On Sat, Mar 12, 2011 at 05:55:09PM -0500, [email protected] wrote:
>
>
> Would that called a "crowbar circuit" or a "sledgehammer circuit"?
[laugh]
> It's amazing it worked at all for more than a few seconds, much less 20
> years!!!
I agree! The only thing I can figure is that the coupling at that 20:1
conversion rate was low enough that it survived; I'm pretty sure that it
was their smallest transformer at that voltage, maybe 300mA. The fact
that the reed switch - which aren't known for being all that tough
anyway - survived the, what, tens of thousands of open/close cycles is
maybe even more amazing.
> But I think you got it right about the ruggedness of parts in "the old
> days". Nowadays everything has max ratings teetering on the edge of
> failure. Greed Rules.
Yeah. That bugs me, a lot. If I needed to build something that _had_ to
work CHOHW, I'd go visit a surplus store and find some parts from the
1950s or 60s. Big they might be (part of the reason they're so tough),
but they *will* work, and will continue to work.
Ben
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