Hi,
Richard or I can give you contact information for
suppliers of regulated 5 volt power adapters that
already have the proper barrel adapter for
plugging into the standard barrel jack on the
back of an Optacon I with no modification other
than having its battery removed or disconnected.
It would be nice to be able to plug USB chargers
directly into the back of an Optacon, but , for
most less technically talented folks, it may be
an easier conversion if one just purchases a
cable adapter that is a short cable that has a
female USB (USB-A) connector on one end and has a
standard Optacon compatible barrel plug on the
other end. Last year, I was able to purchase
such a cable adapter for only about USA $10.
A reminder for those who might do this, using a
USB or other 5 volt regulated power adapter in
this way only works if the battery is disconnected or removed.
Well, to be more precise, it would actually be
possible to power an Optacon I through a USB
adapter, without disconnecting the battery, if
Richard or some other talented tech adds a
voltage converter circuit inside the Optacon, to
boost the 5 volt input from an external
charger. This added circuit would need to boost
the supplied 5 volt input up to about 7.5 volts
to supply enough voltage to charge the internal battery.
Such an internal power booster circuit would
allow you to run off the batteries and to USE a
compact and more universal standard USB power adapter.
Feel free to contact me off-list, if you want
more details about how to deal with these Optacon power modifications.
Cordially,
Noel
-
Noel H. Runyan
Email: Noel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
At 11:16 AM 2/10/2022, you wrote:
The 5V modification is a sensible thing to do assuming you don't need
portability, especially given the age of your typical Optacon battery
these days. I've modified my R1C to have a USB a port on the back and
find it works well.
On 2/10/22, Noel Runyan <noel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Ben and others,to view the list archives, go to:
Most Optacon I units stop working if their
battery is completely dead. Yes, it can be
partially fixed by just removing the battery or popping the circuit
breaker.
However, it is not safe to run an Optacon without
its battery on an unregulated power
adapter. This is because the Optacon circuitry
can be damaged by the higher voltages from an unregulated power adapter.
There are readily available 5 volt regulated
power adapters that you can use to safely run an
Optacon with the battery removed or
disconnected. I've previously provided sources
for this on this list, and we will be glad to
share those details again, if you need them. We
can also explain how you can use your Optacon
with one of the much more compact USB power adapters.
By the way, if the battery in an Optacon is not
being used, it should be removed, so that it
can't damage the insides of the Optacon if it starts leaking corrosive
fluids.
Anyone who can operate a screwdriver should be
able to remove the battery. It is a simple task.
Of course, Folks like Richard, in the USA, or
David, in England, can do this for you and assure
that you have the correct type of power adapter.
Cordially,
Noel
-
Noel H. Runyan
Email: Noel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
-
At 09:08 PM 2/9/2022, Benjamin Blatter wrote:
Hi Pamela, what happens when an Optacon is
modified to be totally electric? What is the advantage?
By the way, if it's of interest to you all, I
got my first Optacon at my school when I was
maybe 8 or 9 years old. The principal herself
taught me. And I felt and was told too that
being able to read with an Optacon wasn't just
something every one can do. As far I know no one
else was given this chance, at least as long in
these about ten years I attended this school.
My Optacon sounded a bit different than the
principal's one. While hers was totally silent
when a blank space was under the camera, mine
always had a constant sawtooth tone, as soon I
turned the upper dial up, even there was nothing
to be felt on the tactile array.
When I was about 15 the battery had to be
replaced. I could just bring it to school and the principal took care of
it.
Maybe 20 years later I wanted to read something
with my optacon again after some years of not
using it very often. I noticed that a portion of
the tactile array didn't work anymore. There was
like a black hole which didn't respond at all. I
had just the right man for this in mind, a Swiss
engineer who developed audio mixers for the
public radio 30 years ago. He had a look at it
and removed the battery of the Optacon, so it
wouldn't leak. But he wasn't able to open it up
further. He was quite disappointed himself. He
told me that fixing the tactile array would have
been an easy thing for him to do. Too bad, I had
to pay about 100 Swiss Francs and didn't get
anything out of it. So, I did what other people
did as well, I trashed my first Optacon with a heavy heart.
Last year I became desperate enough to look for
an Optacon on Ebay. I found one and got it -
only to read about VideoTIM a few days later and
find this mailing list eventually. Wish I had
found it before and maybe could have asked how to open up the Optacon
further.
In hindsight it's a bit a sad story I guess, and
I admit there is a little black hole in my heart
like on the tactile array because I threw my
first Optacon away. But I think it's wise to go
forward and learn from the past, whenever it's possible.
