266 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
266 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
______________________________________________________________________________
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| File Name : LDHELP.ASC | Online Date : 12/19/95 |
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| Contributed by : Jerry Decker | Dir Category : BIOLOGY |
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| From : KeelyNet BBS | DataLine : (214) 324-3501 |
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| KeelyNet * PO BOX 870716 * Mesquite, Texas * USA * 75187 |
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| A FREE Alternative Sciences BBS sponsored by Vanguard Sciences |
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| InterNet email keelynet@ix.netcom.com (Jerry Decker) |
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| Files also available at Bill Beaty's http://www.eskimo.com/~billb |
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|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
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The following file was written to accompany the Lucid Dream project. There
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are three files associated with the Lucid Dream project;
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LDHELP.ASC - electronics tutorial
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LDMON122.ASC - details and circuit to build the Lucid Dreamer
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LDMON.BAS - QBASIC program to operate your device
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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REM Sleep Monitoring and Signaling Circuit and Program
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created by
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John Goldsworthy - jgoldswo@coyote.csusm.edu
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developed by
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Boyd Johnson - johnson@spectra.com
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Version Beta 1.22
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Mini Electronics Tutorial
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This is a little primer to get people without an electronics background up to
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speed to be able to build this circuit and know how it works. It will also
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help you troubleshoot it if it doesn't work. I cut pieces out of a mail
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message I had sent to someone trying to build it, so it may not be laid out
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well at this point. Any corrections, additions, or best of all, pointers to a
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good brief, on-line electronics tutorial would be appreciated.
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Send to (johnson@spectra.com).
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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I'll start out with the basic concepts of electronics.
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Resistance, as the name says, is something that _resists_ the flow of
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electricity. It is not related to either flow or force. An analogy they
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sometimes start with in electronics classes is drinking a very thick chocolate
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malt. If you use a normal straw it is kind of hard to suck out the malt.
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If you have a 1/2 inch wide straw it would be much easier, and if you had one
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of those plastic coffee stir sticks with the tiny holes through it it would be
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almost impossible to drink it. The difference is the resistance of the
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straws.
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Voltage is the force behind the electricity. It is highest at the power
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source (battery, power supply, wall outlet) and gets lower as it goes through
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the circuit back to the return. Using the malt analogy, voltage is the
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"pressure (or vaccuum in this case)" you use when you suck on the straw. The
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harder you suck on the straw, the more malt you get.
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Current is the volume of flow of electricity. It is the malt in our analogy.
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These three are totally separate concepts but they are the only three
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variables in probably the most important formula in electronics, Ohm's law.
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Voltage ("E", which stands for "electromotive force") equals current ("I", I
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don't know what 'I' stands for) times resistance ("R"). That is, E=I*R.
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Example 120 = 2 * 60.
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If you have 120 "volts" of electricity going through a 60 "ohm" resistor you
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will _always_ have 2 "amps" of current flow (providing the resistor doesn't
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burn out :)).
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Voltage and resistance are the two factors that are easiest to control. The
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variables can be switched around using laws of math (dividing both sides of an
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equation by the same thing) so that all three of the following formulas are
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the same. E=I*R, R=E/I, I=E/R.
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Using our analogy, if you cut the resistance in half by using two straws side-
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by-side instead of one straw and suck the same amount (voltage) you will get
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twice as much malt (current). If you double the resistance by putting the two
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straws end-to-end you will get half as much malt. That is all there is to
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parallel and series resistor circuits.
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If you put resistors in parallel the same amount flows through each resistor,
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but more current is flowing after they connect again into the circuit. If you
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put two resistors end-to-end the same voltage is spread between the two
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resistors, so with half the voltage only half the current will flow through
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the resistors. That is the purpose of the resistors in my circuit. They
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"divide" the voltage across several (2 or 3) "components" so by the time it
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gets to the LED there is only 2 volts left.
