Circuitrocks

tito_elmer

<r>Young techs laugh at my old Sanwa analog meter. But it catches things digitals miss. 
 
<s>[b]</s>Where analog wins:<e>[/b]</e>
<LIST><s>[list]</s>
<LI><s>[*]</s>Trending: watching a needle sweep shows rate-of-change, digits just flicker numbers</LI>
<LI><s>[*]</s>Peaking/nulling ...

tito_elmer

<r>Restoring vintage gear, dami dried-out electrolytics. Regular multimeter capacitance mode reads value fine pero cap still bad in circuit. Why? 
 
Answer: ESR (equivalent series resistance). A cap can read 100uF correctly but have high ESR = useless for filtering. 
 
<s>[b]</s ...

tito_elmer

<r>Customer brought a 1972 Tagamatic tube amp. Output transformer burned. Replacement: discontinued. Modern equivalent: PHP 8000+ shipped. 
 
Decided to rewind. Mga 3 weekends of evening work. 
 
<s>[b]</s>What it takes:<e>[/b]</e>
<LIST><s>[list]</s>
<LI><s>[*]</s>Carefully ...

tito_elmer

<r>Younger folks ask: bakit pa nag-bother sa germanium kung silicon mas durable, mas mura, mas available? 
 
<s>[b]</s>Where Ge still matters:<e>[/b]</e>
<LIST><s>[list]</s>
<LI><s>[*]</s>Vintage fuzz pedals, that specific warm clipping sound</LI>
<LI><s>[*]</s>Restoring 50s-60s gear ...

tito_elmer

<r>Update on radio mentioned elsewhere. Found ferrite antenna at Deeco Surplus (community tip helped). 
 
Other replacements:
<LIST><s>[list]</s>
<LI><s>[*]</s>All electrolytic caps (5, all dried out)</LI>
<LI><s>[*]</s>Volume pot (scratchy beyond fix)</LI>
<LI><s>[*]</s>One germanium output ...

tito_elmer

<r>Pamangkin tanong kung worth Fluke price tag for hobby. Used both for years. 
 
<s>[b]</s>Fluke wins:<e>[/b]</e> input protection, AC current at low Hz, build quality. Dropped mine twice, still working. 
 
<s>[b]</s>UNI-T fine for:<e>[/b]</e> bench DC voltage ...

tito_elmer

<r>Update on the radio mentioned in another thread. Got the ferrite antenna sourced (thanks sa community tip on Deeco Surplus, found one). 
 
<s>[b]</s>Other replacements needed:<e>[/b]</e>
<LIST><s>[list]</s>
<LI><s>[*]</s>All electrolytic caps (5 of them, all dried out)</LI>
<LI><s ...

tito_elmer

<r>Asked by my nephew kung worth ba yung Fluke price tag para sa hobby. Owned both for years, eto yung totoo: 
 
<s>[b]</s>Where Fluke wins:<e>[/b]</e> input protection, AC current accuracy at low frequencies, the reassuring "click" of test leads na hindi malayong sablayan. Built like ...

tito_elmer

<t>Yung T12 iron talagang well-priced para sa quality. Mas mabilis mag-init kaysa yung mga old-style Hakko clones, mas precise yung temperature control. 
 
For PHP 1500, kayang-kaya. Specifically: yung KSGER T12 station with a few tip variants (chisel, conical, knife), around PHP 1200-1400 ...

tito_elmer

<r>Tinanong ako ng kapatid ng kaibigan kung paano daw mag-basa ng schematic. Anak niya, 2nd year EE, daw confused. Realized maraming beginner ang nag-build ng circuits without really understanding the symbol system. 
 
Quick basics, hindi exhaustive: 
 
<s>[b]</s>Lines<e>[/b]</e ...

Circuitrocks

Search found 16 matches

Analog needle meter still useful in digital age?

ESR meter vs regular multimeter for testing old caps

Rewinding a burned audio transformer, dying art

Germanium vs silicon transistors, when do you actually need germanium?

1960s Sanyo tube radio restoration, before-after

Fluke 17B vs UNI-T UT139C for hobby, owned both

Restoring a 1960s Sanyo tube radio, before-after

Fluke 17B vs UNI-T UT139C, owned both, real verdict

Re: First soldering iron - PHP 1500 budget enough?

How to read a schematic - old-timer's quick guide for beginners