This is a very nice little demo package from Protel of a PCB layout program. It's an older package (they don't even have this on their website anymore), but works on any windows platform, unlike their current demo versions.
Here's a little makeover of an inexpensive aftermarket car seat heating pad that stopped working.
Designed to activate and warm up when sat upon, the electronics face a fair amount of abuse: since the seat is a soft frame, the wires inside constantly move and flex with the body. They are also subject to harsh temperature changes with frequent (very) cold weather heating and cooling cycles, adding to a situation ripe for a malfunction, which happened to one of our staff when he couldn't warm up his tush one cold Canadian morning...
Dragging it into the lab, we peeled back the covers to discover the usual and not-so-usual suspects.
The old wires had a PVC jacket that had dried out and cracked.
The wires would then flex at these cracks and break:
We replaced those wires with our GroovyNoodle silicone wire, which is able to resist flexing and temperature fluctuations very well.
Here's a picture of the sketchy activation switch we found inside the bottom part of the seat. It's designed to close when under "bum load", and directly pass power to the heating coils. We're not experts at auto-grade accessory manufacturing, but we were surprised that it wasn't a logic "bum-detected" switch that triggered a suitable relay or FET elsewhere. And the lack of a thermal reset fuse surprised us.
All broken wires replaced! Almost all the PVC jacket wire had cracked and disintegrated, so we replaced it with our better-quality GroovyNoodle silicone wire. This wire is extremely flexible, high strand count, and a temperature-ignoring silicon jacket. Perfect for inside this car seat heater.
All necessary repairs and upgrades were done just in time for the next stretch of (very much) cold Canadian winter.
This is a very nice little demo package from Protel of a PCB layout program. It's an older package (they don't even have this on their website anymore), but works on any windows platform, unlike their current demo versions.
Sorry for the lack of posts lately. If you didn't already know, Solarbotics has been moving offices, and it's taken a surprising amount of effort to get everbody/thing moved and settled. Beyond that, I've found some time to websurf...just a bit! A GM15 linefollower? Neat!(Update!:)He's just posted a video of it going ~40cm/s (although he's […]
Well folks, the BEAM Anniversary sale has officially come and gone. So many of you jumped on those awesome deals that we extended them an extra four days before taking them down. Anyways, we have tons of great stuff to get through, so let's plow through starting with the new stock we've brought in over […]
After a long hiatus, our PP3 chisel-tip pogo pins are back! And it looks like they're here to stay, so no more drop-outs in supply. I know that we use them for robotics applications, but there's a lot of people using them for other electronics purposes. Now you can get them reliably, and in quantity, […]
Solarbotics, Ltd. is not responsible for misprints or errors on product prices or information. For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.
Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.