Ben
Am 09.02.2022 um 22:09 schrieb Pamela Drake <pamdrake@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>:TSI. I taught a friend in Philadelphia through
I was certified as an Optacon instructor at
the Associated Services program. If I rememberu
correctl her training was $500, including the
Optacon. I stayed with her during the
training. And it was great! She and I had been
friends for years, so I simply stayed with her
and bought food. It was a great time! As it
happened, she did not use the Opticon as much
as she thought she would, so I purchased it
from her along with two others from friends.
Even though I have Aira and we have a scanner
and software, I still enjoy my Optacon. I would
never want to be without one. Richard Oehm modified one to be totally
electric.
Ricciardi <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Feb 8, 2022, at 2:21 PM, Margaret
someone who came to my house. One of my
I received my Optacon training from
friend's refused to buy it because training was
a requirement in order to purchase it. I agreed
with him, but I wanted to be able to read print
so much, that I did the training. Another
friend had an Optacon that someone gave her.
She ended up giving it to me and since I really
didn't need it and it needed to be repaired, I
sent it to Richard Oehm so that he could use it
for parts. The Optacon has allowed me to read
knitting patterns that are written out in
charts. Something that a scanner would never be able to read.
Peggy & Dixie Marie<dan.tevelde@xxxxxxxxxxx> <dan.tevelde@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Sent from my iPhone
On Feb 8, 2022, at 3:16 PM,
imagine the Sawtooth being the best
This discussion about sawtooth waves is interesting. When I was a
music
student in college I had to take a physics of sound course and we
talked
about which instruments emit sawtooth waves. Now I can't remember
which
ones.
Dan
-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
On
Behalf Of Benjamin Blatter
Sent: Tuesday, February 8, 2022 2:00 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: Training
Charles, this is amazing. I can somehow
disturbed by the sounds of the Optacon.suited waveform for this It probably has the correct bite to make
things
sharp and clear.
What did became of the Optacon III project? and what would have been
different in the Optacon III you were considering in difference to the
previous models?
Ben
Am 08.02.2022 um 19:40 schrieb Charles ("wpg67")<dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
time. It's sad that your people felt
allow me to amend a part of my previous message. More accurately, a
sawtooth waveform felt the best. it most closely resembled the
optacon's squarewave when its pulse width was at 50%. My apologies.
Charles
On 2022-02-08 1:36 p.m., Charles (wpg67) wrote:
I had experimented with sine waves and other waveforms when
attending
to an optacon III project, but either because of training and
experience or because of something intrinsic to the optacons R1 and
II,, or to human perception, its driving square wave felt best and
it gave the clearest tactile and audio information.
As for the painful finger picking which limited reading time, I
used polymer reeds rather than copper wire reeds. Like fine fishing
line with a good stand-up coefficient. So, whoever develops an
optacon display, a mechanical one at any rate, should not ignore the
texture of the fine tactile pins.
Charles
On 2022-02-08 1:24 p.m., Benjamin Blatter wrote:
Dan, it was very interesting to read from you how things worked at
your
word "unsubscribe" (without theI read or heard somewhere that the developers of the Optacon would
have
changed the sound to a less disturbing sound curve like par examples
sinus
wave. But the Optacons where progressed already way to far for this.
their optacons in the trash. I'm sure I could find someone to use it ifWhile I had joy with my Optacon the constant picking needles made
me
tired after maybe 30 minutes and so I didn't really want to read
whole books this way. I for sure couldn't have kept up during my
musical education with an Optacon. In this time book scanners and
OpenBook came up and I got many materials presented on floppy discs
:-)
Ben
Am 08.02.2022 um 18:20 schrieb dan.tevelde@xxxxxxxxxxx:
When I got my optacon in high school there were limited options
where I could get training and an optacon to keep. I got my
training at a school for the blind and my optacon was loaned to me
by the U.S. Department of Education with the understanding that I
would need to return it when I graduated from college. Some people
I know went to Associated Services for the Blind in Philadelphia
for training which I think included an optacon. I wonder how much
the training cost. The fact that I would not be able to keep an
optacon was a disincentive for me to ever become a fluent user. I
did not get much pleasure from the device and my family hated the
noise. I was always having problems keeping paperback books and
magazines open. Maybe my skills would have improved if I had spent
more time with the optacon. In college I wasn't able to keep up
without hiring readers. Recently A friend gave me an optacon and I
need to get around to fixing it. It isn't my highest priority. If
we ever get a new type of optacon with more features I probably
would be more interested in developing my skills using it. If I
don't get around to fixing the optacon then I will donate it to
someone on this list. I wouldn't do what some friends did by
throwing
I
decide getting it fixed wouldn't justify my using it.
research and development. It is a sad situation.
I know my comments sound negative but this is an example of where
I
would want more modern technology to interest me more in an
optacon. I think the device should be essentially the same but
with
newer components and a digital interface so software could be
updated. We have the technology except for a practical tactile
array which is a real shame. The worst of it is that we don't have
enough interest in an optacon where we could obtain funding for
the quotes) in the message subject.
Dan
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