Designing my own Rectifier/Regulator

[tfb]

You sent me an E-mail and I sent you one. You have the plans and I have the money. I sent the money and you sent the plans--WOW I feel like a spy. They wont take me alive Aha HaHaHA

It's scary what solder fumes can do to the brain... !

[Jon78gs1000]

Be very careful, You don't know the extent that Cberkeley will go to with his plans.
:-D

[ghwrenchit]

Be very careful, You don't know the extent that Cberkeley will go to with his plans.
:-D

Hey Cletus,

What kind of flux did you spec out??

ghwrenchit

[JHawkins]

Hey Cletus,

What kind of flux did you spec out??

ghwrenchit

Probably a flux capacitor! Just gotta keep her under 88 miles an hour!

[cberkeley]

Glad you're happy with the quality of the plans. I am just anxious for a couple of these things to be built so I can get the performance feedback from the field. I have a hectic 10-days coming up begining Monday (my company is installing the local node for the VSAT Network for the Air Traffic Control, Satellite Communications link out at Piarco Airport and I've got three Frenchmen flying in to commission..... hopefully they speak english, and like working in the rain and mud :-D). So I may be bit pre-occupied and my responses may not be as prompt. Please bear with me. Yes, I know it's at a bad time. Just when the first field R/Rs are being built and tested. I will work around this somehow.... AND FIND TIME TO RIDE.... weather permitting.
Cheers, Cletus

[Nerobro]

I got the parts this morning. digikey ships freakishly fast.

r/r's this weekend.

[cberkeley]

I got the parts this morning. digikey ships freakishly fast.

r/r's this weekend.

Gee, thanks..... That's the first good news I got today!:-D
Seems like everyone else is busting my chops for one thing or the other today.
If it were not raining I would take the bike out for a ride. Ah, what the... I'll just take the rest of the day off!\\/
Cheers, Cletus

[Planecrazy]

I got the parts this morning. digikey ships freakishly fast.

r/r's this weekend.

Saturday is the day for me, Greg (Beckie works Sunday, so I'll have the kids). Let me know what time you're thinking so I can work out the details of "freeing" myself from the family!!

Regards,

[Nerobro]

What we're not teaching the little guy and his sister to solder? come on they're old enough! *grins evily* I wonder how old I was when my dad taught me. I remember it clearly. Huge soldering gun, I could barely control it. I think I was soldering r/c car parts.

Saturday works for me too. Pick a time! Earlier is probally better so some testing can be done. The only bits we still need to obtain is case materials and some big guage (<=12ga) wire for the hookups.

[bmac]

wire........

Hey guys, Watching the thread grow like wild fire..... I plan on purchasing
the specs soon waiting to see final outcome, Cletus is brilliant to devise an alternative, my hat is off to him!!!!!!!! I have plenty of #12 wire for free if interested send me a line. Not to far from you.....


bmac

[Planecrazy]

Thanks for the wire offer! I THINK I have a roll of 12 or 14 gauge stranded wire floating around ... I'll have to check. I KNOW I have plenty of 12 gauge solid wire, but I doubt that is appropriate for this project. I'll check and see and let you know if Greg needs to go on a "wire run."

As for Saturday, how early do you want to swing by, Greg? I'll start as early as you like (within reason).

Let me know, thanks!

[mixongw]

First of all, I'm not a cheap SOB. I have sent money, many times, to software writers for programs that were placed in the public domain. I have no interest in building my own R/R either. That being said, I have an issue to air out. Every forum that I am a member of, other than this one, has a policy of not turning a forum into a money making site for any members. If you tried it on DTR (Diesel Truck Resources), you would get shut down immediately. It seems this thread is gone completely away from the principle of "members helping members" to that of advertising a product or service, and a principle of one member getting paid by other members to share an idea. This doesn't sit well with me at all. If I come up with an idea to improve, how to fix, how not to fix or whatever, I don't expect to get paid for it. That's not what this forum is all about (at least, I didn't think it was). If it was a design that DID warrant a monetary exchange, I certainly wouldn't use this forum to do it. It just seems wrong to me. I'm sure I have gotten ideas on this forum that have saved me more than $20.00, and they were free. I hope that I have offered help to others too. Why not just put the idea in the public domain and let the user decide if it's worth a donation for your time and materials. Or put it on a CD and sell it on Ebay. If no one agrees with me, that's OK too. I just needed to air my thoughts on this.

