I got this ancient APC Smart-UPS 600 recently. It is so old, it still got the original APC logo on it. When I got it something inside was rattling around, turns out this was one of the relays that had vibrated off either during transit or at the previous owner. The relay pins completely snapped off.
In this older UPS there are quite a few places that seem not to be quite as well rugged against the transformer vibrations than in newer models.
Landsweiler-Reden April 2026
All pictures taken either with my Sony SLT-a77 with a Sony DT 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 SAM and a Tamron SP AF 70-300 F/4-5.6 Di VC USD objective.
Völklinger Hütte January 2026
All pictures taken either with my Sony SLT-a77 with a Sony DT 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 SAM and a Tamron SP AF 70-300 F/4-5.6 Di VC USD objective.
(Non-Commercial photography form filled out and provided at the entrance)
Quickie: Fixing some Open-Face Lights
Arri Arrilite AL-800 My Arrilite had a small problem with the reflector assembly, when using the Spot<>Flood control the reflector would occasionally get stuck, I’m also pretty sure nobody ever serviced this thing before me. I removed the reflector assembly and fixed the getting stuck issue by sanding a little off the slide rails. Then I also applied new high-temperature grease to all moving parts.
IANIRO IANEBEAM 800 The main power cord on those was getting full of cracks, so I replaced it. In addition the bulb socket was absolutely burned out. I couldn’t find any fitting replacement bulb assembly so I instead got cheap ones off eBay and took the spring loaded socket part off the ceramic and screwed it into the original ceramics.
Recapping a Extreme Networks Summit 200-24
I receives this Extreme Networks Summit 200-24 switch a while back. It an early 2000s managed switch with 24x 10/100Mbit and two dual personality Gigabit/SFP ports.
When powering it on I smelled capacitor electrolyte coming out of it despite it working. Since this is an early 2000s gear it seems to have either struggled with the usual capacitor plague from this time or it was in operation in a fairly hot location for an excess amount of time.
Landsweiler-Reden January 2026
All pictures taken either with my Sony SLT-a77 with a Sony DT 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 SAM.
Precision 10V, 0...10V and 0...10mA Reference
Built this precision voltage and current reference the other day to calibrate some multimeters of mine. It features a ADR01B reference, which has an initial accuracy of 0.05% and a temperature drift of 1 to 4 ppm/degC.
Construction is fairly simple: 10V is output directly on two pins and buffered by an opamp, the opamp output is fed through a precision potentiometer, whose center tap is the 0..10V output and also fed into another opamp which generates the variable current source based on the adjustable voltage. The ADR01 is short circuit proof, so I didn’t bother to buffer its output further. There is a linear power supply for a ~12Vdc supply, a DC/DC converter to generate ±15V for some operational amplifiers. That’s the general overview.
Fixing a Victron Pico 102 and Micro 104
I recently got those two UPSes. The Victron Pico 102 is a mid-80s/early 90s 200VA backup-ups i.e. it switches the load with a relay to the inverter when primary power fails. The Micro 104 is a 400VA online-ups, that is it generates the output AC from an internal DC bus that is jointly supplied by the battery and line voltage. So it doesn’t have a switchover period, at the compromise of a higher-standby usage and inverter reliability.
Replacing a loud fan in a Cisco switch
I have this Cisco ME 3400EG-2CS metro ethernet switch which has quite a loud fan so I figured to replace it with a more silent Noctua fan.
The ME 3400EG-2CS takes around 10W of power with two ports being active, which is similar to a Catalyst 2940 I have, which doesn’t has a fan. So I figure the fan in this unit is mostly to support the extended operating temperatures required for metropolitan equipment.
Maintaining Strand/IANIRO QuartzColor Daylight 575W HMIs
Strand Sirio 575W HMIs I recently got two Strand Sirio 575W HMIs, which are actually rebranded IANIRO HMIs.
Mine are using the GTV standard which I think is pretty exclusive to Europe. Its basically the same as the normal standard but instead of bayonet connectors “VEAM”, these use are screw connectors “GTV” by the company Schaltbau.
I immediately spotted two issues on the ballasts, aside from each having a differently rated circuit breaker (10A and the other 5(6)A), both had circuit breaker with an interruption capacity of only 3kA. In Germany the minimum permissible is 6kA for domestic applications, however in this case since these are device breakers and not for a fixed installation wire you could argue that its probably fine. However I opted to replace them with proper 6kA breakers regardless and also have both be the same (type C4).