It's Friday the 17th!!!! (cue lightning and thunder).
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Today I fatally destroyed 2 electronic components and released a non fatal amount of magic smoke from a third.
The walking-wounded survivor of this silicon apocalypse was the soft-start / voltage step-up circuit. Connecting a 9v battery directly to a circuit expecting 3v will do that. A small wisp of white smoke made a bid for freedom from a diode but on later inspection it seems that the circuit is still in spec. More on this later*.
The first of the evening's honoured dead is the UV laser diode from one of the laser pointers I procured from the ebay the other day. I had rent asunder the metal housing of the unit to extract the interesting bits within and had started to contemplate the workings of the laser drive circuitry. This involved desoldering the laser diode and placing it to one side. Later on when reassembling the unit the bloody thing wouldn't work any more so I reckon I've probably knackered it. Arse.
Lastly, but certainly most annoyingly and expensively is the Schmalzhaus EasyDriver (4.4) that I stupidly jettisoned into the afterlife by unplugging a motor from while the board was live. I saw the soul of the board escape in a tiny blue flash between the plug and socket. A heartfelt expletive was softly but emphatically uttered in my lab. Rest in peace, you served me well.
Sometimes the smoke wants to get out and there's not a lot we can do to stop it, other times it's all down to me being a dope and not really thinking about what I'm doing.
I've got another couple of EasyDrivers on order. Ho hum. They are very good value for money though, so it's not a huge financial loss. The pride took a bit of a knock, but how else do we learn, eh?
It's all good fun.
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* Back to that step-up circuit though, I was surprised to learn that my UV laser pointers (which feed on a pair of AAA cells) actually require 35Volts(!) for the diode to get into it's lasing region. Here's a pic of the step-up circuit, which was literally torn unceremoniously from it's aluminium tube by ripping the metal housing with pliers...
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Today I fatally destroyed 2 electronic components and released a non fatal amount of magic smoke from a third.
The walking-wounded survivor of this silicon apocalypse was the soft-start / voltage step-up circuit. Connecting a 9v battery directly to a circuit expecting 3v will do that. A small wisp of white smoke made a bid for freedom from a diode but on later inspection it seems that the circuit is still in spec. More on this later*.
The first of the evening's honoured dead is the UV laser diode from one of the laser pointers I procured from the ebay the other day. I had rent asunder the metal housing of the unit to extract the interesting bits within and had started to contemplate the workings of the laser drive circuitry. This involved desoldering the laser diode and placing it to one side. Later on when reassembling the unit the bloody thing wouldn't work any more so I reckon I've probably knackered it. Arse.
Lastly, but certainly most annoyingly and expensively is the Schmalzhaus EasyDriver (4.4) that I stupidly jettisoned into the afterlife by unplugging a motor from while the board was live. I saw the soul of the board escape in a tiny blue flash between the plug and socket. A heartfelt expletive was softly but emphatically uttered in my lab. Rest in peace, you served me well.
Sometimes the smoke wants to get out and there's not a lot we can do to stop it, other times it's all down to me being a dope and not really thinking about what I'm doing.
I've got another couple of EasyDrivers on order. Ho hum. They are very good value for money though, so it's not a huge financial loss. The pride took a bit of a knock, but how else do we learn, eh?
It's all good fun.
-----------------------
* Back to that step-up circuit though, I was surprised to learn that my UV laser pointers (which feed on a pair of AAA cells) actually require 35Volts(!) for the diode to get into it's lasing region. Here's a pic of the step-up circuit, which was literally torn unceremoniously from it's aluminium tube by ripping the metal housing with pliers...
