What Is This Device?

The orange thing at the bottom of the screen is blurred. Can you tell what it is?

It looks like this is a 2-side PCB. As such, it should be fairly straightforward (though painstaking) to back out a schematic of the circuit. That would reveal it's nature.

I'm sorry, but just looking at the pic, I have no clue.

I'm sure there are those here that can give you an idea.

The orange thing at the bottom of the screen is blurred. Can you tell what it is?

It's a tantalum dipped capacitor.

It may be part of a safety flasher for a bicycle.

Part of smoke alarm?
Missing part of KrisDel^TM time machine?
UPS parcel bomb component.
Del

when this would be in the package it would have done it's job.

<...Missing part of KrisDel^TM time machine?...>

Nope. There's nothing like it in the 2009-10 KrisDel^TM catalogue. Please send an update - there's a missed opportunity somewhere....

Hi

I am writing from the fulfilment deptartment at KrisDel. We have forwarded you our catalog including the yet to be created line of 2018 time machines and time machine parts.

Your catalog will arrive about two weeks ago. Please check your piles of old mail. We hope you enjoy it.

Doug

the fulfilment deptartment ..

this is undoubtely a high echelon KrisDel employee

Look, do you know how much difficulty your abuse of the machine is causing me? Last night I'm going to have to go get drunk in order to explain the brain-ache I now have.

thet could be the bend laubin monitering device.

might be for dog tracking.

if it didnt destruct by now you know its not one of maxwell smarts , or 007 s wine testers.

ièd guess a dog tracking device...ie lost or runaway pets, phone-home homing device

A terrorist's IUD?

Hey, you found it on the side iof the road, right? Hand it over to Homeland Security!

Wise words indeed!

A pre-Homeland Security event took place at a McDonald's in my town, involving a suspicious black satchel, left in a booth. The place was evacuated and the bomb squad removed the satchel to an open field nearby. The satchel was blown up with external explosives and when the smoke and dust cleared, only a residue of makeup accessories and a red rubber nose were noted, leading investigators to conclude that it was Ronald Macdonald's, who had visited the day before.

You can't be too careful!

I have a remote to open the plants gate. The batteries are the same ones. May be insides of someones remote garage opener? Heat of daylight maybe just enough to to help the dead batteries produce a potential to light the LED.

Is there any circuitry or feature (like two pads with no connection) that might suggest there was a switch contact somehow attached to the case, assuming there ever was a case?

Doesn't make sense that it blinks in the daytime.

There is some residue of plastic or ceramic on the corner near the green resistor, but no obvious contacts.

I wonder why the resistor you mention is so large? Does the red LED stop flashing if you mask the dark "sensor"?

Too bad you can't get some better images.

Yes, the blink rate slows and the brightness dims as I cover it and goes off when in darkness and resumes in the light.

I'll see if anyone I know has a better closeup camera.

CNTRL Z

Are you on an old DEC keyboard?

It's an architrave decravinator.
Del

if itès the size of a dime, maybe an ear phone

You had better return it to whom ever whoever lost it, or some government agency or corporate entity may collapse tomorrow!

And what would be so wrong with that?

Mikerho.

In the sentence, "who" is in the dative case, since something is being done to or for it, and so take the dative ending, which in English is -m, so is should be "to whomever"; or better still "to whomsoever"

Where 34point5 when you need him?!

I think Mikerho was right. "Whoever" is the subject in the phrase "whoever is...."

However, there might be a variation between British and American prectices.

--Editor Crankshaft

Sorry Tornado, I think both American and English (and all other languages I've ever learnt) would recognise "You" as the subject in the sentence:

You had better return it to whom ever lost it

The person refered to as "who/whom" is the indirect object of the verb "return" and therefore the use of the dative, i.e. whom, is correct.

Someone call in 34point5 to adjudicate!

Dame Elspeth Rawtenstall, OBE

I may have to dig out the books....

I was not referring to the subject of the whole sentence, but rather to the role played by "who(m)ever" in the most local clause or phrase in which it occurs. In this case, the most local phrase is "who(m)ever lost it."

One would not say "whom lost it..."; rather it would be "who lost it...." (The "ever" is a bit of a distraction.)

"Whoever" and "whomever" are single words.

On the other hand, this would be correct: "You had better return it to whomever it belongs." (In this case "whomever" is not the subject of "whomever it belongs," so the objective case is proper.)

You had Thou hath better return it to whom ever lost it

Nononononononono!

In the earlier sentence, "you had" is not the past tense of the verb "to have". Though it is in colloquial use, such a sentence would surely bring out the examiner's red pen in an English Examination for grammatically incorrect construction, and lose marks.

Were it ever otherwise.

What? ^{<sound of running - _{fading into distance>}}

No apologies needed I have thick skin about things like this and besides I wasn't the one who had the problem or corrective solution but I don't mind a little education on how our language should be written now and then. I just wish more people put more effort into trying to make their writings more grammatically correct as a little show of a professional respect for others.

All in all I just try to write how I speak which is ultimately based, for better or worse, on my regional dialect and local heritage influences.

Hi English Rose,

OK, I will concede, having bowed down to accepted your analysis. Since I have read quite a lot of well written fiction prose, it just sounded awkward.

tcmtech, this is as close to an apology as you're gonna get. However, I am with you 100% on the sentiment of your post.

Mike

this is not funny, telling us what we all know but don't want to spoil the fun.

That makes sense.

Nothing is as annoying as a little kid running around with his belly blinking.

Usually there are numbers on the circuit board. Google them. See what comes up.

Ooooo, I want one.

