Was in Aldi today, and among their current weekly specials is a UV toothbrush sterilizer for around $16.
Opened one up, had a 1.5" approx U shaped germicidal tube inside,
240v operated.Great for those who posted a couple of months back looking for a cheap way to erase EPROMS.
Strange. After Franc first mentioned it yesterday I looked in their weekly flyer that I happened to have here. It shows a sort-of egg shaped thing with "Dentitex" on it (which, I guess, must be another of Aldi's own brand names). As Franc said, it was $14.99, but the flyer says "Two AA batteries included" ). That had me wondering whether something that worked on two AAs would put out enough UV to be useful as an Eprom Eraser.
240v operated is a different story. Did you try it for the alternate use?Not that I am looking for another Eprom eraser ...
Andy Wood snipped-for-privacy@trap.ozemail.com.au
It seems that 3V powered cold cathode UV lamps can erase EPROMs.
The lamp (in the above URL, not ALDI's) is probably one of these
My mistake, the ALDI one is battery powered. (according to their website) The mains cord I saw under it must have been from one of the other items in the display bin. By the look of this one, you would have to stand the eprom on its end
I didnt try it, I have a lamp already. Just mentioned it as there was a thread a couple of months back with someone looking for a cheap and simple EPROM eraser and a toothbrush steriliser was recommended at that time.
Going to ALDI might be more convenient and fast than buying something via mail order out of China via Ebay.
Just to note that I got one of these today, and it _CAN_ successfully erase EPROMs.
I've just done my first test-run, letting them soak in the rays for an hour. The button has a 6.5 minute timer-- I just kept pressing it.. There are pads for a capacitor on the internal PCB, but adding several different caps to that didn't affect the timer. I've also wired up the battery comparment to my Bench supply, and currently have it over-volted to 4.5V (drawing 400mA) and running okay.
I've finally been able to test out the Glenn Pure EPROM Programmer kit I built 10 years ago.. :)
-- Chris
Cap might be a supply rail cap.
You might be able to use a 555 to do the job. in my experience 20-30 min seems to be enough using a 15w germicidal fluro with the top of the EPROM about 1.5cm away.
I dont know if overdoing it damages the EPROM or not ?
The Toothbrush Steriliser lamp might not be as powerful and might take longer ?
On the second round, a 2764 was completely erased after four 6-minute exposures, however the other 27C256's needed 12-24 minutes more.
-- Chris
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