I’m currently performing “Africanisation” tests on Mesh-Potato prototypes from the alpha and beta production run. “Africanisation” means that a Mesh Potato is supposed to survive even if you accidentally feed reversed DC polarity or AC to the DC jack, to any pin of the Ethernet port or FXS port. For a couple of weeks before the Capetown workshop I had only one Mesh Potato to perform software development, radio performance and hardware tests. I was therefore quite nervous to break one of these devices, so I didn’t do any – possibly destructive – tests. The first sample of the MP 1.2 units has arrived at my home this week. Now I have three MPs – time to take them and put the design goals to a smoke test! In the little video linked here I’m connecting a – unfused – DC cable with reversed polarity straight from a lead-acid battery to a MP. Don’t try this at home with your equipment, folks! Never operate with unfused DC wiring, particularly if you connect it to a lead-acid battery, since it can feed up to several hundred Amps into your circuit and cause a fire!
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Does the “Africanisation” include to do all the tests using only one hand?
I’ll try to get a camera operator next time
Btw: One rule of survival while working on old fashioned tube electronics (powerful tube circuits use up to hundreds or even a few thousand Volt, buffered in large capacitors) is “Always make sure you have one hand in your pocket while you work on a circuit that is live”.
When I get to the MP tests involving 230V AC I’ll make sure that I always have one hand in the pocket or on the camera