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Loring Engeneering's Desulfator
By raw raw, Section Homebrewed Electricity Posted on Mon Feb 23rd, 2004 at 09:57:35 AM MST
electronics

This is my first try on this board. I dabbled in electronics 50 years ago and now it seems to be all new to me. I am building this desulfator but havinbg trouble figuring out how to connect the transistors and diods. Does DC current travel from negitive to positive? On the diodes is the lead marked Cathode connect to the negative? The transistors have one shiny side. How do you know which lead is the solid arrow and where the other two leads connect? In the old days we never worked with diodes and transistors.

Loring Engeneering's Desulfator | 5 comments (5 topical, 0 editorial)

Re: Loring Engeneering's Desulfator (none / 0) (#1)
by RatOmeter on Mon Feb 23rd, 2004 at 10:42:45 AM MST
(User Info) http://www.rato.us

Tutorial on diodes
http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/components/diode.htm

Also check the main site at http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/

You'll find the answers to most of your basic questions there.

-RatOmeter

Re: Loring Engeneering's Desulfator (none / 0) (#2)
by Electric Ed on Mon Feb 23rd, 2004 at 11:23:06 AM MST
(User Info) http://www.electric-ed.com

[quote]"Does DC current travel from negitive to positive?"

Yes, current, which is defined as a flow of free electrons from one atom to another along a conducing path, does flow from - to + in the external circuit.

The automotive and electronics textbooks still refer to "conventional" or "hole" flow, and that is considered to flow from + to -.

Electric Ed

Re: Loring Engeneering's Desulfator (none / 0) (#3)
by kell on Mon Feb 23rd, 2004 at 05:47:26 PM MST
(User Info)

In the symbol for a bipolar transistor the "collector" and "emitter" are the two lines that come out at angles. The emitter has the arrow. If the arrow points out of the transistor, it is an NPN transistor. If it points in, the transistor is PNP. These are just opposite polarity transistors. The NPN turns on when the base is positive with respect to the emitter. Turning on the PNP requires making the base negative with respect to the emitter. The arrow indicates the direction of current flow, which by convention is positive to negative -- just like water flowing downhill. That convention was formed before they discovered electrons.
The other line in the symbol, the middle one that comes in at a right angle, is the "base." The amount of current going into the base determines the amount of current that runs between the collector and emitter terminals (called collector current). If the collector current is one hundred times the base current, the transistor has a gain of 100. Bipolar transistors are current controlled. Conduction in MOSFET transistors controlled by an applied voltage. Instead of having a base, collector and emitter they have a gate, drain and source. Different names. The biggest difference between MOSFETs and bipolars is that you don't have to put hardly any current into the gate of a MOSFET to turn it on. MOSFETs also come in two polarities, and the circuit symbol looks different.
To find out which terminal is which on a transistor you need to look at the package it came in, it should have a pinout diagram. But pretty much all transistors of a certain type and package will have the same pinout. You can look at tutorials on the internet, or look at the data sheet for transistor, which you can find for example at Newark.com
If you look at a diode circuit symbol, it looks like an arrow pointing to a crossbar. The crossbar is on the same end as the stripe on the actual diode. That is the cathode. If you connect the cathode to the negative post of a battery and the anode to the positive post it will conduct.

Re: Loring Engeneering's Desulfator (none / 0) (#4)
by Radomike on Mon Feb 23rd, 2004 at 09:28:17 PM MST
(User Info)

Electric Ed
Thanks much for the pictures--now I've got my head around the e-flow idea; words only go so far.
Mike

[ Parent ]

Re: Loring Engeneering's Desulfator (none / 0) (#5)
by elvin1949 (elvin1949@yahoo.com) on Tue Feb 24th, 2004 at 07:24:08 AM MST
(User Info)

good morning
50 yr's is a long time
so to simplify
a transistor is a silicon type 30 vacum
[mispelled] tube only faster
hope this helps
later
elvin

Loring Engeneering's Desulfator | 5 comments (5 topical, 0 editorial)

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