LED

In some of my past jobs I've received boxes from RS almost every day. My days of building electronics are largely behind me now however. The good stuff is all far too small nowadays - so many specialist tools are needed and I don't have the precision or patience for it. I still do a little electronics stuff professionally, but it is all assembled by others!

This RS delivery is occasioned by a need for a repair to a unique gadget I created for my parents back in the early 1990s. They have used it almost every day, and miss it now it has given up the ghost after 20-something years of service. I now have the parts to almost entirely replace the gadget next time I'm up there.

I did think briefly about upgrading it, maybe taking a leaf out of Joe's book and using a arduino boards and radio modules, but I think I'll just keep it cheap simple...

This is probably the most high-tech component in the whole thing as LEDs weren't invented until the 1960's. The other components (switch, battery, wires, resistors) were all well known at least 100 years earlier.