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One more related concept is "power". Power is the product of voltage and
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current, so P=I*E. I won't go any further, but you can substitute the
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equivalents of I and E from Ohm's law in there also if you don't know what one
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of the variables is.
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END OF TUTORIAL
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Some troubleshooting information for the Lucid Dreamer REM sensing circuit.
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I used silicon diodes, but germanium diodes should work almost the same. The
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only difference is silicon diodes "drop" .7 volts in saturation while
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germanium diodes drop .3 volts. That just means the 5V you start with will be
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4.7v instead of 4.3 volts after it passes through the diodes. You need to get
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it down to about 2 volts by the time it gets to the LED, depending on how the
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LED is rated on the package it came in.
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You need to make sure that in any electronic circuit diodes are not backwards.
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This includes all silicon based components such as diodes, zeners, LEDs,
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phototransistors or transistors. One thing you should notice is with no power
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to the circuit (NEVER MEASURE _RESISTANCE_ WHILE THERE IS POWER TO THE
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CIRCUIT) the "resistance" across a diode will read drastically different
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depending on which direction the diode is pointing, or rather what side of the
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diode the red and black meter leads are. That is because the purpose of a
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diode is to let electricity through in only one direction. That is why I
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chose them. I don't want the voltage from one parallel port pin to loop back
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to another parallel port pin.
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If the circuit does not have power applied to it the DCV setting will not
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display anything of value. Only something like a photocell will display
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anything of value, because it is a source of power. The DCV range measures
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voltage only, and if there is no voltage applied to the circuit nothing of
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value can be read. I say nothing "of value" because even if you hold the
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meter leads in your hands and have it on a very sensitive range you'll
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possibly see something just from the minute electrical fields in your body.
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On resistance also your skin will make a difference, so it's best not to hold
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both leads with your fingers while measuring resistance of something.
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The best way to test the circuit would probably be with the voltmeter. I'll
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draw up a little chart showing _approximations_ of what you should expect and
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what other readings could be caused by. I haven't measured them to see just
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what they should be. Use the "Calibration" menu option of the ldmon program
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and create test flashes by using sub-option B or C.
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You need to use the voltmeter to find out if they are backwards. The meter
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won't tell you until you get experience with _your_ meter seeing which meter
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lead is positive and which is negative. It may or may not be the red for
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positive. It probably is, but I never really checked many different meters
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for comparison.
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With power applied to the circuit, connect the black meter lead to the
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negative power lead. In my circuit it is pin 5 (-) of the game port. Leave
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it there for all voltage measurements _unless_ you are specifically measuring
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the voltage _across_ a certain component. Now put the red lead on the
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parallel port pin 2 side of the diode or resistor on that line.
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MAKE SURE THE METER IS ON VOLTAGE AND NOT CURRENT OR RESISTANCE.
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Failing to do so could burn up your meter. You will probably not ever need to
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use the current measurement position on your meter if it has it. You have to
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really know what you are doing before using it anyway, otherwise you burn out
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your meter. Make the circuit activate from the Configuration menu, selecting
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the (B) or (C) options, then pressing 0<ENTER> to flash it. Look at the
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meter. It should be going between 0V and 5V. If so, your parallel port is
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working right. Move on to the next step.
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Move the red meter lead to the other side of the diode (assuming it is a diode
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and not a resistor. I probably better make that one way or the other in the
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diagram for troubleshooting help). Make it flash again. If the voltage
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barely changes from 0V at all your diode is backwards. If it goes to 4.3 or
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4.7V (germanium or silicon) it is correct. If it is _always_ nearly 5V your
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LED is backwards.
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Now move the red meter lead to the other side of the resistor just before the
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circuit gets to the LED. The point on the wire makes no difference. A wire
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is supposed to be just like a point in electricity and has very little
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resistance. Make it flash again. The voltage _should_ go between 0V and 2V
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now. If it is below 2V your resistor may be too big. If it is higher your
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resistor may be too small (ohms, not size). However, the LED may mask
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anything that's not a drastic difference, because it isn't a simple resistor
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providing a constant resistance. It _tries_ to keep the voltage across it to
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2V.
