This is a device to use an IDE or SATA interface drive via a USB connection. Here is the front of the device, IDE interface at the bottom, 2.5″ form factor.
PCB Top
PCB removed from the casing. USB cable exits the top, 12v DC power jack to the left.
SATA interface below the DC Jack.
Molex connector below SATA is the power output for the drive in use. This unit has a built in 5v regulator.
PCB Bottom
Bottom of the PCB showing the interface IC.
Drive Adaptor
Adaptor to plug into the 44-pin 2.5″ form factor IDE interface on the adaptor, converts to standard 40-pin 3.5″ IDE.
Power Cable
Power pigtail with standard Molex & SATA power plugs.
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 Removed
Back cover removed from the unit, showing the PCB & the connections. The IC is the controller/amplifier.
PCB
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.
Tape Deck
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.
Drive
Front of the tape drive. Read/write head is top centre. Blue head is bulk erase head used during recording.
Here are the internals of a cheap Microwave/Convection Oven combo. Electronics bay is pretty much the same as a standard microwave, with the magnetron, transformer & diode/capacitor voltage doubler, with the addition of an extra fan & a pair of nichrome elements to provide the convection oven function.
Convection Fan
Convection blower which keeps the cooking vapours & smoke away from the elements, & circulates the hot air around the cooking chamber. This is a 12v DC centrifugal type blower.
Convection Element
The elements are inside this steel shield, air duct extends from the centre.
Thermal Cutouts
This oven has a pair of thermal switches on the magnetron.
Capacitor & Diode
The usual capacitor/diode voltage doubler in the magnetron power supply. The transformer is visible to the left.
Controller
Electronic controller PCB. This has a pair of relays that switch the elements & the magnetron transformer.
Old type ionization smoke alarm. Top of the device with the test button & sounder.
Bottom
Bottom of the device. Battery compartment in centre.
PCB
Internals of the smoke alarm. Main component visible is the Ionization chamber.
Sounder
Piezo sounder on inside of the top.
Ionization Chamber
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.
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.
I/O
A/V connections.
Label
For those who are interested. Here is the label with the model details.
Antenna Connection
Connection to an external antenna.
PCB Bottom
Bottom of the PCB.
PCB Top
Top of the PCB showing the USB interface IC (top left), cache memory (top right) & the main tuner assembly.
Here is a cheap no brand hot laminator. This pulls the paper, inside a plastic pouch through a pair of heated rollers to seal it.
Heater
Top removed, heater assembly visible. PCB attached to the top cover holds LEDs to indicate power & ready status.
SwitchThermostat
Here is the thermostat & thermal fuse, the thermostat switching the indicator on the front panel to tell the user when the unit is up to temperature. This has a self regulating thermostat. Thermal fuse inside the heat resistant tubing is to protect against any failure of the heater.
Motor
5 RPM motor that turns the rollers through a simple gear system.
Cheap unbranded window break alarm. Here is the front of the unit, with the sounder at the top, Power/sensitivity switch at the right. Battery test button at the left.
Rear
Rear of the device, with the adhesive pad used to attach it to a window.
Internals
Front cover removed, showing the batteries, PCB & the sounder.
PCB
PCB removed from the casing, showing the remaining components.
This is an old CO alarm, which was totally dead, having been connected to the wrong PSU.
Here is the front of the unit, with the Test button & indicator LEDs.
Overview
Front of the PCB, 3 1.5v cells powered the unit, Piezo sounder & sensor cell in the centre of the board.
A quick post documenting a DPSS laser module i salvaged from a disco scanner. Estimated output ~80mW
Diode Connection
Connection to the 808nm pump diode on the back of the module. There is a protection diode soldered across the diode pins. (Not visible). Note heatsinking of the module.
Driver PCB
Driver PCB. This module was originally 240v AC powered, with a transformer mounted on the PCB with a built in rectifier & filter capacitor. I converted it to 5v operation. Emission LED on PCB.
An early speed radar detector from the early 90’s. Pictures showing the front of the unit with the option buttons.
Bottom
Bottom of the unit showing label. Unlike the newer plastic detectors, the whole casing of this unit is cast aluminium.
Model Uniden Stalker RD-6000W.
