4 ms·
From a reply: “wow. I expected expensive (two digits), but indeed: these are _very_ expensive (three digits).” Honestly, seems pretty reasonable for what is l
by cwillu 3y ago
From a reply: “wow. I expected expensive (two digits), but indeed: these are _very_ expensive (three digits).”
Honestly, seems pretty reasonable for what is likely an industrial-grade product.
I've paid 80 dollars or so per button on a panel with a dozen “simple” push buttons, and there were buttons in that same series that went for a few hundred (for example https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/schneider-electric/XB4BW3445/16607027 https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/schneider-electric...).
- genter 3y agoIf you already have the fiber in place, that's dirt cheap compared to hiring a sparky to run power for a sensor.
- treesciencebot 3y agoI don't understand how people find 3V at 180mA usable, isn't it like 0.5 watts?
- m463 3y agomaybe they could power a repeater with it. (this is a joke btw) EDIT: wait, what if the repeater was amplifying light going the other direction (coming out) or on a different strand?
- aifooh7Keew6xoo 3y agothen you would have rediscovered the Erbium doped fiber amplifier
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- lesuorac 3y agoWhile light travels pretty far; it doesn't travel perfectly inside the fiber. So over time you lose all the light. This can be trivially prevented by have amplifiers (analog) along the long cable so that you boost the signal's light level. However now we introduce another problem where the our nice on-off-on square wave starts to look like a gaussian distribution and as it continues to degrade it becomes hard to determine a 0 from a 1 (or say 00 from 01). So instead of amplifying you have a repeater (digital) that re-transmits the original signal (assuming it can read it correctly). Why not just plug the amplifiers and repeaters into the grid? They probably do; it's just there isn't a grid underwater. https://www.synopsys.com/photonic-solutions/product-applications/optical-amplifiers/ropa.html https://www.synopsys.com/photonic-solutions/product-applicat...
- taneq 3y agoWatt are you using it for, though?
- ExoticPearTree 3y agoYou can use it for a low voltage relay switch for example. Recently got a device that has a small LCD, buttons, a small OS and which consumes ~ 20mA at 4V. Nowadays you can do a lot of things with 3V and 100mA.
- londons_explore 3y agoThats plenty for a temperature sensor, PIR sensor, humidity sensor, door open/close switch, a button, CO2 sensor, etc.
- yetihehe 3y ago180mA at 3v is plenty for a lot of pretty beefy microcontrollers.
- willis936 3y agoIt's a perfectly electrically isolated 0.5 W that doesn't need a bulky transformer. Let's say you have a sensor + tiny computer that you want grounded to a high voltage device. You could use this and side step any questions about insulation and isolation.
- rkangel 3y agoThat's loads for people who are used to designing electronics to run off a coin cell or small Li-On battery. My current project avoids peaks of more than 60mA.
- postalrat 3y agoA capacitor would be useful if you need a spike of higher power. If it's the only or you have you will make it work.
- _joel 3y agoActive power draw (average) of an ESP32-S3 is 78.32 mW. Can do quite a lot with that budget.[1] I'm not sure I'd use this personally, but there could be some situation where it's useful I guess. [1] https://esp32s3.com/ https://esp32s3.com/
- slau 3y agoI’ve designed and installed bespoke industrial cameras running on batteries because running any kind of electrical cable would require recertification of the entire factory floor. I’m not convinced this fibre wouldn’t require recertification, but I can guarantee I would’ve spent the time and money to find out if this was an option. Battery operation and maintenance required SOPs, yearly reviews, and a lot of documentation and training. Quiescent current was in the picoamps, and operation spiking in the hundreds of milliamps, which a capacitor or two could easily handle. And if this provides communication as well…
- Aurornis 3y agoAn average AA battery will have 3-4 Watt-hours of capacity. This 3V at 180mA is 13 Watt-hours in a day. So think of it like consuming about 4 x AA batteries every day, or almost 1500 x AA batteries jn a year. You can do a lot with that amount of energy. You won’t be powering a switch or computer, but it’s orders of magnitude more power than small battery operated devices can use.
- ahmedalsudani 3y agoA few lemons/potatoes can power an MCU. 0.5 watts is luxurious. https://youtube.com/shorts/qLTEtXY5-BQ https://youtube.com/shorts/qLTEtXY5-BQ
- whoomp12341 3y agoespecially if the sparky has to scuba dive to install it
- wkipling 3y agoAt minimum 20pc per order...
- cwillu 3y agoDigikey stocks them individually: https://www.digikey.com/en/products/filter/special-purpose-isolators/905?s=N4IgTCBcDaIPYAcAuBLAxgQwDYAIFwHcBTAJxzTgDsA3UpUkAXQF8g https://www.digikey.com/en/products/filter/special-purpose-i... 561.79USD per converter, 540USD if you buy them in packs of ten.
- jetrink 3y agoWhat separates a $300 button from say a $60 button? Is it like an airplane part where has a special rating or is it actually that much more reliable?
- cwillu 3y agoReliability, ruggedness, flexability, serviceability, lots of ilities. The line of switches I linked lets you snap on independent contacts (both normally closed and normally open) that are all actuated by the same button, as well as leds in various configurations, to a baseplate that fits in a standard hole in the panel; the button itself can be swapped out from that baseplate for various reasons (recessed, illuminated, a rotary switch instead of a button, a giant emergency stop button, a 2 or 4-way joystick, etc). Various ratings on the whole mess for dust-proof/splash-proof/water-proof/high-pressure-wash-proof, which is one of the places where the cost starts to go up. Button materials range from relatively cheap plastics up to stainless steel, and potentially heavy duty enough to survive and continue functioning after blows that might shatter a cheaper button. And you'll be able to order compatible replacement parts 20 years from now. That's a big part of it too.
- squarefoot 3y ago> Reliability, ruggedness, flexability, serviceability, lots of ilities. Plus probably some certification+warranty that covers the asses of whoever chose that part in case things go bad.
- breischl 3y ago>you'll be able to order compatible replacement parts 20 years from now. Is that because it's an industry standard, or just that the manufacturer promises, or something? Sheer curiosity - I know nothing about this space. :)
- cwillu 3y agoPromises and history and network effects. Generally you more or less buy into a system of instrumentation. Obviously you can always run wires from terminal A to B across brands, but you can work _much_ more quickly and neatly when working with the standard-for-your-shop stuff. Your shop will have oodles of terminals and buttons and relays in stock, and know exactly where to get the oddball stuff, etc. The resellers and supply houses all keep inventories. If a part does go end-of-life, you'll probably get an email if you've ever purchased that part, advising you to make final purchases for the long term if needed, etc.
- I_Am_Nous 3y agoMost of the cool fiber pluggables are a lot more than a couple hundred bucks, so when they said expensive I immediately thought 4 digits.