[BC] Finding out what is inside

Kevin Tekel amstereoexp
Sat Dec 16 23:15:08 CST 2006


Tom Osenkowsky wrote:
 > Will Orban and/or CRL ever post schematics of
 > the now out of production products "black boxes"
 > like the 424A, etc?

You could just crack one open yourself and find out what's inside. 
Sometimes due to heat and age, the potting compound inside embrittles 
(is that a word?) to the point that you can easily pop the cap off 
and then chip away to discover the components.  You'll likely see 
just a bunch of resistors, capacitors, and diodes. Some of the 
Orban/CRL manuals explicitly describe these "black boxes" as 
containing only passive components.

And certainly the architecture you're dealing with is already quite 
"open".  I have seen some circuits where all the ICs have their part 
numbers ground off and the entire PC board is sealed with wax.



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