PCB Top
PCB removed from the casing. Volume/power control on the left. Option tactile switches on the edge of the PCB, with the indicator LEDs. Power input jack on the right hand side of the PCB. Large aluminium can is the detector assembly, containing the detector diodes. Waveguide horn is at the top.
Waveguide Horn
Shot down the waveguide, showing the detector diodes at the end.
LEDs
Indicators on the front of the unit, X, K & Ka band detection LEDs on the left, Power & detection level (1-4) LEDs in centre. City (C) (Audio (A) & Mute (M) LEDs on the right.
PCB Bottom
Bottom of the PCB, showing detection logic. Piezo buzzer top left.
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:
AC Input
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.
Input Side
Main filter capacitors & bridge rectifier diodes. PCB shows signs of excessive heating.
Filter Caps Removed
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.
Heatsinks Removed
Heatsink has been removed, note the remaining pin from one of the switching transistors still attached to the PCB & not the transistor 🙂
Transformers
Output side of the PSU, with heatsink removed. Main transformer on the right, transformers centre & left are the 5vSB transformer & feedback transformer.
Output Side
Output side of the unit, filter capacitors, choke & rectifier diodes are visible here attached to their heatsink.
Comparator
Comparator IC that deals with regulation of the outputs & overvoltage protection.
This is an old legacy wireless mouse from Logitech. This uses a ball rather than optical technology.
Bottom
Bottom of the mouse, showing the battery cover & the mouse ball.
PCB Bottom
Top removed from the mouse, showing the PCB inside. The smaller PCB on the left supports the microswitches for the buttons & mouse wheel.
Switches
Closeup of small PCB showing the microswitches & the IR LED & phototransistor pair for the mouse wheel encoder.
Main PCB
View of main PCB, with interface IC lower right. Pair of quartz crystals provide clocking for the transmitter & internal µC.
Battery contacts are on lower left of the PCB. At the top are the IR pairs for the X & Y axis of the mouse ball.
Encoder Pairs
Closeup of the pairs of IR LEDs & phototransistors that make up the encoders for X/Y movement of the mouse, together with the slotted wheels in the mouse base that rotate with the ball. Steel wire around the smaller PCB is the antenna.
Here is a Marmitek Gigavideo 30 2.4GHz wireless video transmitter, has a receiver paired which will be uploaded shortly. Here is a view of the antennae, the large flat one being the 2.4GHz directional, the whip antenna possibly performing IR relay functions for the remote control.
Bottom Label
For all those interested, here’s the bottom label.
PCB Top
The top cover removed reveals the main PCB. Big metal can is the RF transmitter circuitry. was encapsulated circuitry below that looks like an FM modulator for the whip antenna. Big TO220 package on heatsink is a LM7805 5-Volt regulator for the transmitter module.
These units work fantastically well when the antennas are aligned properly, at a decent range, however, they do have a nasty habit of doubling as a very effective WiFi LAN jammer.
Here is an old Belkin Wireless G network card. This is a PCMCIA version.
Bottom Label
Here is the bottom of the device, with all the details.
Antenna
Plastic antenna cover removed, showing the pair of 2.4GHz etched antennae. There is a pair of LEDs on the upper left of the PCB showing activity & link status.
PCB
Overall view of the PCB, antennae on the left, RF chipset in centre, WiFi controller IC on right, and PCMCIA socket on far right. Can below wireless controller is a quartz crystal for the clock.
Chipset
Closeup of the chipset, a Ralink RT2560F wireless controller on the right & a RT2525L transceiver on the left.
This is an old cordless landline phone, with dead handset batteries.
Handset Radio Board
Here’s the handset with the back removed. Shown is the radio TX/RX board, underneath is the keyboard PCB with the speaker & mic. All the FM radio tuning coils are visible & a LT450GW electromechanical filter.
Handset Radio Board Bottom
Radio PCB removed from the housing showing the main CPU controlling the unit, a Motorola MC13109FB.
Keypad Board
The keypad PCB, with also holds the microphone & speaker.
Handset Keypad Board Bottom
Bottom of the keypad board, which holds a LSC526534DW 8-Bit µC & a AT93C46R serial EEPROM for phone number storage.
Base Main Board
Here’s the base unit with it’s top cover removed. Black square object on far right of image is the microphone for intercom use, power supply section is top left, phone interface bottom left, FM radio is centre. Battery snap for power backup is bottom right.
