Y8s: Joe or Me?

 

If me:A sheet of 8.5 x 11" printer paper.


Yes. My bench unit is an old Weller. I can't remember the model number off hand- it was from before they split off the WES and WLC series into two separate product lines, so it has the narrow body shape and integral pencil-holder of a current-gen WLC200, but is is blue and uses the analog dial control like the WES51.

WLC200:




WES51:




I also have a controllerless, non-adjustable unit that I carry in my toolbox (a Weller WP35), as well as a pair of cheap 220v LUX irons which I bought while in Germany. I bought them after becoming quite tired of asking "haben Sie einen Lötkolben?" every five minutes to whoever was standing nearby.

 

I didn't realize it was you that posted the sandwich when I replied. then later I did. but I was lazy.

and I was referring to your wrinkly light box when I was inquiring about an iron.



(this iron looks like a sea gull on radar)

 

Stealth Iron.

 

My iron looks like a seagull's left ******** on radar.

 

Back off topic...

Joe, here's a radio station pic for you. (I would have posted this in the random pic thread but I didn't know if you were keeping up with that thread regularly)

 

deets = details?

 

Joe, have you considered reworking it to accept standard automotive fuses? I'm thinking a solid steel rod the size of the fuse, with a wire from a remote water proof fuse holder soldered on the end. You'd have to think of a way to keep the steel pin against the contact, but for ~$10 it's worth a shot.

 

I dont think Joe would bother for just another fuse.

I think Joe would create a protection circuit that self-healed.

 

Deets = Details. Sorry, maybe it's a local thing, I dunno. I'm too old to try to be cool anyhow, really. Hell, maybe my girlfriend made it up? I have no idea other than a few folks I know say it. I assumed it was somewhat common vernacular.

 

Nope, not just me. Found it here:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=deets

 

 

Well, bear in mind that I need two contacts to fit down into the fuse-recess, and the top one has to screw in (or be covered by a screw-in cap.) Since I don't have the ability to do ceramic-casting, that kind of limits my options.

I have entertained a couple of different ideas. One is to mill an aluminum slug to be the same size as the fuse, install it in the fuse holder as a short-circuit, and then wire an external fuseholder inline with the battery cable. On the plus side, this would allow me to not invalidate the warranty on the battery (we're talking about a $450 battery, here) but on the minus side, it would mean that the battery itself is not inherently short-circuit protected, and an external wiring fault or just accidentally shorting the pins when the cable is detached could then cause some very bad things to happen quite rapidly.

Another option would be to sever the wires going to the fuseholder internally and put another hole in the side of the lower battery cap to accommodate a different fuseholder. It would probably still need to be external to the battery, as there just isn't a lot of space to work with inside the lower cap (it's amazingly tight in there), so while this would keep the battery's output connector protected, it's still an external thing dangling from the battery (and it would void the **** out of the warranty.)



Well, active current-limiting circuits are hard to do cleanly if the only power supply you have available is the same one you're trying to protect.

PTC devices are simple and reliable, but they don't really work well at very high currents. Lots of loss.

A circuit-breaker would be cool, but I can't find any that are rated for 39VDC- they all stop at 32V. And of course they're quite large and so would have to be external.

I have located one manufacturer that makes a 25A fuse in this size, the Littelfuse model 0215025. Unfortunately, nobody seems to have them in stock, and Newark's MOQ on them is 1,000 pieces. I tried requesting a sample, but they say they don't have any available for sample.


For now, I've got a supply of 20A fuses coming in, so I'll just carry spares. The owner of the company tells me he's got some 28A units coming in (not sure if I believe him), but if so, I'll switch to those when they become available.

 

A fuse is not the way to go. Aircraft circuit breaker would be a much better choice.

 

I agree.

Space, however, is a consideration. Even a little 152 is quite a lot larger than my bicycle. My first choice is something that fits entirely within the battery tube, and at the moment, only a 5x20 fuse seems to fulfill that criteria.

Additionally, the only aircraft breakers I can find (looking at Chief, Aircraft Spruce, etc) are rated for 32 VDC. I honestly know very little about magnetic breakers, so I've no idea what running one at 40 VDC would do.

 

buy one and try it. the magnet in the breaker is powered by current so voltage difference shouldn't matter much. hence why your 32VDC breakers work also as 120VAC breakers

 

I am Jack's renewed sense of enthusiasm.

Got the new fuses in yesterday.

Rather interestingly, the internal construction of this fuse is somewhat different from the one which I removed. You may recall from that image I posted previously that the fusable element itself took the shape of a flat strip of metal, whereas this one contains what appears to be a round piece of wire:




It makes me wonder whether the old fuse was of a different type-rating, such as a "medium acting" rather than "slow blow" type. I doubt I'll find a definitive answer, though the next time I'm at Fry's, I think I'll inspect the design of some of the fuses they have to see if there is an apparent correlation.


Anyway, back on the road after a week and a half hiatus. Feels good. Took the long way home (the one with a long downhill section, followed by a ****-all of a mile-long climb) and it wasn't as bad as I expected. Definitely tired the hell out of me- legs made of jello and sucking down water like it was going out of style by the time I got to the top, but I managed to do the whole thing in one solid pull. (Yeah, I know- I'm making it sound like I just climbed Palomar Mountain getting to the end of Poinsettia Ave. It's all relative.)

This whole "getting into shape" thing is actually working. Long way to go, but progress is starting to become evident.

 

Man I'd really love one of these. I'm surrounded by hills. So I either need a ride home, need to drive my bike somewhere, or fart around in some local neighborhoods. My sister was given a little moped that seemed to work great aside from no spark, really wish I had kept it. Not as great as a bicycle, but gas powered engine doesn't have fuse issues. Just carb, filter, oil, gas, spark, timing, smoking, noisey issues.

 

I've seen a fellow riding around here who has a two-cycle gasser on a single-speed cruiser frame. Damn thing stinks to high heaven.

 

How weather proof is this setup?