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Here is the circuit from highest voltage on left to lowest on right. Since
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all points along connected wires are electrically the same as if they were at
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the same point I will change the diagram wiring to simplify it for test point
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locations. The components are still laid out the same despite the difference
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in appearance.
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Red meter lead voltage test points (A) to (K) , joystick pins JS-1, JS-3, JS-
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5, and parallel port pins PP-2 and PP-3 out of 8 pins. Keep the black meter
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lead on test point (C).
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5V ground
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JS-1--(+) (-)
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circuit |(A) 500 (B) (C)|
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1. ---> +-----------/\/\/\-----------IR----------------+
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|(A) 3.1K (D) (E) |
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2. ---> +-----------/\/\/\-----------PT-------JS-3 |
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(F) diode (G) 2.2K (H) (C)|
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3. ---> PP-2--------->|----------/\/\/\--------+--LED---+
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(I) diode (J) 2.2K (H) |
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4. ---> PP-3--------->|----------/\/\/\--------+
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Four circuits above have voltage tables listed below:
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1. IR LED circuit
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(A) (B) (C) Comment
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___ ___ ___ ________________________________
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5 2 0 Normal voltages
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5 5 0 IR is backwards or burned out
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5 1 0 Resistor is too high value or bad
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2. PhotoTransistor circuit
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(A) (D) (E) Comment
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___ ___ ___ ________________________________
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5 4 1 Normal voltage with no light
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5 2 1 Normal voltage with bright light
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5 5 ? LED is backwards or burned out
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5 3 3 Resistor is too high value or bad
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{I'm not sure about what should be at (E)}
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3. First flash circuit line PP-2
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(F) (G) (H) (C) Comment
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___ ___ ___ ___ ________________________________
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0 0 0 0 Flash is not enabled
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4 3.5 2 0 Flash is active (INTENSITY 1-8)
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4 1 1 0 Diode is backwards
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4 3.5 1 0 Resistor is too high value or bad
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4 3.5 3.5 0 LED is backwards or burned out
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4. Next flash circuit line
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(I) (J) (H) (C) Comment
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___ ___ ___ ___ ________________________________
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0 0 0 0 Flash disabled or INTENSITY 1
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4 3.5 2 0 Flash is active (INTENSITY 1-8)
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4 3.5 2 0 Flash is active (INTENSITY 2-8)
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4 1 1 0 Diode is backwards
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4 3.5 1 0 Resistor is too high value or bad
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4 3.5 3.5 0 LED is backwards or burned out
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If you use the camcorder IR LED viewing technique described in the
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description, it's best in total darkness, and if you have a black-and-white
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camcorder eyepiece it will be dull gray. It gets brighter gray when it is
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pointed directly at the camera lens. Hold it as close to the lens as the
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camera will focus. You may need to turn off auto-focus so it doesn't keep
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trying to refocus in the dark.
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> Maybe the IR and PT need more power than they're getting. The package says
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> they can have a maximum of 20V. (On a different part it says it can only
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> take a reverse voltage of 2 though).
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I'm not an expert, but I believe that means it will take 20 volts when it is
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backwards, not putting off any light (or in the case of the PT not changing
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resistance). If it is forwards in the active state it is only supposed to be
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2V.
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> Since I have no real knowledge of electronics, I'm not sure how everything
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> works, but in your diagram where the PT is connected up to pin one (+)
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> then goes to connect with pin 3, what is pin 3 used for? Doesn't the PT
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> need a negative voltage as well? (that's probably what pin 3 is right?)
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Pin 3 is the joystick sensing line. There is internal circuitry on the I/O
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board to return it to (-). On a normal joystick moving the stick changes the
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value of resistance between 5V and the sense line on pin 3. That is exactly
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what you are doing with the resistor and PT.
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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