Here is an old type KVM switch, PS/2 & VGA interface.
Details Label
Top removed from the main body, the cables coming in from the bottom connect to the VGA, keyboard & mouse ports on the slave computers, the connectors at the top connect to the single monitor, keyboard & mouse.
PCB removed from the body. This is driven by a PIC16C57C-04 microcontroller.
The pair of LEDs indicate which computer is using the peripherals at any one time.
A 5 megapixel digital camera from Vivitar. Visible here is the lens, viewfinder & flash.
Rear of the unit showing the LCD & user control buttons.
Front frame removed showing some of the internals. Shutter assembly & lens in centre, battery compartment at left.
Rear frame removede, showing the LCD module & tactile switches.
LCD module removed from the PCB
Flash PCB removed. Transformer is fed with the 4.5v from the 3 AA cells & steps it up to ~300v DC for the flash capacitor. A pulse transformer energizes an electrode next to the Xenon flash tube with ~5kV to ionize the gas.
Main PCB removed. Internal flash ROM & RAM IC visible above the SD card socket. USB connector is at the top right, next to the piezo buzzer.
Main processor on reverse side of the PCB.
Closeup of the CMOS image sensor with the lens assembly removed.
Here is a Sanyo tape recorder, with built in voice activation. Takes standard audio cassettes.
Here visible is the speaker on the left, microphone is on the right of the tape window. The tape counter is at the top.
Back cover removed from the unit, showing the PCB & the connections. The IC is the controller/amplifier.
Top of the PCB, control switches, volume potentiometer & microphone/headphone sockets on the right. DC power jack top left. Switch bottom centre senses what mode the tape drive is in.
Rear of the tape deck, main drive motor is bottom right, driving the capstan through a drive belt. This drives the tape spools through a series of gears & clutches. Belt going to top left drives the tape counter.
Front of the tape drive. Read/write head is top centre. Blue head is bulk erase head used during recording.
Main speaker. 8Ω 0.25W.
Simple mechanical tape counter.
Old type ionization smoke alarm. Top of the device with the test button & sounder.
Bottom of the device. Battery compartment in centre.
Internals of the smoke alarm. Main component visible is the Ionization chamber.
Piezo sounder on inside of the top.
Inside the Ionization Chamber. 1µCi Americium-241 alpha particle source in the centre.
The radiation passes through the chamber, between the pair of electrodes, ionizing the air & permitting a small current to pass between the electrodes.
Any smoke that enters the chamber absorbs the alpha particles, which reduces the ionization and interrupts this current, setting off the alarm.
Controller IC beneath the chamber.
Here is one of the first USB tuners that was available from Hauppauge Computer Works. Totally analog tuner of course, this model required 2 cables – a USB interface & a sound cable for the audio output of the tuner.
A/V connections.
For those who are interested. Here is the label with the model details.
Connection to an external antenna.
Bottom of the PCB.
Top of the PCB showing the USB interface IC (top left), cache memory (top right) & the main tuner assembly.
To help make my system more efficient, a pair of switching regulators has been fitted, the one shown above is a Texas Instruments PTN78060 switchmode regulator module, which provides a 7.5v rail from the main 12v battery pack.
A Lot like the LM317 & similar linear regulators, these modules require a single program resistor to set the output voltage, but are much more efficient, around the 94% mark at the settings used here.
The 7.5v rail supplies the LM317 constant current circuit in the laser diode driver subsection. This increases efficiency by taking some voltage drop away from the LM317.
The 7.5v rail also provides power to this Texas Instruments PTH08000 switchmode regulator module, providing the 5v rail for the USB port power.
Connection
The parts arrived for my adjustable laser diode driver! Components here are an LM317K with heatsink, 100Ω 10-turn precision potentiometer, 15-turn counting dial & a 7-pin matching plug & socket.
Here is the schematic for the driver circuit. I have used a 7-pin socket for provisions for active cooling of bigger laser diodes. R1 sets the maximum current to the laser diode, while R2 is the power adjustment. This is all fed from the main 12v Ni-Cd pack built into the PSU. The LM317 is set up as a constant current source in this circuit.
Here the power adjust dial & the laser head connector have been installed in the front panel. Power is switched to the driver with the toggle switch to the right of the connector.
The LM317 installed on the rear panel of the PSU with it’s heatsink.
Connections to the regulator, the output is fully isolated from the heatsink & rear panel.
This is detailing my portable multi-purpose power pack of my own design. Here is an overview, mainly showing the 4Ah 12v Ni-Cd battery pack.
Panel Features – Bottom: Car cigar lighter socket, main power keyswitch. Top: LED toggle switch, provision for upcoming laser project, Red main Power LED, 7A circuit breaker.
