8 Silicon chip Australia’s electronics magazine siliconchip.com.au
emit fumes after being applied to the
surface you wish to solder.
After applying phosphoric acid
to the nickel-plated connectors, I’ve
found that the soldering process is
easy, at least using tin-lead solder. I
haven’t tried lead-free solder yet.
Soldering iron contact with a battery
should be limited to a few seconds or
less, to avoid damaging the battery. I’ve
found that a hot soldering iron with a
bare few seconds contact with the bat-
tery has solved many of my battery-
pack making problems.
E. McAndrew,
Capel, WA.
CablePI can give a false sense
of security
On page 8 of the April 2019 issue, in
a comment on a letter from one Paul
Smith, reference is made to the Tas-
manian CablePI. This device is quite
heavily touted in Tasmania as an elec-
trical safety device. How this product
works is beyond my ken.
But I recently was asked to look at
a washing machine that gave out ‘tin-
gles’. When I confirmed that the appli-
ance was OK and suggested that the
house earth wiring might be at fault,
the customer stated the house was
electrically safe because the “CablePI
said so”.
My point is that this device leads
householders to believe all is well
when it may not be. It might be a
worthwhile exercise by Silicon chip to
run your eye over the CablePI. Regards
and thanks for an excellent magazine.
Don Selby,
Tasmania.
Comment: it does seem unlikely that
such a simple device, plugged into a
single powerpoint and connected no-
where else, could pick up all possibly
hazardous wiring faults.
It could only really detect when the
Active-Neutral voltage is lower than
normal, or the Neutral-Earth voltage
is higher than usual.
However, depending on the nature
of the fault, these may only occur
when a high load current is flowing
through the house wiring. And a com-
pletely open Neutral would not leave
any power to operate the device, while
still constituting a hazard.Another way to build
the DAB+/FM/AM radio case
I built your DAB+/FM/AM re-
ceiver project (January-March 2019;
siliconchip.com.au/Series/330) and
thought that the following information
might be helpful to others.
Rather than using 25mm and 32mm
long screws through the front and
back of the case, as shown in Fig.3 on
page 43 of the March 2019 issue, I in-
stead used four 50mm long M3 screws
through the front. All the spacers can
be fitted to these screws and then
you just need 4-6mm long M3 screws
to hold the back on. I got the 50mm
screws at my local hardware shop.
Ray Saegenschnitter,
Huntly, Vic.Comments on 737 crashes,
Avalon air show etc
The Editorial Viewpoint in the May
2019 issue of Silicon chip cannot be
ignored. I do not agree that “cripple-ware” is to blame for the 737 Max dis-
asters. I believe that the management
of both Boeing and the FAA are igno-
rant and arrogant, and are to blame.
Both Boeing and the FAA have good
reputations. Why then this stupidity?
The answer is that neither Boeing nor
the FAA are the same organisations of
years ago.
Like all organisations, the original
staff have been replaced by new staff in
most of the positions. These new staff
have failed. Invariably and in so many
ways they are not the same people as
those whom they replaced.
Referring back to the subject of
“crippleware”, the best way to handle
manufacturers who sell such products
is simply not to buy them. They will
soon get the message.
The article on the Avalon air show
by Dr Maddison in the April issue
sure is huge. This show highlights
just how important electronics is to
the military. Everything mentioned in
the article excepting the lightweight
armour relied on electronics. For me,
the autonomous vehicles were of the
most interest.
In the Mailbag section of the May
2019 issue of Silicon chip, there
was another letter concerning medi-
cal alarms and the failure of the NBN
and the wireless network to provide a
reliable service. I cannot understand
why the wireless network should be
so unreliable.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but
I understand that the wireless net-
work operates as usual when there
is a mains power supply failure until
battery power is exhausted.With over 300 modules, shields
and accessories for Arduino &
Raspberry Pi, what parts are you
missing from your IoT toolkit?
Wiltronics Research Pty. Ltd.
5-7 Ring Road
ALFREDTON VIC 3350Ph: (03) 5334 2513
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://www.wiltronics.com.auARD 2
ARDUINO-COMPATIBLE BOARDS,
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