EEVblog #711 - Mailbag

Mailbag time.

SPOILERS:

The Bruces Monty Python Sketch:

Car ECU teardown
PAL to RGBS converter teardown
Pump controller teardown

Digilent Basys 3 Artix-7 FPGA Demo Board

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[EEVblog]

@Lan Party Hosting "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

[abpccpba]

Hi Dave:

Your interest in Atom made me remember my Cousins work a Los Alamo's N.M.. He invented a fast camera that would take pictures at the rate of over a million frames per second. His name is Willard E Buck. The camera was used to take pictures of the explosion. One camera was a bit to close so it melted. The other work. The basic design is a spinning three faced mirror. Driven by two tiny turbines made by a machinist who worked at the Bureau of Standards unit in Bolder Colorado. They were driven by compressed gas. They spun up so fast the it passed the sound barrier. The two turbines each produced seven and one half horse power. So the light comes in through one compound lens. The mirror is at the focal point. The light is moved around a large thin cylinder that held 35 mm film in place. The light moved with the film stationary.

The camera that this one took the place of had some 300 lens according to Willard.

This camera still exists. The owner has completely digitized the whole thing. He is noted for his pictures of lighting. There is an article about him in one of the National Geographic Magazines.

Willard has many patients to his name. Look him up.

[ratspd]

The temperature variation in Minnesota from record high to record low is 97 degrees celsius.

[tobiaspahlsson]

You are one of the few youtubers to shoot high frame rate footage. What a lovely donation you got to keep doing it.

[frollard]

18:50 The moment I heard 'pal converter' I thought ooh ooh, I bet there will be a delay line in there! (learned from the camcorder teardown and subsequent review of the delay line)....
Opened it up and bam...there it is!
Dave...you taught me something months ago and it stuck!

[jacobmyers]

Thanks for tearing down my ECU Dave, great point about the free-standing components.
I forgot to mention that these are mounted inside the car, maybe that's how they get away without conformal coating and a tighter chassis.

[HenrikThulin]

When too many days pass with no EEVblog in my YouTube feed I tend to get depressed. There should be a warning sign for newcomers about the withdrawal symptoms that will last a lifetime :)

[MMSDK]

EdFact: The sound sensor they mention in "modern cars" in the manual to Edison, is call a 'knock sensor'. Signal from the knock sensor is fed to the ECU to monitor ignition timing / firing of the spark plug.

[clyth]

Another great video Dave really do enjoy your videos as I'm disabled and really look forward to them many thanks from the UK

[Kallinenjp]

This Minnesotan winter has been pretty mild as of yet, avg of -16c by my memory. I have heard of registered tempurature differances across the state swinging as wide as 100f over the course of a day. Cold here in the north, hot down in the south (Rochester)

[Phunker]

You get used HP z820 barebone workstations. The 2nd revision (make sure you get one of them) also supports the v2 Xeons. These are absolute workhorses. You should get an entire machine incl. ram for about $800. 

[oreubens]

39:39 The last patents on the LEGO dimensions elapsed in 1988, so any company can make products that have studs or holes that are compatible with the LEGO bricks. Many did though that didn't stop LEGO from continuing to sue manufacturers that just made bricks based on "trademark".  (they were OK with companies having products LEGO wasn't making themselves but had LEGO connectivity).

A final ruling in court in 2010 allowed even making regular bricks, citing that you cannot trademark a technical function (the brick interlocking).  So since 2010 several companies have made bricks. 

[stephenwoods]

97c temperature swings,   summer engine compartment near 90c, winter -20c

[petermoore]

Hi Dave, Love the videos - thanks.
I'm a broadcast professional. I don't know any broadcasters outside of maybe Japan using 50p, it is overkill for your audience.
I would say very few people can either see or appreciate the difference. iPads or laptops won't display it. Every extra hour you spend in post production lessens your profit.
Cheers - Pete

[necessaryevil]

The mosfet rectifier was indeed designed to have heat sinks on them. If it is actually required, depends on the mosfets internal resistance and on the current drawn from the output.

Fun fact: I showed the video to my dad and he said: Hey, that Casio calculator is almost the same as the one I threw out recently....  

[tinfore]

Wow! I have the Tandy version of the Casio FX-790P! I never knew they re-branded it.

[raydeenk]

Just bought myself a TRS-80 PC-6 from eBay based on this video. :) Can't wait to tippy-tap some BASIC into the little guy!

[Psychlist]

I got three Edison robots. Each performed completely differently. One did just like yours in that it kept going in a circle. None handled the obstacle avoidance very well out of the box. I haven't had a chance to try programming them yet.

I had to open up one of them because it wasn't making good electrical contact with one of the motors. They use just pressure to hold them in place.

So good idea, but execution is a bit lacking.

[dorbie]

The Shawshank Redemption should have clued you to the pronunciation :-)

[Komma]

So, when are we going to see an "EEVblog DIY mini nuke project"?
There is a large stump in my yard that needs to be removed and a small nuke ought to do the job :)