Mmmmmmorrning!
It’s going to be a lovely day in the high 60s today with a slight overcast but sunny again tomorrow. I have been Indulging myself in other hobbies so I won’t be tempted to go out and shoot up my collection of ammunition.
I was out in the shed last night putting together some more speakers.
These two 7 1/2 inch speakers provide a powerful center channel.
It’s not very clean at high power levels, but at shed listening volumes it is quite pleasant.
I think that stereo puts out 120 W total at 5% total harmonic distortion. That means you get about 5 W per channel out of it at reasonably clean listening levels. 20 watts, being 4 outputs.
I was also scrapping out an old power supply for parts that I might be able to use.
All the tubular electrolytic capacitors were blown.
The primary rectifier, it’s film capacitor, plus all the chokes and transformers are fine, and the power transistors were saved by the fact that the wire wound resistors which limit the bias voltage were fried.
Mostly it was an exercise in the practice of de-soldering components from a board without destroying them and the board in the process.
I have three or four soldering irons but none of them are appropriate for this work. I need a remote adjustable power inverter with a button so I can pump the voltage up and down.
Time to go shopping on eBay.
Meanwhile I decided to build a giant insulated canister filter for my main aquarium system, which will free up the 30 gallon sump to house several fish. I just used a 32 gallon Rubbermaid brute trashcan inside of a 44 gallon brute trashcan, by cutting the handles off the 32.
I shot a bunch of spray foam into the gap between the two cans for insulation and I will make an insulated lid from the two Brute lids as well.
This will not be a pressurized filter but will simply take all the overflow from the patio aquarium, filter it, and return it to the sump, which will still contain the pumps.
I filled it up with water last night so the inner can wouldn’t float up on the foam, and it should be cured by the time I decide to start cutting holes in it today.
This will allow me to add 15 gallons of water to the sump plus whatever I can get into the Brute, after I load it up with filter media. Possibly another 20 gallons.
So I’ve essentially added 35 gallons to the existing 180 gals Of water in my 210 gallon system. That’s a 20% increase, which is significant.
Even more significant is I will be able to double my filter media and allow room for housing more fish.