[bakalorz]

First of all, I'm not a cheap SOB. I have sent money, many times, to software writers for programs that were placed in the public domain. I have no interest in building my own R/R either. That being said, I have an issue to air out. Every forum that I am a member of, other than this one, has a policy of not turning a forum into a money making site for any members. If you tried it on DTR (Diesel Truck Resources), you would get shut down immediately. It seems this thread is gone completely away from the principle of "members helping members" to that of advertising a product or service, and a principle of one member getting paid by other members to share an idea. This doesn't sit well with me at all. If I come up with an idea to improve, how to fix, how not to fix or whatever, I don't expect to get paid for it. That's not what this forum is all about (at least, I didn't think it was). If it was a design that DID warrant a monetary exchange, I certainly wouldn't use this forum to do it. It just seems wrong to me. I'm sure I have gotten ideas on this forum that have saved me more than $20.00, and they were free. I hope that I have offered help to others too. Why not just put the idea in the public domain and let the user decide if it's worth a donation for your time and materials. Or put it on a CD and sell it on Ebay. If no one agrees with me, that's OK too. I just needed to air my thoughts on this.

Actually, I feel the same way - although I _AM_ an admitted cheap bastid
(Why else do ya think I got a 25 year old bike ...)

If you want to sell a kit, and make some money on that, I have no problem with that; but it somehow strikes me the wrong way to charge just for the knowledge on how to fix something.

When I first started reading this thread, I was psyched, since I need a VR.
When it turned out that just the plans were going to be $19 my interest cooled quite a bit.

I was annoyed enough about it to decide to look into designing my own.
It turns out that they really are basically very simple.

I have developed a design and am currently selecting components.
Right now it looks as if the electronics will end up costing less than $20
I suspect my design will not be quite as much overkill as cberkeley's, but it should be more than adequate.

If everything works out, then I will release plans for free on the forum in the next month or so.

[Boondocks]

First of all, I'm not a cheap SOB. I have sent money, many times, to software writers for programs that were placed in the public domain. I have no interest in building my own R/R either. That being said, I have an issue to air out. Every forum that I am a member of, other than this one, has a policy of not turning a forum into a money making site for any members. If you tried it on DTR (Diesel Truck Resources), you would get shut down immediately. It seems this thread is gone completely away from the principle of "members helping members" to that of advertising a product or service, and a principle of one member getting paid by other members to share an idea. This doesn't sit well with me at all. If I come up with an idea to improve, how to fix, how not to fix or whatever, I don't expect to get paid for it. That's not what this forum is all about (at least, I didn't think it was). If it was a design that DID warrant a monetary exchange, I certainly wouldn't use this forum to do it. It just seems wrong to me. I'm sure I have gotten ideas on this forum that have saved me more than $20.00, and they were free. I hope that I have offered help to others too. Why not just put the idea in the public domain and let the user decide if it's worth a donation for your time and materials. Or put it on a CD and sell it on Ebay. If no one agrees with me, that's OK too. I just needed to air my thoughts on this.

I agree. This thread started with "I'm not trying to make money but I would like to contribute something to this site" (paraphrased) and has morphed into a money making commercial endeavor. The part where "It's been fun! ....but the wife insists (and she's right) that we make something from this" seems to be a particularly lame excuse for charging members for something that should be free. This isn't rocket science, and there is nothing in this simple shunt type R/R idea that could be patented. Charging $19 for a schematic and an unproven prototype parts list is excessive. In Cletus's defense, the members who have rushed forth to buy it have made it very easy for him to push the monetary issue.

There are free schematics and parts lists all over the Web for projects similar to this. If I find a suitable one, I will post the link. If I build one some day, I'm not going to pay a member who claims to be contributing to the site for plans, when in fact he is contributing to himself.

[Nerobro]

I agree. This thread started with "I'm not trying to make money but I would like to contribute something to this site" (paraphrased) and has morphed into a money making commercial endeavor. The part where "It's been fun! ....but the wife insists (and she's right) that we make something from this" seems to be a particularly lame excuse for charging members for something that should be free. This isn't rocket science, and there is nothing in this simple shunt type R/R idea that could be patented. Charging $19 for a schematic and an unproven prototype parts list is excessive. In Cletus's defense, the members who have rushed forth to buy it have made it very easy for him to push the monetary issue.

There are free schematics and parts lists all over the Web for projects similar to this. If I find a suitable one, I will post the link. If I build one some day, I'm not going to pay a member who claims to be contributing to the site for plans, when in fact he is contributing to himself.

This should only be free if it's offered completely without support. The reality is, that cletus is going to support all of us in this. Coming from a guy who's helped sell/produce this sort of product before, $20 is to cheap. :-/ If he gave it away for free, that would be nice. But taking a dump on him because he is asking for some money in return isn't exactly fair either.

Actually, there aren't free schematics and parts lists all over the web that are as clear, well done, and documented as cletus's plans. Yes, the design is simple, yes the parts count is low. The best question to ask, if it's so easy, why hasn't someone else done it first? The answer to that, is that it's not. And ya'll forget he has contributed the LED controler as well.

If you don't feel the price is fair, don't pay for it. Go ahead do your own thing. I don't see it being "right" to jump all over him like this. If you'd like to check the title of the thread... the fact we even have access to the schematic at all is a gift.