On 05/23/2013 02:54 PM, Tony Duell wrote:
Recently I came across one of those electornics
kits that conssits of
pre-mounted components with spring terminals, you conenct them toget with
wires. The Radio Shack n-in-1 kits are examples.
I got my start on a 65-in-1 when I was 7 years old, and it has basically
defined the rest of my life. I no longer have THAT one, sadly, but I have
one just like it.
Right... I think I had (and still ahve) jsut about all the educational
kits. The Japanese SR/ST/EX series. The Philips EE series (altohough I
never had the more advanced add-on kits...). The Braun Lectron. And
otehrs that I have forgotten about.
OK, a couple of questions. Ignroign the warning
in the manaul not to try
other circuits (!) :
1) What else can you use a 555 strapped like that for?
2) Ignoring the timer IC, what is the simplest bistable circuit you can
build ?
3) Whay is none of this in the manual?
Lawyers. Lawyers won't understand (not that they're incapable, but their
expertise lies elsewhere) that it would be virtually impossible to start a
fire or injure someone when wiring up a "different" circuit. They're
trained
OK, then give the 'different circuits' in the manual...
Anyway, with a pair of AA cells as the only power supply and no inductive
components, it's darn hard to do anything that will injure you or start a
fire.
to be paranoid, and they insist on such disclaimers
and instructions in
documentation to try to avoid any possible situation in which the company
might get sued.
It's absurd on several levels, of course, but that's why.
Alas yes. And to think I learned my experimenting with valves. Built my
onwn PSU (Transformer + vavle rectifer + capacitor) giving about 450V.
And I am still here...
-tony