ever wonder what]s inside a decoder?

[jward]

here is the circuit diagram for your average decoder......
http://xkcd.com/730/

[WoundedBear]

Doesn't appear all that complicated really. One question......what's the recharge time on the eel? I'm assuming he works like a capacitor?

Sid

[jward]

i guess that would depend on the energy generated by the bat and rat in the upper right corner.

[Jim Banner]

Now I understand why some of my locomotives make such an awful racket - it must occur when that compass thingy falls into the blender below it.

Jim

[jward]

you gotta love how they shorted out all the power supplies. note the 50v battery with both terminals grounded. and the bypass wire connected to both ends of a 240v ac power supply, labelled "omit this wire if you are a wimp."

one of the reasons i gave up tech support work is that we had people who saw nothing wrong with a circuit like this on the tech support line. i got tired of being the person to handle the phone call AFTER those reps provided support........