October 01, 2007
ATX Power Supply Conversion
I won a radio on ebay a few days ago, and it even comes with a power supply. Of course, why have one when you can have two for the same price?
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| Testing...1...2...check, check... |
My old swampmate, Buer, sent me some nice instructions which prompted me to convert an old ATX power supply into something usable for ham radio (or other funness). I decided to put both banana plugs and a cigarette lighter in mine. Cody came to the rescue -- that madman has a drill press in his office! We drilled out holes and I filed them clean, protecting the power supply board itself with a handy plastic bag.
I picked up the cigarette lighter plug and banana plugins at my local Radio Shack (lighter == part number 270-1556, banana plug binding post == 274-718 for the radio shack curious). I don't really care about a wide range of voltages, so I just put the +12 volt and ground to the banana jacks. I left the positive feed of the cigarette lighter unattached until I find my o-ring connectors and press the wire into one. For now, I can just screw the lead into the binding post and have power to the cigarette lighter. Not having a wire hanging out of the supply would be nice, though...That baggie is in one of the boxes around here...
About all I can add to these detailed instructions is to skip the extra switch (my ATX supply already had an on-off switch on the back anyway). In order to skip the switch, you'll need to solder the green and black wires together (it's mentioned all the way down at the bottom of the article, so I almost missed it). Also, I would add this: don't shove your pin voltmeter leads into the wire slots of the banana plug adapters if they are mounted sideways. The pin will go all the way through and short out on the other plug. Oops. Sparks are fun, but power goes bye-bye. But this is why ATX supplies are so nice -- just turn the supply off, let the capacitors discharge, and turn it back on, and you will again have 12.5v of clean, beautiful power (and 10 amps of it, too!).
I'm also planning to experiment with the resistor mentioned in the instructions -- using a 10ohm resistor seems fairly low, and means that the supply is drawing .5A/2.5watts just looking pretty. I'm finding myself curious if there's a nice way to cheat this part of the ATX spec and make the supply a little more efficient when it is sitting idle.
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| Almost finished. I'll trim the excess from the leads off tomorrow. |
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Hiking Mount Whitney, 2007 
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Protesting in Berlin, 2003
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Dresden, 2002
Recent Reading
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The Curve of Binding Energy
John McPhee follows famous physicist Ted Taylor in this piece that was -- and probably still -- ahead of its time.
Originally published in 1973, McPhee outlined the coming security and environmental issues surrounding the plutonium enrichment processes. For the most part, though, McPhee invites the reader to draw his or her own conclusions, although he does point out the ease with which any number of people could obtain the material (though not necessarily the manufacturing prowess) to make an atomic weapon.
The question still sits in my mind after reading -- are we being too paranoid, or not paranoid enough?
Rated 
by reid
on October 01, 2007
by reid
on October 01, 2007
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Zodiac
Zodiac touts itself as an 'eco-thriller,' and it is just that. Told from the first-person perspective of ST (or Sangamon Taylor), the book recounts a roughly six-month period of his life busting big corporations for violating environmental laws.
Not the tree-hugging political activist type, ST is equipped with chem labs, scuba divers, maps, and an organization (GEE International, the Group of Environmental Extremists) that masterfully brings the press into the fold to scare the public with the very real dangers posed by illegal dumping. It's sort of a Sierra Club member's wet dream -- a band of ecowarriors that actually get things done.
ST finds something odd happening in Boston Harbor during his tale: a new form of pollution that could poison everyone on the planet in a matter of weeks. His quest to uncover exactly who and what is causing the latest spike in toxins goes all the way up to the President of the United States, and could end up costing him his own life.
While a neat and fast-paced tale, the novel drags on a bit toward the end, begging disbelief from even the most forgiving sci-fi folk. While not as good as his latest offerings, it's still a great read for those that enjoy a good Stephenson novel (or even those who don't).
Rated 
by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005
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Cat's Cradle
A few years ago, I attempted to woo an online datee, and she immediately criticized me for my politics. I protested the war on Iraq, which was "a shame." She defended her position of complete noninvolvement by standing behind Vonnegut.
It may seem odd to open a review that way. My assumption is now not that she was an idiot, but that she had only read Cat's Cradle, and only with a rather odd viewpoint.
Cat's Cradle looks at a cold-war world where the personifications of religious, political, and scientific single-mindedness collide to destroy the world.
Vonnegut tells a masterful tale, but it makes me wonder what one person's indifference would do to prevent us from all dying? So for now I will continue to unblindly stop unjust wars, even while I'm only reading.
Rated by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005