@NickAlexeev I've preferred KiCAD for a while, and it does keep improving. A lot of the new complaints are around the licensing (subscription). I think Eagle has suffered a bit from FUD regarding the Autodesk acquisition. Most of the maker-oriented widget shops like Sparkfun and Adafruit seem to still use Eagle.

Need help with some close votes on my question:

Just goes to show that repair questions are hard to do right

Strange that I still need 5 votes to close my own question

If people would write more proper repair questions then web would not be so trigger happy, but because there is so much crap it often isn't worth thinking about if it is one of the repair questions worth keeping

On a second look it is a modification, not repair question

I still showed not enough understanding of the device.

I haven't read it all, but "enough" doesn't mean total understanding, otherwise you would not need to ask ;)

Does anyone know where I might go looking for a high power (>10kW) 400MHz transmitter?

I suspect I'm using the wrong search terms. I've found low power transmitters at 5W which isn't quite enough for my needs.

@Shalvenay nice to see you!

@Green try using the term "broadcast transmitter"

I saw some 5kW ones just now

hey there @Marla

@Marla excellent, thank you. I'll go have a look.

hey there @Green and @Kortuk as well

@Shalvenay Allo

how're things going?

@Shalvenay crazy for me, as my life always is. How are you?

doing fine here

@Marla thanks for the pointer. I'm having better luck when I search for radar transmitters.

@Shalvenay anything new and exciting?

@Green banging my head on a wall called "heat pumps and auxiliary heat integration"

anyone around?

@William ask away

okay I am trying to disable yes disable the fn key on my keyboard

I took apart my thinkpad keyboard

I deterimined the key is activated by pressure

unfortunately

could I just drill out the key where the DOM is theoretically?

@Shalvenay what is the easiest way to disable the fn key on the keyborad?

hardware not software wise

there is a silver pressure sensitive dot that displays underneath the key

I think I can just drill though the whole but I am not sure unfortunately

you know I need some electrical tappe

that might work assuming the plastic is a different type or something

sighs not sure

okay what is the least conductive thin piece of something to prevent a keyboard key from firing then?

electrical tape I thought would work but I am not sure

@William Kapton/Mylar tape?

in theory how woudd you guess a keyboard matrix works?

I guess I'll try the electrical tappe first

if that doesn't work I'll drill out the key

see there is a circle

and three connectors coming to the circle

why are there three?

Seems like it would be just 2

okay well I drilled out the scroll lock key

figuring that would do the least damage

ad it worked disabling the key

but it disable the entire row of keys hoping that doesn't happen on the control key also

sucussefully drilled out the fn key yeah~

yeah~!

well aparantly the left control key and right control key are circuited together somehow

so this works except for the fact now i no longer have a right control key

@Shalvenay Thermal design for what kind of instrumentation?

@NickAlexeev a house :P

In what kind of climate?

@NickAlexeev US Climate Zone 4, so mixed with humid summers

Washington, Oregon?

not nearly as coastal

@NickAlexeev -- also, trying to figure out how series ratings on OCPDs work when you have a panel that's combining power sources, instead of distributing power to loads

do the branch breakers have to be able to break the full possible short-circuit current of all the sources combined, or can they be rated to break the short-circuit current available from an individual source?

Thank you @NickAlexeev

would this be the right SE site for a question regarding soldering techniques?

I am wondering how to solder headers to a stripboard

What's the problem?

Having trouble keeping them straight, or difficulty wiring to them?

I have a stripboard and some male headers. I want to DIY a shield for my Uno. The headers are difficult to solder as I would prefer to have the non-copper side upwards, this means the plastic section of the header is touching the stripboard and I cannot reach the copper tracks to solder.

I cannot figure out a way to solder them with the stripboard in the desired orientation and not melting the plastic in the process

Any help would would be much appreciated

Are the headers too short if you put them through the board? (so that the plastic and the small piece would be on the up facing non copper side) They come in different lengths, that's why I ask.

That would solve the soldering issues, however, would that be long enough to connect to the female pins on the other board?

The longer side measures 0.5cm

hey there @W5VO @Arsenal and @Green

@EugeneProut Unless you have a board specially designed, not all of the pin headers will fit

@W5VO Sorry, but I don't understand

the pins are offset on one side, they won't fit on a standard 0.1" board

specifically, they won't line up

Try doing a (unpowered) dry fit

Most of them fit, however, I intend to bend one row of pins to fit

* not my image

0.5 cm is probably a bit on the short side to make reliable contact if you put it through the board. Sorry no other neat trick right now in my mind on how to get that work out nicely.

so...got a weird circuit breaker question for you folks (if you think I should ask it on mainsite instead, just say so :): if you have a breaker panel that's combining a bunch of power sources together, instead of loads, can you use a series-rated config with the branch breakers rated for the Isc of a single power source and the mains rated for the total Isc, or do the individual branch breakers need to be rated for the total Isc available in the system?

Hm, i wonder if it was intended that in this angle grinder gear box all the grease is just ihn The Case and nothing on the gears

@Shalvenay you protect the cables with a breaker according to their capacity

@PlasmaHH sorry -- I'm talking about interrupting ratings here, not trip settings

don't want to put a 10kAIC breaker on a 25kAIC source and then have it blow up instead of tripping :P

@Shalvenay then you would analyse fault currents for all possible scenarios