Date   : Fri, 09 Apr 2010 22:15:51 +0100
From   : tom@... (Tom Seddon)
Subject: Testing homemade Master battery pack

Mike Tomlinson:
> Hmm.  Did you fit the diode as well?  If not, better unplug the
> batteries straightaway.

Yeah, it's got a 1N4005 diode and a 120ohm resistor, and I'm pretty sure
the diode is the right way round :) So it should work. I'm just completely
clueless about this stuff (though a quick check on wikipedia has given me
a rough idea of what's going on in this simple setup) and don't have any
equipment to do proper testing...

> Acorn's battery packs were 3 AA Duracells in heatshrink wrap, wired in
> series and a diode was fitted to stop the Master trying to back-charge
> the non-rechargeable Duracells.

Yes, that's the sort of thing it came with. All now in the bin :) The
wires to the diode and resistor were way too short for my inept soldering,
so I didn't opt to reuse the original parts.

I got a 4xAA holder from Maplin and put the extra wires and bits in the
4th compartment. Looks quite neat, should be easy to replace the
batteries, and it fits in the space between PCB and PSU. (I can't see
myself needing to put anything inside the case; I've already got an
external copro.)

Thanks,

--Tom