And it's clear that this is not a case of the manufacturer honestly believing that this thing helps. This is a scam.I just watched the video. Oh man... that switch has magic stickers!
I worked for a local music store here for many years as an electronics tech. The Conn Instrument company was a frequent source of puns etc. back in the shop. But in truth despite the unfortunate name, they actually had a product line of reasonable quality. Hell, even their cheesy little home organs were a cut above much of the competition. Granted that particular bar was set pretty low back in the '70s <shudder>, but still. I guess their situation was similar to, "With a name like Smucker's, it better be good," heh.
I get the same vibe from Meanwell power supplies. I always read it in the sense of 'They mean well, they're just not that bright'. I have not had any issues with their products though.
As long as they are not as bad as the old Philips blue capacitors ...
Inspired by EEVBlog's '$50 oscilloscope' video I recently got a Philips PE 3267 100 MHz scope locally for €50. It looks great, the previous owner took good care of it. Turned it on, screen worked. Then I connected the probe to look at some waveforms and lo and behold: thick grey fog and an incredible stench filled the room. I guess I just found my next project. Or rather, it found me.
I should have known better. My main speakers are Philips 587 MFB. They had to have all their capacitors replaced before they were of any use. Same manufacturer, similar blue capacitors, about the same age as the scope.
Fool me twice, shame on me.
Out of curiosity looked up what kind of scope it was and incidentally found a service manual, link below for those it may interest.
When it comes to Philips scopes I would be reluctant to even pick up one for free.
https://www.opweb.de/english/company/Philips/PM_3267
https://www.opweb.de/english/company/Philips/downloads/Philips--PM_3267--service--ID13086.pdf
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Thanks! I guess I'll try to power it from the 24V DC input first, just to check whether there's anything else just waiting to blow up on me. If it works, I'll replace the power supply caps. I think I still have a well meaning Meanwell somewhere in a box... Certainly no audiophile PSU but it might be good enough to see if the scope turns on again.
Why is it that you would avoid Philips scopes? Just the capacitors or are there more issues waiting for me?
they have the rough edges of the copper atoms worn down so the electrons stick less to begin with...
From a Physics point of view, cold fusion is one of the most hilarious and bizarre of theories. Why?! For nuclear fusion to occur, atoms must have enough kinetic (thermal) energy to collide head-on and overcome very strong electrostatic forces. If I remember well, there is a Quantum Mechanics property which prevents nuclei from colliding unless they tunnel into each other. For instance, again stating from my wetware, in the solar core, with a temperture of 15,000,000K and pressures amounting to several billions atmospheres (Bars), hydrogen nuclei take about 10,000 years to tunnel into each other!
This means extremely high temperatures and pressures are necessary for fusion to take place.
This means extremely high temperatures and pressures are necessary for fusion to take place.
Thee are some of my favourites from the world of 'hi fi':
bags of "speaker rocks" for A$100, specially selected rocks in plastic bags which when placed correctly (!) in your room, improve the sound;
'speaker bullets' for $1,000 pr which 'enhance' the signal from the amp;
speaker cables for $7000 per metre which have 'gold crystals' to improve the sound
a $330,000 turntable which features "bullet proof" construction
ad nauseum.......
In the automotive filed, take your pick, but the late, great Peter Brock's "Energy Polariser" was a beauty: a small resin cube with crystals in it which 'aligned the molecules' in the car and among other things allowed you to run your tyres at 20psi instead of 35!
Geoff
bags of "speaker rocks" for A$100, specially selected rocks in plastic bags which when placed correctly (!) in your room, improve the sound;
'speaker bullets' for $1,000 pr which 'enhance' the signal from the amp;
speaker cables for $7000 per metre which have 'gold crystals' to improve the sound
a $330,000 turntable which features "bullet proof" construction
ad nauseum.......
In the automotive filed, take your pick, but the late, great Peter Brock's "Energy Polariser" was a beauty: a small resin cube with crystals in it which 'aligned the molecules' in the car and among other things allowed you to run your tyres at 20psi instead of 35!
Geoff
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