2 Dec
2004
2 Dec
'04
3:53 a.m.
Nice bodge story: I just found out why the system wasn't starting up at
all. It had been semi-dismantled since it had died years ago; I'd
reassembled it recently when trying to get it running again.
After much wiring tracing I've just discovered although the cable
between the control panel and the backplane is keyed at both ends, at
one end the connector was on back to front. That hadn't stopped whoever
assembled it at the factory from hammering the keyed connector backwards
into its socket!
Argh!. You want to find the idiot who built that system and connect his
private parts to selected points on the mains side of that PSU :-) I would therefor try a respecable load on the 5V line
and see what happens!
Turns out my series light bulb was screwing it up when under a slight
load (rather than free running) and causing it to stop-start, although
I'm not quite sure why. Ditching the lightbulb and replacing with a 4.7
ohm / 5W resistor sorted that out and it all sprang to life :-)
I still need a proper 10 ohm resistor to replace the one that failed (I
nuked my only spare too) - I'll scrounge on off the Colossus guys...
Looking good though :-)
cheers for all your help,
Jules