I asked a co-worker for a brief line drawing with values for
a stabiliser. He said why not just go to an auto parts store
and buy one? Almost all cars use one for the panel lamps.
=
Duh!
=
So. I'm off at lunch to the nearest parts store to try my =
luck.
=
Alan
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________=
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Subject: Re: voltage stabilizer
Author: Non-HP-jer (jer@thlogic.com) at HP-USA,mimegw2
Date: 2/24/96 9:04 AM
> =
> 13.48 volts into the vs. Can't read the output 'cause it is =
=
> far from stable. Seems to be 5 to 13.48 in very swift swings=
=
> but nothing long enough to garner a reading from the meter. =
=
> =
=
Yep, sounds like it's frazzled to me. It should be putting out =
a
constant voltage (surprised? ;-) =
It's a couple of strips of different metals in contact. When the=
y
heat up too much they seperate, breaking the connection. Then they cool=
=
down and re-establish the connection. Quite a simple little device to =
control the voltage. They go bad because they spark every time they =
connect, which scores them and builds up carbon deposits. After a while=
, =
they just can't make a good connection. You could theoretically break i=
t =
open, clean it up, adjust it a little, and it would work fine again. But=
=
it's not really worth the trouble. You could also replace it with a bet=
ter, =
diode based voltage regulator, but that's really not worth the trouble.
=
Jeremy DuBois
Programmer/System Administrator
Thermalogic Corporation
'74 MGB, '76 Spit
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