The Jameco Grab Bag - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: dmlandrum
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 02, 2011, 11:01:14 pm
content: I ordered a buttload of parts from Jameco, and at the last minute, I decided to throw in a three pound, twenty dollar grab bag of random parts. So what did I get? Well, I made a long and boring video of it here:And yes, my ignorance really does show, but I now know that the big blue discs are varistors, the black five-pin thing is a momentary push button of some kind, and that cool-looking light bulb thingy is just a regular old lamp (I was hoping for a neon bulb, but no chance of that). But the other odd thing was a windowed chip labeled TMS 2532JL-35 with a date code of 03780. Thanks to my friend Steve and JohnS_AZ from the board here, it's been identified as a 32kbit EPROM made between 1978 and the end of 1980. I don't know if it's still any good, but it's still an interesting bit of electronics history. Here's a picture I found on the web:http://hardware.najd.cz/foto/pameti/eprom/59.jpgIt's funny how Dave and Chris were talking about windowed EPROMs on the Amp Hour a week or so back, and suddenly, one appears in a grab bag I bought on a lark.

author: glossywhite
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 02, 2011, 11:32:46 pm
content: I interpret "a buttload" to be "shit", as that would be theonlyload to come from a butt, right?

author: dmlandrum
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 02, 2011, 11:51:33 pm
content: Okay, a metric buttload, then.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 03, 2011, 01:27:17 am
content: Its hard to tell from the video but those mains filters look to have a fuse tray on the front.You press the little catch down in the middle using a screwdriver and a tray pops out where you can put a fuse. Sometimes they have a spare fuse as well.So might be a good idea to check, maybe they already have fuses in them?

author: dmlandrum
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 03, 2011, 01:29:20 am
content: Oh, hey! You're right! No fuses in them, though. That's pretty slick.

author: rossmoffett
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 03, 2011, 03:01:37 am
content: Windowed EPROMs are still available as new-manufacture parts. We have legacy products that I program EPROMs for every once in a while for firmware upgrades. I use a UV exposure box to erase them and stickers to seal 'em up after they're programmed.

author: slburris
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 03, 2011, 03:41:05 am
content: I've gotten some pretty interesting things out of Jameco grab bags,like multidigit dot matrix displays with built in drivers like the onepictured at the bottom of this message.You can still get these new, for > $30 each, ouch!I've tested a few and they work great.I've also gotten some cool things from The Electronic Goldmine'sSuper Electronic Surprise Box:http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G9321Last time the weirdest stuff I got was some General Instruments ICsfrom the 70's to play the Pong video game. All analog, non of thatnewfangled digital stuff! Analog joy sticks in and NTSC video out.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AY-3-8500Scott

author: saturation
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 03, 2011, 12:18:54 pm
content: Grab bags are often very good value, usually if you find a handful of useful components, check the prices on them if you had bought them alone. If they have stock numbers, they are usually traceable to good sources, unlikely counterfeit!On eBay, and with some caution, there are grab bags of components from Canada that are precision parts, so its a steal. I got 200 1% tolerance good tempco resistors for $2, I've been testing them since then and they have good tempco and are accurate to 1%.

author: Excavatoree
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 03, 2011, 01:23:51 pm
content: I've purchased grab bags from Electronics Goldmine - got my money's worth from usefull stuff, and there's always those neat but useless items that you'd never order explicitly....

author: Frangible
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 03, 2011, 06:05:17 pm
content: I remember buying grab bags from Poly Paks when I was a kid. Good stuff!