Rob,

I have a few silly thoughts, but maybe they can be useful.
The negative going signal is something I would not be happy with, as it may 
damage the IC (over time).
TTL does not like negative voltages on their pins.
Is there between the DC011 (signal generating) and the LS299 (signal "user") 
wiring, or are they on the same PCB?
In case of wiring, capacitive coupling may cause negative going voltages.
Could a clamping diode with an as low as possible Vf (< 0.3 V) help to reduce 
the negative voltage? It is not a permanent solution, because the DC011 might 
be a bit unhappy with that diode, but for a test it might help to draw a 
conclusion.

If all does not help, in getting the LS299 running cooler, consider  some 
temperature conductive paste and a small "IC heatsink". Tie the heatsink onto 
the IC with a piece of waxed lacing. The IC can radiate more efficiently the 
generated heat, so that it can run cooler. This could drop temperature with 
some 10 degrees.

Success hunting down this issue,
Henk

-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: Rob Jarratt via cctalk <[email protected]> 
Verzonden: zaterdag 29 november 2025 08:11
Aan: 'Doug Jackson' <[email protected]>; [email protected]
CC: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts' <[email protected]>; 
Rob Jarratt <[email protected]>
Onderwerp: [cctalk] Re: Hot Video Shift Register on VT100

Yes, it is a negative voltage. I measured this by attaching the ground lead to 
the ground connection on the 74S299.

 

The DC011 that is producing the CLK signal is socketed, but the one on my VT102 
isn’t. I would try swapping them to see what happens, but I don’t really want 
to touch a fully working board.

 

Thanks

 

Rob

 

From: Doug Jackson <[email protected]> 
Sent: 28 November 2025 22:59
To: [email protected]
Cc: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [cctalk] Re: Hot Video Shift Register on VT100

 

Is that a negative excursion at the bottom of the waveform?  now low - looks 
like -0.3v to me - With '"logic, that will likely turn on the protection diodes 
on the inputs, making them warm.

 

Double check where the ground actually is on the CRO display.

 

It's also interesting that the input doesn't even reach 4v, let alone 5v.  
Whats driving that?

 

 

Kindest regards,

 

Doug Jackson

 

em: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> 

ph: 0414 986878

 

 

 

 

On Sat, 29 Nov 2025 at 08:52, Rob Jarratt <[email protected] 
<mailto:[email protected]> > wrote:

I checked the CLK input for the 74S299 with the 74S299 removed and the signal 
is still spiky and looks like this: 
https://rjarratt.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/vt102-74s299-clk-signal.png

 

I removed the other load on this signal, the DC012, and the CLK signal still 
looked spiky. I also put back the 74S299 (now socketed) with DC012 removed and 
it still gets hot. I tried another new 74S299 just in case I had a bad one and 
that also got hot without a load on the output.

 

I am thinking that it is either the spiky input or it is just expected to get 
this hot.

 

Regards

 

Rob

 

From: Doug Jackson <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > 
Sent: 25 November 2025 01:15
To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> 
Cc: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <[email protected] 
<mailto:[email protected]> >
Subject: Re: [cctalk] Re: Hot Video Shift Register on VT100

 

The oscilloscope will show you the actual driving waveform.

 

You can then see the level of the spikes 

 

Kindest regards,

 

Doug Jackson

 

em: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> 

ph: 0414 986878

 

 

 

 

On Tue, 25 Nov 2025 at 10:48, Rob Jarratt <[email protected] 
<mailto:[email protected]> > wrote:



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Doug Jackson via cctalk <[email protected] 
> <mailto:[email protected]> >
> Sent: 24 November 2025 23:04
> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <[email protected] 
> <mailto:[email protected]> >
> Cc: Doug Jackson <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >
> Subject: [cctalk] Re: Hot Video Shift Register on VT100
> 
> Another test would be to disconnect the output and see if that runs the
> device cooler.  Maybe the load, while not a short, is simply too great for the
> device.

I think I can try this, the DC012 it drives is socketed.

> 
> But I am leaning towards the inputs containing spikes that need to be
> dissipated as heat in clamping diodes.  A decent CRO on the device input pins
> while it is out of circuit will show that as well.

I guess CRO means Cathode Ray Oscilloscope? Not sure what you are suggesting I 
try here?


> 
> Kindest regards,
> 
> Doug Jackson
> 
> em: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> 
> ph: 0414 986878
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, 25 Nov 2025 at 09:52, Peter Coghlan via cctalk <
> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote:
> 
> > >
> > > Sorry if I wasn't clear in my earlier reply, but there were some
> > > answers inline. The summary is that Vcc looks fine, there does not
> > > seem to be any short on the outputs of the shift register and the
> > > chip seems to be
> > working
> > > correctly. It just gets hot and I wonder if this could be due to the
> > > CLK input being a bit spikier on the VT100 than on my VT102? Could
> > > this be
> > why
> > > later revisions of the VT100 introduced an inductor on the DOT CLK
> > > output from the DC011?
> > >
> >
> > Perhaps one way to test the hypothesis would be to insert an inductor
> > like those used on the later revisions in the DOT CLK output and check
> > whether
> > a) everything still works and b) the shift register runs cooler?
> >
> > Regards,
> > Peter Coghlan.
> >

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