J
Joerg
- Jan 1, 1970
- 0
Paul said:It does not seem worthwhile to spend time and energy to do experiments on
unknown circuit components, especially without the necessary equipment,
like a scope or an LCR meter. Either of these can be obtained very
inexpensively, especially if you are willing to get an older model and
perhaps do a little repair work (which can be educational as well).
It depends. Sometimes it can be quite sporty to pretend "What if I am on
a lonely island and only my laptop and these few parts?" You can get a
similar circuit going (not with the TIP31 though, and with a forward
concept) using just the sound card and a $2.99 Harborfreight multimeter.
Of course, on that island your laptop battery would croak after two
hours so you've got to be done by then ;-)
But seriously, I was in such situations more than once. Client had a
circuit issue that turned out to be a really nasty noise intrusion from
somewhere. But from where, and what's the path? Next to nothing in
suitable equipment, just my trusty laptop with its 18bit sound card.
However, we needed an iso xfmr that went down to 5Hz and mine quits at
15Hz or so. So we took a mains iso transformer and roached phono jacks
onto it. Of course this just had to be the day the regular OSHA
inspection happened. One engineer turned pale when he saw that. "Put
that away!" ... "Why? We need it right now." ... "Cause the OSHA guy is
next door" ... "Dee-deedle-dum, don't turn around, the commissar's in
town, dee-deedle-dum" ... "Stop that!" (I know the guys quite well, else
I would have pulled that Falco song)