Entropy

Relax in southern comfort on the east bank of the Mississippi. You're just around the corner from Beale Street and Sun Records. Watch the ducks, throw back a few and tell us what's on your mind.
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JR.
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Re: Entropy... that was easy

Post by JR. »

This repair is almost too easy to take credit for, but we all need some good news for a change.

I responded to a thread about old calculators and noticed that my old HP11c was dead... opining that I should probably remove the dead batteries to avoid incidental damage. I measured the three removed batteries and all three were definitely "not" dead... there was a smudge on one battery electrode so I wiped them off and reinstalled.... :D

All betta..

JR
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

Got a little taste of entropy this morning... after my weekly shopping trip i went to plug my smart trickle charged into the cigarette lighter and the plug was open and wouldn't snap back together... I managed to get it back together enough to plug in but now it's led isn't lighting up... After it is finished i'll cut of that plug, and solder on another old one I have laying around from an old cell phone.

I predict cars in the future wont even have cigarette lighters. (might already be gone).

The smart battery charger really is smart... after sitting for a week it takes the charger several hours to get the battery happy. I don't know how it senses the state of the battery but last week when I drove my car on 4 different days the battery was in pretty good shape and the smart charger blessed it after only 15 minutes, today I expect the typical 6-8 hours charge cycle.

JR
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

That simple repair was not so simple... The nice cigarette lighter plug, from a cell phone charger, didn't pass 12V through, I had to pretty much destroy it to dissect it and it looks like a crude voltage dropping circuit built into it.

===

Being a chronic pack rat, I just moved onto another old cigarette lighter plug I had sitting in a kitchen drawer.

Fixed and working now...

JR
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Re: Entropy

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Got a new entropy event... The lump PS for my old scanner just gave up the ghost.

12V @ 1.25A now making 0V. The primary measures 800 kohm so effectively open circuit.

It is unclear if this is worth fixing... I will do a cursory search through my pile of wall warts.

JR

[update- I found two 12V @ 1.2A DC wall warts in the first place I checked. One is labelled as a final test sample so perhaps from old Peavey (?) projects. This feels like a cosmic nudge to fix the scanner. FWIW these old sample wall warts are easily 2x or more the weight of the failed one. /update]
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Re: Entropy

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As if on queue my chronic beer bottle washer drama opened another chapter. This time the spring didn't break but it started spraying water out of the pivot lever holes, and valve got balky (wouldn't shut off). I was thinking of soaking it in vinegar to fix the balky valve before it started spraying me.

I am almost on a first name basis with the customer service guy for the washer maker. Time to give him a new field report.

I wonder if I can transfer the good spring onto one of my old broken bottle washers. :lol:

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Re: Entropy

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JR. wrote: Sat Oct 17, 2020 10:34 am Got a new entropy event... The lump PS for my old scanner just gave up the ghost.

12V @ 1.25A now making 0V. The primary measures 800 kohm so effectively open circuit.

It is unclear if this is worth fixing... I will do a cursory search through my pile of wall warts.

JR

[update- I found two 12V @ 1.2A DC wall warts in the first place I checked. One is labelled as a final test sample so perhaps from old Peavey (?) projects. This feels like a cosmic nudge to fix the scanner. FWIW these old sample wall warts are easily 2x or more the weight of the failed one. /update]
I got around to plugging up my recently uncovered wall wart power supplies and the old scanner is now scanning again.

I also figured out why I had two of those power supplies with one marked test sample. Back in the day Peavey made powered computer speakers and these were apparently the power supplies for those. I long since discarded the prototype computer speakers, but am pleased to declare a "pack rat" success....from my cluttered back room full o'stuff.

Glad I didn't throw them away... :lol:

JR
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Re: Entropy...lefty?

Post by JR. »

What is a one armed wheelbarrow good for? An entropy discussion.. :lol:
lefty.png
A lot of miles on this puppy and I have repaired it before...

New replacement handles on order ($39).... I have no desire to buy a new wheelbarrow or do without.

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Re: Entropy

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I just sprayed some penetrating oil on the rusty bolts. Last time I repaired this I had to hacksaw a couple bolts. I still have replacements so no problem.

JR

PS: I think my check engine light may have burned out... :lol: It spontaneously went out this morning.
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Re: Entropy

Post by terkio »

I changed an electric cooking plate for a new one.
A four burner plate, one of the four radiants was not working anymore.
I repaired the old one. That was a wire cut at a spade connector.
Now the heating works fine at the four burners, however the repaired one makes a noise the others don't.
They cycle on and off according to the knob setting. The noisy one, hums/ buzz when heat goes on.
I found nothing about this in the manual, a lengthy useless stuff as usual now days.

Could that be an alarm indicating bad connection ? Based on sensing voltage drop.
At the failed radiant terminals, there is sign of overheating, the terminals are in bad shape.
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

Perhaps something is loose?

====

I am still waiting for my replacement wheelbarrow handles but in the mean time I sprayed some penetrating oil on the rusty hardware. After soaking a couple days a few of the nuts are breaking loose.

I am usually in too much of a hurry to wait days.

JR
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