Author Archives: Jay Jay

About Jay Jay

Hi there. My name is John Elliot V. My friends call me Jay Jay. I talk about technology on my blog at blog.jj5.net and make videos about electronics on my YouTube channel @InTheLabWithJayJay.

Living in the future

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So I had these “drill bit thingos” hanging on the pegboard in my lab, but I wanted to store them in a component drawer instead, but I wasn’t sure what the label should say. I searched “the usual places” to try to find the order in which I purchased them, but couldn’t find such a thing. In a last ditch effort I put the number printed onto the case into my search engine and did an image search on it: 15050090001. And there it was! Turns out the drill bits are called “Step Drill Bits”, as seen here: 1PCS HSS Co 3-12mm 4-22mm 6-24mm Spiral Groove 1/4″ Hex Handle Step Dril Bit Hole Cutter Cone Saw Stepped Drill Power Tools. Problem solved.

Living life on the edge

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Whoosh! There goes my redundancy! Fingers crossed I don’t lose another disk before the replacements arrive!

-------------------
Tue Nov 29 17:01:01 [bash:5.1.16 jobs:0 error:0 time:6361]
root@love:/home/jj5
# zpool status
  pool: data
 state: DEGRADED
status: One or more devices has been taken offline by the administrator.
        Sufficient replicas exist for the pool to continue functioning in a
        degraded state.
action: Online the device using 'zpool online' or replace the device with
        'zpool replace'.
  scan: scrub repaired 0B in 1 days 10:20:21 with 0 errors on Mon Nov 14 10:44:22 2022
config:

        NAME                     STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM
        data                     DEGRADED     0     0     0
          mirror-0               DEGRADED     0     0     0
            sda                  ONLINE       0     0     0
            9460704850353196665  OFFLINE      0     0     0  was /dev/sdb1
          mirror-1               DEGRADED     0     0     0
            2467357469475118468  OFFLINE      0     0     0  was /dev/sdc1
            sdd                  ONLINE       0     0     0
        cache
          nvme0n1p4              ONLINE       0     0     0

errors: No known data errors

  pool: fast
 state: ONLINE
status: One or more devices has experienced an unrecoverable error.  An
        attempt was made to correct the error.  Applications are unaffected.
action: Determine if the device needs to be replaced, and clear the errors
        using 'zpool clear' or replace the device with 'zpool replace'.
   see: https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/msg/ZFS-8000-9P
  scan: resilvered 2.70G in 00:01:35 with 0 errors on Tue Nov 29 13:28:02 2022
config:

        NAME         STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM
        fast         ONLINE       0     0     0
          mirror-0   ONLINE       0     0     0
            sde      ONLINE       0     0     0
            sdf      ONLINE       0     0     1
        cache
          nvme0n1p3  ONLINE       0     0     0

errors: No known data errors

  pool: temp
 state: ONLINE
status: Some supported and requested features are not enabled on the pool.
        The pool can still be used, but some features are unavailable.
action: Enable all features using 'zpool upgrade'. Once this is done,
        the pool may no longer be accessible by software that does not support
        the features. See zpool-features(7) for details.
  scan: scrub repaired 0B in 00:21:59 with 0 errors on Sun Nov 13 00:46:02 2022
config:

        NAME         STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM
        temp         ONLINE       0     0     0
          nvme0n1p5  ONLINE       0     0     0

errors: No known data errors
-------------------

Power for test Xbox

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On my bench I have a test mains power input for testing Xboxes along with a test AV cable connected to a TV.

Today I wired an Xbox power safety device into the mix. There’s a tear down of this highly over-engineered device on the EEVBlog video: EEVblog #1164 – Xbox Engineering Baptism Of Fire.

Microsoft made this to cover for defective mains power connector in their earliest hardware versions. The problem was that the socket was only soldered into the board and didn’t have sufficient mechanical support. The solder joints could wiggle around, become loose, get hot, and then let go the magic smoke.

Anyway this device is both a fuse and an earth leakage detector, so very happy to have it as part of my setup.

Brass vs. Phosphor Bronze

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Today I learned about Brass vs. Phosphor Bronze. There’s more to know. My guess is that Phosphor Bronze is probably best for Contact, Commercial MATE-N-LOK, Socket, Crimp, 18 AWG, Tin Plated Contacts.

Update: actually looks like tin plated brass is more common/standard/cheaper? than phosphor bronze. I think it’s a technical detail that probably doesn’t matter much. Some products just say “copper alloy”, and they’re both copper alloys.

Picking a 16-channel external power connection

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So I’m planning to put an Xbox power supply,

in a box,

I wasn’t sure exactly which box, so I got four, hoping one would work.
The sockets and pinouts vary,

So I will need to make three different types of cables, one for each version range: v1.0-v1.1, v1.2-v1.5, v1.6. But those vary only on the “motherboard side”, the connector that connects to a power supply in a box can be anything, and I can pick it. By my count the maximum cable requirement is 16 cables. So I’m looking for a recommendation for what power connector to install the on the box. Ideally something I can bolt into the box that can handle a couple of amps of DC and into which I can plug my custom cable. Craig? :)
Update: from here maximum observed current 8.6A. I would like to use D Sub Connector Housing, 25 Ways, D Sub, 3, AMPLIMITE HDP-20, Receptacle, Steel Body but I’m not sure if they’re rated high enough for the current.