I'm back! (plus power component questions) - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

28 Oct 2006

 --- Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote: 
...
   The first one
is what I have dubbed the "power
 towers" and they look like vertical batteries.
 Usually come in groups of 5. Can anyone tell
 me there name and/or what they do?  
 Sound like electrolytic capacitors. They act as
 energy storage devices,  
ahhhh. I thought I felt a little electric charge
when I held my finger on the top of one for
a few seconds (power was off at the time,
but it had been on about 10 minutes earlier).

...
  to smooth out fluctuations in voltage (for example
 the output of a 
 rectifier cricuit is pulsating DC, a capacitor wil l
...
  smooth that out). An 
 electrolytic capacitor has a high value of
 capacitance for its size, but 
 it also has other characteristics (for esample, it 's
...
  'polarised', one 
 side must be positive wrt the other or the capacit or
...
  will be damaged. And 
 a eelatively high self-inductance) that make it le ss
...
  suitable for some 
 other applications.

 The second thing is the erm... plastic(?) "polo  
 I owuld think that's actually ferrite (a magnetic
 material)

  mint" that has what appears to be copper
 wire wrapped around it. Can anyone give me
 (or send me in the right direction to find)
 any information on it.  
 Sounds like a torroidal inductor. Used for filteri ng
...
  DC power lines, as 
 the energy storage device in switching regulators,
 etc.

 I recomend you read a book called 'The Art of
 Electronics' by Horrowitz
 and Hill. While it won't specifically answer these
 questions, it's a 
 very good introduction to electronics. The only
 downside is that it's not 
 cheap.

 -tony

Thanks for that Tony.

I have been making a list of books (and
recommended bookselling websites) that people
have mentioned on here. I'll try and track
some of them down soon ;)

Regards,
Andrew B
aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk