the easiest to implement is via a pure electronic input section.) a method for auto-switching (i.e. 110/220v 60/50hz) i.e. power in the states vs that of across the pond. Are the power supplies labeled as such?
4. The use of a heatsink is a nice touch, often that is just potted in on the really really cheap ones. That would either be the output FET in the case of a hybrid, or the voltage regulator.
5. A better pic of the caps will reveal their expected lifespan.

 

[craigix]

By the way craig, I know you've watched micromen and now you are going a bit insane So my question when are you going to make a small electric car?

Electric bikes interest me.

 

[Chip]

It is either a hybrid switching power supply or a pure magnetic.(impossible to tell without seeing numbers on the chips, I'm leaning towards a pure magnetic.)

It's certainly not a pure magnetic power supply. The transformer is far too small, and there's too much else on the board that isn't transformer. Two amps is not an insignificant amount of power. You certainly couldn't convert it with just a transformer that appears to be less than an inch square. You'd need a fist-sized wall wart to do it purely magnetically.

 

[ashdjones]

By the way craig, I know you've watched micromen and now you are going a bit insane So my question when are you going to make a small electric car?

Electric bikes interest me.

It did worse than the car. :lol:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Zike

 

[second exodous]

I used a hammer first - it was glued shut.

I'm currently holding a Pandora at a silly angle and ramming the lid open and closed over and over beyond the final click to see how much force and brutality is needed to break the hinge.

You need to get this device in peoples hands, it seems like you're on the verge of loosing it. It seems like now you're looking for failings in the Pandora before it's even out. I know it's better to find this stuff out now but it just sounds like you're actively looking for failings now.

When you say you can't sleep until you crack open a power supply that you've planned on using for quite a while now I worry about you.

 

[mali]

I totally understand Craig, tbh.

 

[Trip]

I totally understand Craig, tbh.

Same here. Guess that means were both tapped too :huh:

 

[mali]

:lol: That's a matter of opinion

 

[Trip]

True

 

[hobbyman II]

And how we will know if the PSUs are good quality just by disassembling and looking at the bare parts? It still could explode if you plug it in

true, but if it's built on a decent quality board, the capacitors have "Panasonic" down the side, the mains connector is good quality and the chips have a TI or Motorola logo on em then things are looking good , likewise if the caps are unbranded, the chips have no markings or happen to be "flying excellence wonder dragon" brand and the connector still has visible lettering from the Coca Cola tin it was made from, while the PCB looks suspiciously like it's made from bacofoil and cardboard, then not so good :rolleyes: , likewise, if you prise it open and there's a wire-wound resistor and a diode spanning the case from input to output, with some straw to stop it rattling, you definitely have problems h34r:

 

[carlgeorge]

By the way craig, I know you've watched micromen and now you are going a bit insane So my question when are you going to make a small electric car?

Electric bikes interest me.

http://electrobikes.com.au/

A rather annoying advert that is constantly on the radio.

 

[Sphinxter]

Had a cheap charger kill the smarts in a Canon BP-808 by overcharging, would hate to have that happen to something really nice like a Pandora.