[tech] Coke machine lights, empty detection, fans

[Nick Bannon]

On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 02:44:05PM +0800, Harry wrote:
> I think your meter is correctly measuring 100VAC RMS. The conversion is:
> Vpk-pk = Vrms * 2 * root2
> (for a sine wave) so 288 volts pk-pk agrees with that.

Right, so mains power is a nominal 230VAC RMS or 650Vpk-pk.

(
The same multimeter reads a nice round 240V from the mains socket. I
was thinking that because multimeters with "True RMS" readings often
have that in big letters on the box, my nothing-special one might not.
'Course, it seems you can't even trust that:
http://enginova.com/true_rms_volts.htm
)

[...]
> Neons are typically 70V but very maybe they have been replaced and are a lower
> voltage part and/or the limiting resistor is a bit low ?

The ones that have been replaced seem more likely to burn out again,
though I have tried increasing the resistor. Then again, they may just be
the slots like slot 0 that spend the most time empty and thus illuminated.

> Did they used to fail prior to installing the empty detector cct ?

Rarely... It might be that the replacements are not up to scratch with
the originals.

Nick.

-- 
   Nick Bannon   | "I made this letter longer than usual because
nick-sig at rcpt.to | I lack the time to make it shorter." - Pascal