[time-nuts] Trimble Thunderbolt temperature judgment call

[Hal Murray]

> I was thinking of putting insulation all around the Thunderbolt to
> thermally stabilize it.  It's in my basement and the temperature there
> rarely gets above 18 C.

> That would also help with my dedicated power supply, as the 12 volt
> sags when the Thunderbolt is started.  The power supply is beautiful
> one from a 1985 HP fiber optic mux. 

Running things hotter reduces lifetime.

Insulation isn't going to solve the problem of startup sag if the TBolt has 
been off for a long time.  It will just change the time scale on "long".  Are 
you expecting to unplug it and leave it off for a while (say 1/2 hour) and 
then plug it back in very often?  If not, why worry about that case?

Does the current setup work OK after it's warmed up?  What's the rating on 
the power supply?  Tom's web page says it takes 160 mA.  I expect it would be 
lower at a higher temperature.  (That might be fun to measure.)


-- 
These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's.  I hate spam.