29 Oct
2006
29 Oct
'06
4:48 p.m.
While repairing a floppy drive with a shorted a bypass cap, I noticed
that the manufacturer had very thoughtfully inserted a picofuse in
the DC supply line. Predictably, it was the 10 ohm resistor in
series with the voltage regulator that turned to toast. The fuse is
none the worse for wear.
This brought to mind an old friend who earned her living as a field
engineer for DEC. At one point, she mentioned that resistor- and
transistor-protected fuses were a regular pattern for DEC equipment.
This would be back in the early 70's, BTW.
Did her observation reflect reality? Are there any other
manufacturers that routinely engaged in this practice?
Cheers,
Chuck