Power Supply Section
PSU section of the board on the left here, 9v AC input socket at the bottom, with bridge rectifier diodes & main filter capacitor above. Two green transformers on the right are for audio impedance matching. Another LT450GW filter is visible at the top, part of the base unit FM transceiver.
ICs
Another 8-bit µC, this time a LSC526535P, paired with another AT93C46 EEPROM. Blue blob is 3.58MHz crystal resonator for the MCU clock. The SEC IC is a KS58015 4-bit binary to DTMF dialer IC. This is controlled by the µC.
Base Main Board Bottom
Underside of the base unit Main PCB, showing the matching MC13109FB IC for the radio functions.
This is a little security measure you get with Internet Banking with the Co-Op, generates codes to confirm your identity using your bank card. About the size of a pocket calculator, this is the keypad & screen.
Card Slot
The rear of the unit, the card slots into the top, manufactured by Gemalto Digital Security.
Card Contacts
Outer back cover removed, showing the 8 contacts for the chip on the bank card, the 2 contacts below that switch on power when a card is inserted. Power comes from 2 lithium coin cells in the compartment on the lower left.
PCB Rear
PCB removed from the casing, showing the internal components. Two large pads at top left are battery connections, while the only IC on the board is the main CPU, under the card connector. 6MHz oscillator & 32Khz crystal on board for processing & timekeeping. LCD screen connection at far right.
Keypad Contacts
Reverse side of the PCB, with the keypad contacts. LCD on right, with programming interface pads at side of keypad.
Here is a Bosch 14.4v Professional cordless drill/driver, recovered from a skip!
It was thrown away due to a gearbox fault, which was easy to rectify.
Internals
Here is the drill with the side cover removed, showing it’s internal parts. The speed controller is below the motor & gearbox here. The unit at the top consists of a 12v DC motor, coupled to a 4-stage epicyclic gearbox unit, from which can be selected 2 different ratios, by way of the lever in the centre of the box. This disables one of the gear stages. There is a torque control clutch at the chuck end of the gearbox, this was faulty when found.
Motor
Here is the drive motor disconnected from the gearbox, having a bayonet fitting on the drive end.
Drive Gear
This is the primary drive gear of the motor, which connects with the gearbox.
Cooling Fan
The motor is cooled by this fan inside next to the commutator, drawing air over the windings.
Gearbox
This is the gearbox partially disassembled, showing the 1st & second stages of the geartrain. The second stage provides the 2 different drive ratios by having the annulus slide over the entire gearset, disabling it entirely, in high gear. The annulus gears are a potential weak point in this gearbox, as they are made from plastic, with all other gears being made of steel.
Charger
Here is the charging unit for the Ni-Cd battery packs supplied with the drill. The only indicator is the LED shown here on the front of the unit, which flashes while charging, & comes on solid when charging is complete. Charge termination is by way of temperature monitoring.
Transformer
Here the bottom of the charger has been removed, showing the internal parts. An 18v transformer supplies power to the charger PCB on the left.
Charger PCB
This is the charger PCB, with a ST Microelectronics controller IC marked 6HKB07501758. I cannot find any information about this chip.
Battery Pack Internals
Here is a battery pack with the top removed, showing the cells.
Temperature Sensor
This is the temperature sensor embedded inside the battery pack that is used by the charger to determine when charging is complete.
This is an old USB 1.1 hub that was recently retired from service on some servers. Top of the unit visible here.
Bottom Label
Bottom label shows that this is a model F5U021 hub, a rather old unit.
PCB Front
PCB is here removed from the casing, Indicator LEDs along the bottom edge of the board, power supply is on the left. Connectors on the top edge are external power, USB host, & the 4 USB outputs. Yellow devices are polyswitch fuses for the 500mA at 5v each port must supply.
USB Hub IC
This is the USB Hub Controller IC, which is a Texas Instruments TUSB2046B device. Power filter capacitors next to the USB ports are visible here also, along with 2 of the polyswitches.
Power Supply
The power supply section of the unit, which supplies regulated 5v to the ports, while supplying regulated 3.3v to the hub controller IC. Large TO-220 IC is the 5v regulator. Smaller IC just under the power selector switch is the 3.3v regulator for the hub IC. The switch selects between Host powered or external power for the hub.
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