I'm no expert on those circuits. Dave McGuire could probably offers suggestions. Here's some further reading: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Practical_Electronics/Crowbar_circuit On Sun, 29 Sep 2019, Evan Koblentz wrote:
It's called a 'crowbar' circuit. Prevents things from burning up.
Thanks. I've heard that term (and seen it used on this list) but never knew what it meant.
What are common reasons why those stop working? Neville and I didn't see any obvious signs of damage to it.
On Sun, Sep 29, 2019, 1:56 PM Mike Loewen <mloewen@cpumagic.scol.pa.us> wrote:
On Sun, 29 Sep 2019, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Neville noticed something that I wouldn't have. The circuitry contains a safety mechanism to shut off all power if the current jumps too high, such as a kid inserting a paper clip. There's probably a technical name for that but I do not know it. Anyway, for unknown reasons this circuit was kicking in! He jumped it with an equal-length wire. :)
It's called a 'crowbar' circuit. Prevents things from burning up.
Mike Loewen mloewen@cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/
Mike Loewen mloewen@cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/