EEVblog #1133 Mailbag Monday

Mailbag Monday, teardown bonanza!

SPOILERS:
- West German Geiger Counter Teardown
- 6:35 Leo Bodnar Oscilloscope 40ps Pulse Generator for oscilloscope bandwidth measurement.
- 11:32 Pocket Sprite Keyring Gameboy Teardown
- 14:31 Defibrillator Simulator Teardown
- 21:23 - Philips CD Discman Teardown

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[tookitogo]

German Geiger counter lingo dictionary:
Betriebsspannung = operating voltage
Aus = off
Messung = measurement
Nachweis = detection
Werk-Nr. (Werknummer) = manufacturer's serial number

[poldiderbus]

I have one of these counters - after switching it on, at first you end up in the "Betriebsspannung" (operating voltage) section and have to adjust the output voltage of the voltage "regulator" (smaller dial on the side). The pointer must point to the last line of the scale. Then you can select the range in which you want to measure. The last section where the shielding slides to the side is the gamma and beta detection mode. For the normal gamma mode, the mica window is closed/shielded. The little bag is for humidity control, silica-gel I guess.

[KeanM]

The PocketSprite PCB designer has a sense of humour...
"Nothing to see here... I can tell you this thing is way more interesting with the display than without."

He probably never expected his 'easter egg' to appear on EEVblog!

[anlumo]

17:15 Anderson Powerpole spotted! Although in an unusual arrangement and color, probably so it's not confused with a power connector.
I just love those connectors, they're so easy to use and can handle up to 45A.

[hyperplastic]

I really like the new regularity of mailbag Monday, even if it's shorter and filmed in advance.

[samgab]

13:56 "NOTHING TO SEE HERE + I CAN TELL YOU THIS THING IS WAY MORE INTERESTING WITH THE DISPLAY THAN WITHOUT"

[pierro]

OMG ! Leo Bodnar ! Never thought of seeing him here ! I've bought a lot of electronic stuff from him, for flight simulators. You should look at his website !

[janbottorff]

I have one of those exact pulse generators, and an old Tek 20 Ghz sampling scope that can accurately measure the risetime, which is as claimed. I highly recommend these devices! Leo has clearly done a great job of delivering an excellent performing device at a good price.

[jackwhite]

27:21 that board was reflow soldered on the top first and then wave soldered on the bottom. I'm pretty sure I even learned this from you, Dave!

[FarnhamJ]

Portable CD players outsold MP3/&c. units until 2005; not so sure I'd say that's "not too long after" that '93 unit!

[prismstudios]

The visual asthetics of that Geiger counter is amazingly appropriate for the Fallout universe...

[jackm_]

@10:29 next to "Delay" is "Set horizontal position" :) in delayed timebase it's set at 0s, in regular timebase it's set at 10%

[profpep]

Padded 'RF Shield' is probably a Silica Gel bag, to keep the insides dry.

[mbn]

I have one of this geiger counters. It came with 2 detectortubes with different sensibility. The end caps of the tube differs in meassure and when fitted in the meter, different scales are engaged depending on with tube. It's a realy nice piece of equipment. Super good engineered and the mechanics is just so good.

[mfbfreak]

Tiny bit of advise: the Eroid capacitors like you can see in the geiger counter, are plastic-encapsulated paper capacitors. They're less shitty than an average paper cap, but still in many cases a bit leaky. The mustard colored ones are Philips brand polystyrine caps AFAIK, and almost always in perfect condition.
The little mesh thing can be a desiccator.
The white ceramic things with end caps are rectifiers for the high voltage, i think.

[-dazz-]

Leo Bodnar? What a small world. I've bought a couple boards from him in the past. Good stuff, and he's a really nice guy too, willing to answer my noob questions

[rabidpb]

The Discman PCB is wave-soldered on one side and reflow on the other. Must be easier than worrying about different melting points for two passes through the oven.

[gblargg]

26:31 THREE battery terminals. But the battery pack only has two (23:09). At first it looked like it gave a split +/-3V supply.

[rdbanks]

I’m either incredibly late to the party or marginally early - either way I love mail bag Sunday - glad to see it appear on my sub list!

[JamesPotts]

Still like atmel designs, and still hate PICs. That didn't change with the purchase. 😉