here is the circuit diagram for your average decoder......
http://xkcd.com/730/
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
i guess that would depend on the energy generated by the bat and rat in the upper right corner.
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
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........