Tech Forum
Can anyone suggest a means to
securely transmit data from the X10
cameras to the receivers? External
methods are okay, but I suspect
tapping inside connections would
work best.
#1056
Errol White
via Internet
Regarding reading an ADC
output from an aperture opening,
then advancing film or paper to be
cut, I understand the ADC and the
electronics. I know little about
programming; could this be done
with a PIC?
#1057
Arthur Williams
Ashland City, TN
I'm using an LM3909 in a circuit
to control a flashing red and green
light on a model railroad. Is there a
pin-for-pin replacement for it? If not, is
there one that isn't pin-for-pin?
#1058 R. Thompson
Richmond, MO
ANSWERS
[20410 - February 2004]
I have a surplus VFD display
module, but no specs. It looks like
one of those large cash register
displays that's mounted on a pole.
Inside is a pair of Futaba
M202LD01DA vacuum fluorescent
displays. The interface cable has
eight pins where 20 VDC power is
applied and an RS-485 serial
interface is used to talk to the
modules.
I, too, have one of these displays.
I talked to the engineers at Futaba,
who said that this display unit is a
customer-proprietary product and no
information is available.
They did allude to the fact that
the ROM uses a completely
unorthodox pattern for addressing the
display. I’ve searched the Internet
without success and even pulled a few
strings at Futaba with the same
results. Sorry.
Ed Edmondson, Jr., Ph.D.
Alamosa, CO
JANUARY 2005
[3046 - March 2004]
Does anyone have a simple
circuit that uses an IR sensor to
trigger a camera? I'd like to snap
pictures of the nocturnal visitors in
the backyard of my country home.
#1 A simple solution — though
perhaps expensive — is to buy a
Stealth Cam. Sportsman's Guide
( www.Sportsmansguide.com or
800-882-2962) has two models on
their website These units are self-contained, weatherproof 35 mm
cameras. They use standard 35 mm
film slides — print or black-and-white.
They sense motion and take pictures
with flash. They have options for how
many pictures at a time and how long
to delay between pictures. The
cheapest is part number WX2-73967
at $79.97.
Jim Schmidt
Deer Lodge, MT
#2 Buy an IR floodlight (
motion-sensing flood light) unit at Home
Depot. Remove the floodlight lamp
sockets and wire a relay with a 120
VAC coil in place of one of the
sockets. Control the camera with the
relay contacts. The cost is about
$10.00 for the sensor and $5.00 for
the relay.
Anonymous
via Internet
[50410 - May 2004]
I have an old keyboard (from a
Wyse 2108 computer, vintage 1988
or so). It has a fantastic touch that I
have been unable to find in modern
keyboards. I've tried all 24 possible
combinations of the four signals in
an adapter cable, but none of them
works. I'm guessing that there is
some other incompatibility
preventing this old keyboard from
working on a more modern
computer.
The Wyse 2108 is not a
computer, but a terminal. What you
can do is use it at such by installing
Linux on your PC and connecting the
Wyse to a serial port that is
configured as a terminal line.
Unfortunately, you can only use shell
commands on your terminal and not
all the fancy graphics environments
and applications that are available for
Linux nowadays.
Therefore, a better solution for
your question is to get an old PS/2 or
USB keyboard for free somewhere in
the garbage or at a flea market. Each
keyboard has a controller that
converts keys connected in a matrix
to the PS/2, USB, or other bus
protocol. (The first IBM-PC keyboards
back in the 1980s were equipped with
the 8048 microcontroller.) Your task
now is to connect the Wyse terminal
keys to the matrix of the controller
which was obtained from the
“garbage” keyboard.
Gerrit Polder
The Netherlands
[9042- September 2004]
I am trying to find info on a kit
that was offered back in Radio
Electronics Magazine called the
HyperClock. It was offered by an
outfit named SkiTronix around
1991. I built one back in high
school and it has just now failed. I
cannot locate the schematics or
magazine issue that featured it.
Searching the web has not yielded
anything.
This was answered by many N&V
readers, but William Richter was the
first to supply a photocopy of the
actual article to Rich White. Thanks,
William! — Editor Dan
[10046- October 2004]
I just installed new AT & T 2.4
GHz phones: a base and three
handsets. Now — if all the phones
are in their charging cradles — I get
big, double horizontal bars on TV
channels 4 and 5 and buzz on my
portable FM radio. If the phones are
out of their cradles, everything is
okay.
They are no doubt using pulse
width modulation to regulate battery
charging and the shielding is poor.
95