Re: [neonixie-l] Re: Careful what you use to power your nixies...

For all of the above reasons, I use my own power supply designs in my nixie projects. Even though I put a lot of protection devices in the circuit (fuses, varistors; extra margin for capacitor voltages, sheet-metal lining inside my case), I always worry about unexpected things going wrong (larg

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: Careful what you use to power your nixies...

The only thing you can safely assume with cheap goods from China, is that the seller is interested in your dollar, not your life. A not-foolproof test is simply to feel the weight of a charger body in your hand, when compared to a known, good (original equipment) specimin. The fake will often

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: Careful what you use to power your nixies...

On 09/01/2014 08:58 AM, Nick wrote: > This is a paper from Buckinghamshire Trading Standards on the risks of > cheap adapters, even if they have what purports to be a "CE" mark. We looked into agency approval for our induction heaters (fluxeon.com). What we found was startling. Unlike here i

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: Careful what you use to power your nixies...

t; *To:* neonixie-l@googlegroups.com > *Sent:* Friday, August 29, 2014 1:37 AM > *Subject:* Re: [neonixie-l] Re: Careful what you use to power your > nixies... > > I believe that would have been "Japan" named a town USA, not China.Ira > > > > On 8/28/2014 8

[neonixie-l] Re: Careful what you use to power your nixies...

Cracked open one of those cheap adapters. They're based on the Power Integration LNK623. It needs a switching xfmr (custom) that has the primary, a feedback secondary, and at least one output secondary. Here are some photos:

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: Careful what you use to power your nixies...

AFAIR medical grade PSUs should conform to IEC 60601-1 safety standards. Among other things such PSU have defined earth and housing leakage currents. On 20 August 2014 11:31, Oscilloclock wrote: > That's absolutely terrible... And very scary about the headphones being a > conduit. > > I strictl

[neonixie-l] Re: Careful what you use to power your nixies...

That's absolutely terrible... And very scary about the headphones being a conduit. I strictly use either open-frame supplies where I can get a good look at the components used, or sealed wall packs with "medical" ratings. I'm not an expert on what this category really signifies, but trust the e

[neonixie-l] Re: Careful what you use to power your nixies...

More on those cheap chargers / adapters. A few months ago, one apparently electrocuted a woman, in Australia: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2014/06/please-dont-buy-cheap-phone-chargers-and-cables/ http://wonderfulengineering.com/cheap-chinese-phone-charger-electrocutes-woman-to-death/ And just to m

[neonixie-l] Re: Careful what you use to power your nixies...

What is the typical signature of a counterfeit capacitor ? I'm mostly concerned about the ~450V electrolytics that are commonly used for anode-supply filtering. In my designs, I always have a series resistor and fast-blow fuse (typically 3/8 amp; smaller ones get *really* expensive...) which a

[neonixie-l] Re: Careful what you use to power your nixies...

Sadly there are a lot of extremely dangerous super-cheap power supplies out there. What I usually do when I receive a product that comes with a power supply that isn't from the same brand or looks a bit suspicious is open it up and check how safe it is. Most of the time the PCB is fairly safe, w