7 ms·

I don't understand how people find 3V at 180mA usable, isn't it like 0.5 watts?

by treesciencebot 3y ago

taneq 3y ago
Watt are you using it for, though?
- ExoticPearTree 3y ago
  You can use it for a low voltage relay switch for example. Recently got a device that has a small LCD, buttons, a small OS and which consumes ~ 20mA at 4V. Nowadays you can do a lot of things with 3V and 100mA.
m463 3y ago
maybe they could power a repeater with it. (this is a joke btw) EDIT: wait, what if the repeater was amplifying light going the other direction (coming out) or on a different strand?
- aifooh7Keew6xoo 3y ago
  then you would have rediscovered the Erbium doped fiber amplifier
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- lesuorac 3y ago
  While light travels pretty far; it doesn't travel perfectly inside the fiber. So over time you lose all the light. This can be trivially prevented by have amplifiers (analog) along the long cable so that you boost the signal's light level. However now we introduce another problem where the our nice on-off-on square wave starts to look like a gaussian distribution and as it continues to degrade it becomes hard to determine a 0 from a 1 (or say 00 from 01). So instead of amplifying you have a repeater (digital) that re-transmits the original signal (assuming it can read it correctly). Why not just plug the amplifiers and repeaters into the grid? They probably do; it's just there isn't a grid underwater. https://www.synopsys.com/photonic-solutions/product-applications/optical-amplifiers/ropa.html https://www.synopsys.com/photonic-solutions/product-applicat...
londons_explore 3y ago
Thats plenty for a temperature sensor, PIR sensor, humidity sensor, door open/close switch, a button, CO2 sensor, etc.
- yetihehe 3y ago
  180mA at 3v is plenty for a lot of pretty beefy microcontrollers.
willis936 3y ago
It's a perfectly electrically isolated 0.5 W that doesn't need a bulky transformer. Let's say you have a sensor + tiny computer that you want grounded to a high voltage device. You could use this and side step any questions about insulation and isolation.
rkangel 3y ago
That's loads for people who are used to designing electronics to run off a coin cell or small Li-On battery. My current project avoids peaks of more than 60mA.
postalrat 3y ago
A capacitor would be useful if you need a spike of higher power. If it's the only or you have you will make it work.
_joel 3y ago
Active power draw (average) of an ESP32-S3 is 78.32 mW. Can do quite a lot with that budget.[1] I'm not sure I'd use this personally, but there could be some situation where it's useful I guess. [1] https://esp32s3.com/ https://esp32s3.com/
slau 3y ago
I’ve designed and installed bespoke industrial cameras running on batteries because running any kind of electrical cable would require recertification of the entire factory floor. I’m not convinced this fibre wouldn’t require recertification, but I can guarantee I would’ve spent the time and money to find out if this was an option. Battery operation and maintenance required SOPs, yearly reviews, and a lot of documentation and training. Quiescent current was in the picoamps, and operation spiking in the hundreds of milliamps, which a capacitor or two could easily handle. And if this provides communication as well…
Aurornis 3y ago
An average AA battery will have 3-4 Watt-hours of capacity. This 3V at 180mA is 13 Watt-hours in a day. So think of it like consuming about 4 x AA batteries every day, or almost 1500 x AA batteries jn a year. You can do a lot with that amount of energy. You won’t be powering a switch or computer, but it’s orders of magnitude more power than small battery operated devices can use.
ahmedalsudani 3y ago
A few lemons/potatoes can power an MCU. 0.5 watts is luxurious. https://youtube.com/shorts/qLTEtXY5-BQ https://youtube.com/shorts/qLTEtXY5-BQ

I don't understand how people find 3V at 180mA usable, isn't it like 0.5 watts?

taneq 3y ago

Watt are you using it for, though?

ExoticPearTree 3y ago
You can use it for a low voltage relay switch for example. Recently got a device that has a small LCD, buttons, a small OS and which consumes ~ 20mA at 4V. Nowadays you can do a lot of things with 3V and 100mA.

m463 3y ago

maybe they could power a repeater with it. (this is a joke btw) EDIT: wait, what if the repeater was amplifying light going the other direction (coming out) or on a different strand?

aifooh7Keew6xoo 3y ago
then you would have rediscovered the Erbium doped fiber amplifier
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
lesuorac 3y ago
While light travels pretty far; it doesn't travel perfectly inside the fiber. So over time you lose all the light. This can be trivially prevented by have amplifiers (analog) along the long cable so that you boost the signal's light level. However now we introduce another problem where the our nice on-off-on square wave starts to look like a gaussian distribution and as it continues to degrade it becomes hard to determine a 0 from a 1 (or say 00 from 01). So instead of amplifying you have a repeater (digital) that re-transmits the original signal (assuming it can read it correctly). Why not just plug the amplifiers and repeaters into the grid? They probably do; it's just there isn't a grid underwater. https://www.synopsys.com/photonic-solutions/product-applications/optical-amplifiers/ropa.html https://www.synopsys.com/photonic-solutions/product-applicat...

londons_explore 3y ago

Thats plenty for a temperature sensor, PIR sensor, humidity sensor, door open/close switch, a button, CO2 sensor, etc.

yetihehe 3y ago
180mA at 3v is plenty for a lot of pretty beefy microcontrollers.

willis936 3y ago

It's a perfectly electrically isolated 0.5 W that doesn't need a bulky transformer. Let's say you have a sensor + tiny computer that you want grounded to a high voltage device. You could use this and side step any questions about insulation and isolation.

rkangel 3y ago

That's loads for people who are used to designing electronics to run off a coin cell or small Li-On battery. My current project avoids peaks of more than 60mA.

postalrat 3y ago

A capacitor would be useful if you need a spike of higher power. If it's the only or you have you will make it work.

_joel 3y ago

Active power draw (average) of an ESP32-S3 is 78.32 mW. Can do quite a lot with that budget.[1] I'm not sure I'd use this personally, but there could be some situation where it's useful I guess. [1] https://esp32s3.com/ https://esp32s3.com/

slau 3y ago

I’ve designed and installed bespoke industrial cameras running on batteries because running any kind of electrical cable would require recertification of the entire factory floor. I’m not convinced this fibre wouldn’t require recertification, but I can guarantee I would’ve spent the time and money to find out if this was an option. Battery operation and maintenance required SOPs, yearly reviews, and a lot of documentation and training. Quiescent current was in the picoamps, and operation spiking in the hundreds of milliamps, which a capacitor or two could easily handle. And if this provides communication as well…

Aurornis 3y ago

An average AA battery will have 3-4 Watt-hours of capacity. This 3V at 180mA is 13 Watt-hours in a day. So think of it like consuming about 4 x AA batteries every day, or almost 1500 x AA batteries jn a year. You can do a lot with that amount of energy. You won’t be powering a switch or computer, but it’s orders of magnitude more power than small battery operated devices can use.

ahmedalsudani 3y ago

A few lemons/potatoes can power an MCU. 0.5 watts is luxurious. https://youtube.com/shorts/qLTEtXY5-BQ https://youtube.com/shorts/qLTEtXY5-BQ