Cool and damp, occasional sun, breezes to make it all better. That’s my plan, we’ll see if the sacrifices accomplished anything…
I think that Saturday was pretty much like that but to be honest, I was inside all day. Didn’t feel well at all. Sore throat was worse, some coughing, and the feeling of being ‘not right’ was stronger. So I called our trip to FL officially off. Wife and kids are disappointed but I don’t want anyone getting sick. And given that I believe the pandemic to be a serious thing, traveling cross country seems to be wrong on its own merits.
I managed to sleep in, and then mostly just sit around all day with my brain and body in neutral. I did do a little bit of work for my client, in that I took apart the dead amplifier and looked at it to see what I could see. Dead power supply board is my diagnosis, cause of death? I couldn’t find a smoking gun. One swollen cap, bigger than my thumb, but the capacitance was still within range. Didn’t put it on an ESR meter, so the internal resistance could be too high, but I suspect the real problem is in the control circuit. It’s not cool to just have a physical power switch these days. No, you have to have a momentary that activates a latching circuit, etc. Much harder for me to poke at and make work. New amp is $350, used ‘as is’ on ebay they are $125, and there is one “parts” amp listed for $75 including shipping. I could swap the power board from it. I’ll ask the client what he wants to do but it’s not worth the cost of my time to spend any more effort on it.
I felt like I had to do something useful yesterday and it got the amp out of the foyer, as I can now add it to the pile of dead electronics with a clear conscience.
Went to bed early, slept late, and I’m planning on the same today.
Keep the faith, and keep stacking.
nick