I was just thinking you should've worn your aluminum foil cap before going near it! Maybe a face shield and insulated gloves.

Does your camera have a macro lens setting? That may enable you to get a clearer picture of it. Might give us some more to work with.

"It blinks only in daylight and quits at night."

Perhaps, it was originally powered by both batteries and solar cell. Might be designed to blink both in the day and in the night to signal its existance (inturn the existance of the stuff to which it is attached).

In day light, the solar still works and the batteries could have gone, so no blinks at night:)

I suggest it might have come from a solar powered garden light, and is used to detect when the lamp should turn on.

resistance-capacitance circuits are oscillators and would be used to blink the light. the UV detector interrupts the circuit, and enables the night light.

I suggest it needs a battery of it's own to ensure that it works for areas when off duty, or closeted. (no solar power for winter months, when garden walking is minized, many people would pull the lamp from the garden and put it in the garage.

I would suggest reading the bands on the resistor, and values from the capacitor, and battery specs, and try to figure out the power consumption. That would tell you how long the device would be able to flash for.

Chris

"I would suggest reading the bands on the resistor, and values from the capacitor, and battery specs, and try to figure out the power consumption. That would tell you how long the device would be able to flash for."

Unless I keep it in a drawer out of the light the batteries die in 2-3 days. So I think it was designed for occasional exposure to light, perhaps as an alarm in a darkened room or container - a photographic darkroom comes to mind.

I can't believe so many people would spend the time and energy on this as far as trying to figure it out. If you're thinking it might be useful in some future project your planning... why not design what you need as needed??

Given that it was in the news recently to not pick up "bottles" off the road due to possible explosive threats, I wouldn't get too curious about any items laying around on the ground. I'm not a worry-monger... just saying.

I myself don't mind the time, and as far as "energy", my brain is using the energy from the free doughnuts someone brought in.

I agree about the bottles, not only could they be possible explosive threats, but sometimes what looks like refreshing lemonade could be something else!

call the FBI. hahahahahahaahaahahahahhahaahah. joke.

1) An ultrasonic light detector.

2) An ultraviolet hearing aid.

it's a CR4 Commentator detector

It is very similar to the control interface for a flumadalmigator valve, (referred to by Russ in another recent post) The early versions of these used only a single battery, so it may be from a more recent model.

What happened with the rest of E.T.? Not even traces of the finger anymore?

E.T. should have known better than to pick up one of those bottles laying around...

I feel it may be is a "LED Throwie" or similar.

You can read about them here:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED_throwie

A LED throwie is a small LED attached to a coin battery and a rare earth magnet (usually with conductive epoxy or electrical tape), used for the purpose of creating non-destructive graffiti and light displays.^[8] Artists use them by throwing individual LEDs onto metallic objects, like public sculpture or road infrastructure. By throwing LEDs onto an object, the object itself acts as a canvas. LED Throwies were devised by James Powderly and Evan Roth working together at the Graffiti Research Lab during a fellowship at Eyebeam OpenLab in 2006^{[citation needed]}.

It looks like it's part of a Flux capacitor circuit out of a time machine or an alien communication device.

If it suddenly starts to emit the sounds: "Calling Dr Fine, Dr. Howard"......

Shoot it until it says " Oh!...You got me".

I am no electronics expert and have no idea what it could be, but it looks kinda old. Like '80s or so, because don't most modern electronics use chip resistors instead of those huge power consuming monstrosities? I recall seeing boxes of those when I was in a 5th grade electronics class. What kind of electronic device like this would have been used back then?

Perhaps looking at it's age and shape will help those with more knowledge than I to uncover the purpose of this diabolical device.

Drew

Here is a diagram for the "simplest LED flasher":

The operation is based on negative differential resistance using a transistor as a "negistor". The unknown device looks like it could be this except for the mysterious sensor (transistor?). I wish I knew more, but I only just barely finished flashlight and doorbell school.

I maintain still that my post #56 is the real answer.

Did anyone go to the web page I listed and read the description? It fits the device to a "T", except this one seems to have lost its magnet......which may explain why it was apparently thrown away....

Is that the same thing shown in the Step Up 3D movie. In that case, what would be the purpose of turning off the lights when it is dark? the logic doesn't match, imho.

Chris

I think the components and LEDs used are too old for that purpose. Modern LED lights are much smaller and use modern chip resistors. The black bulb looks like I.R. receivers I have seen on dismantled (destroyed) VCRs I found (destroyed) as a kid.

Drew

Looks like the PCB (given through hole mtg components and no sign of tracks on the component side) is prob'ly single-sided (with no internal layers).

Can you work out what is connected to what (even if you don't know which way round the components are) and sketch out a circuit, please?

1.The batteries seem to be in series, giving six volts. Usually an led only needs three volts. The item seems too thick for a greeting card musical or recording device, I think they have them worked out to be thin. They activate when the card is opened.

I just don't know of any items that blink during the day, and are off at night, but I suspect that it is from a toy.

2. The 'whom' thing is a phrase, the object of the preposition 'to'. I suspect it should be 'who', because that is the subject of the phrase. who, whoever, whatever.

Used to love this kind of stuff in school, but it's been a long time. We need an English teacher to chime in and give us a professional opinion.

So it's got nothing to do with breaking up cast iron baths, then? What a shame!

quelle damage.
Del

are you saying quelle domage?

Quel dommage! (Pardonnez mon français.)

yes, that is what I meant. but there is also this. and I dunno, he could have meant a pun or something... swoosh; over my head. it happens all the time.

Quel fromage?

That answer is far too cheesey.