Top: Toggle switch serving post terminals, USB Port.
Post terminals supply unregulated 12v for external gadgets. USB port is standard 5v regulated for charging phones, PDAs etc.
Bottom: Pair of XLR connectors for external LED lights. Switches on their right control power & the knob controls brightness.
Additions are being made to this all the time, the latest being a 2W laser diode driver. Update to come soon!
Here is a cheapo 500W rated ATX PSU that has totally borked itself, probably due to the unit NOT actually being capable of 500W. All 3 of the switching transistors were shorted, causing the ensuing carnage:
Here is the AC input to the PCB. Note the vapourised element inside the input fuse on the left. There is no PFC/filtering built into this supply, being as cheap as it is links have been installed in place of the RFI chokes.
Main filter capacitors & bridge rectifier diodes. PCB shows signs of excessive heating.
Filter capacitors have been removed from the PCB here, showing some cooked components. Resistor & diode next to the heatsink are the in the biasing network for the main switching transistors.
Heatsink has been removed, note the remaining pin from one of the switching transistors still attached to the PCB & not the transistor 🙂
Output side of the PSU, with heatsink removed. Main transformer on the right, transformers centre & left are the 5vSB transformer & feedback transformer.
Output side of the unit, filter capacitors, choke & rectifier diodes are visible here attached to their heatsink.
Comparator IC that deals with regulation of the outputs & overvoltage protection.
This is a device designed to reset Epson brand ink cartridges that are reportedly out of ink, so they again report full to the printer Here is the front of the unit, with the guide for attaching to a cartridge.
Back of the device removed. 3 button cells provide power to the PCB. Indicator LED sticks out of the top of the device for reset confirmation.
Row of pads on far left edge of the PCB are presumably a programming header for the uC on the other side of the board.
Here is the front of the PCB, main feature being the grid of pogo pins to connect to the cartridge chip. IC on lower right of that is a MSP430F2131 uController, a Texas Instruments part.
The IC directly to the left of the pogo pin bed is a voltage regulator, to step down the ~4.5v of the batteries down to the ~3.3v that the uC requires.
Here is a more modern phone, the Motorola V360v. Features include Dual screens, 640×480 VGA camera, full col
our TFT Main LCD, SD-Micro slot.
Here on the back the grey scale LCD can be seen, with the camera lens to the right of the Motorola logo
Here the phone is opened showing the keypad & the full colour TFT LCD display.
Here the battery is removed from the unit, showing the SIM connector. The antenna cover is still on at the bottom.
The antenna cover has been removed in this shot, the antenna is the white section at the bottom, With the loudspeaker & the external antenna connector hidden at the right.
Here is the main PCB. Parts from left are the Bluetooth module at the top, supplied by Broadcom, the SD Card socket at the bottom. Main CPU next to that is the Freescale SC29343VKP. Above right of the CPU is the Freescale SC13890P23A Charger, Power & Audio IC. Below is the SIM card socket. Under the main CPU is the Intel Flash memory IC. ICs inside the shields are the RF sections for transmit & receive.
Rear of the display unit showing the monochrome LCD. The camera module on the bottom left. Ear speaker on the far right of the unit.
Main colour TFT LCD.
Camera module removed from the LCD unit.
The vibration motor attached to one of the LCD looms.
This is a HP PhotoSmart 375 portable photo printer. With built in card reader, screen & PictBridge.
Top of the printer showing the UI Buttons & Screen.
Front of the unit, card reader slots at the top, Pictbridge USB connector at top left. Paper out slot at bottom. Cartridge door is on the right.
Here the cartridge door is open. Takes HP 95 Tri-Colour Inkjet Cartridge.
Battery compartment on the bottom of the unit. A Li-Ion battery pack can be installed here for mobile photo printing.
Specifications label.
Power adaptor & USB connection for PC use.
Rear door opened. Showing the paper feed tray.
Rear door has been removed in this shot. Paper feed roller & platen roller can be seen here.
Paper holder attached to rear door.
Bottom of the top cover, with connections for the buttons & LCD panel.
This is the main PCB of the unit. Controls all aspects of the printer. CPU in center, card reader sockets are along bottom edge. various support circuitry surrounds the CPU.
Rear shell has been removed here. Showing the main frame & the carriage drive motor on the left.
Closeup of the carriage drive motor & timing belt system. All the motors in this printer are DC servo motors, not steppers.
Main drive motor, feeds paper, drives rollers, operates cleaning mechanism for the inkjets.
Mainshaft encoder. Main drive motor is bottom right hand side with timing belt drive.
Closeup of the CPU. This is a Phillips ARM chip, unknown spec.
Detail of the card reader sockets, this unit takes all current types of Flash memory card.
