Electrical Engineering

Questions tagged [reverse-engineering]

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The process of taking a completed system and determining details of its design; may have legal limitations or ramifications in different jurisdictions

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63 views

Is it advisable to try to discover a place to make a ground connection on a board with a separate AC power supply?

I am building a device consisting of a microcontroller (an Arduino mini) attached to various output devices, which will be triggered using a wireless doorbell receiver. The receiver is a single board ...
3
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0answers
481 views

Help reverse engineering a CRC-8 [closed]

I have an arduino based home temperature monitoring system using Ambient Weather F007th wireless Thermo-Hygrometers as sensors. I am trying to work out the CRC and add some code to my project to ...
1
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1answer
214 views

STK4192II pinout?

I have been blowing through bandwidth trying to find a pinout diagram of an old STK4192II stereo amp IC but all I can find are reference design schematics, while these will work I guess I want to use ...
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1answer
379 views

PCB to schematic

Is there a software package out there that will allow you to layout a board and "populate" it and then render a schematic from that board? I have a few power supplies to fix and no documentation on ...
1
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1answer
4k views

Replay Philips Livingcolors remote signal

I have a Phillips Living Colors Lamp, which comes with a remote control. I'd like to be able to capture/replay the signal of the remote control so I can control the lamp with a microcontroller (...
4
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1answer
3k views

Could I connect USB wires to this mysterious device?

In a treasure box, as I call the boxes full of old computer electrical parts, I have found a device marked HannStar MV-4 94v-0 0611 E89382. I'm intentionally linking you to google search so that you ...
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4answers
9k views

Remove an LED from a circuit

I have bought a webcam from which I would like to remove an LED (burning it is also fine for me). By doing so, I could obviously change the way the circuit works, so my questions are: Should I ...
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3answers
850 views

Reprogram a calculator to a cash register

due to the "high cost" (at least from my point of view) of a thermal printer I was wondering whether it was possible/worth the effort to buy a compared cheaper device with it integrated already (a ...
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2answers
18k views

Reverse engineer: How do I remove the black plastic that hides the ics?

I am hacking a circuit and it has this black plastic thing (see picture below) that hides part of the circuit. How can I remove them to see what is inside? What they are for? I think they are for ...
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0answers
151 views

Any Home Made Alternatives to using X-rays to identify ICs?

I am on the hunt for several ICs by searching for the markings on them. But sometimes the markings are just too vague and I cannot really guarantee that the IC I found is the IC I am looking for. I ...
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3answers
195 views

Sniffing a proprietary data line at 47.5V

I need to sniff the physical layer of a proprietary data line with a logic analyser, but my analyser is limited to 5V input. Unfortunately the line runs at 47.5V, which would fry everything. I ...
0
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1answer
83 views

Measure/Access Information from small device through audio jack (mic)? [closed]

I've got a small device that I have not yet opened. It sends some unknown sequence of voltage and current through a medium for a few seconds thereby calulating and then displaying a result value on a ...
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1answer
187 views

Identifying this “Transistor”, in this particular circuit [closed]

I'm in FIRST robotics, and I've been helping with our robot over the past few weeks. Every robot (in FIRST) is required to have a status light, which is fancy-ily connected to some other gear. ...
2
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1answer
80 views

Coolpix L27 trigger mechanism

I plan to do a 3d scanner with low-grade digital camera. I opened a coolpix L27 and found this : Does anybody knows how this kind of button is called (may be it is normalised and finding a datasheet ...
4
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1answer
397 views

Why are some AVRs marked with 'atmega' and some marked with 'mega'?

I'm working on hacking the MCU in my MLP4DSM radio for an RC helicopter. The model number on the MCU is scratched out, but I can clearly read MEGA without an ...
3
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1answer
1k views

How can I tell which alternative is used in PoE?

I need to disable the power over ethernet being output by a device to prevent any damage to routers and switches. After looking more into how PoE works, there appears to be two alternatives to how the ...
1
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1answer
540 views

DE-9 monitoring solutions?

My treadmill connects to its controls via a DE-9 port interface and I'd like to reverse engineer it so I can control and monitor it via my computer instead. I would hope it perhaps uses RS232, but ...
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2answers
134 views

Need help with finding the electronic schematics

I'm trying to find what kind of circuitry(circuit components or schematics) is used in this anemometer: http://www.nrgsystems.com/sitecore/content/Products/5966.aspx There are a lot of details about ...
2
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1answer
334 views

Analyzing 4-pin data port to determine protocol

I have a Solar controller for my pool, it controls the pump and actuator for routing water onto the roof to heat it up, when required. The controller knows the pool and roof temperatures, as well as ...
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0answers
3k views

How to calibrate a Kill A Watt meter and understand its hidden service menu [closed]

I found a hidden menu within the Kill A Watt P4400 meter, which is accessed by holding down the Volt and Hz buttons. Although I rendered my meter unable to measure accurately because of my futzing ...
1
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1answer
452 views

Nano Electric Receiver Switch - Circuit Components

I want to recreate the circuit board below, but I am having a hard time figuring out what components I need. I have been trying to look them up on mouser but I haven't got any results. It is called ...
1
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1answer
224 views

Can I use a Bus Pirate to drive this VFD?

So a few months ago I asked the question on how to analyze a display. Since then I have found out much information about this board. From some trace following it seems that Brown - DATA Red - ...
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3answers
1k views

Is it possible to reverse engineer an analogue IC from a physical example?

Lately I've been investigating custom ICs developed by Roland in the late 70s/Early 80s for their analogue synthesizers. They stopped manufacturing these components around 1989, there are no ...
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3answers
2k views

LCD display reverse engineering

I recently got in my hand an old phone lcd display. Display itself seems to be useful so I took apart it from the rest, and I begun to test its behaviour. Display is named SHARP LM167511 and its ...
3
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3answers
3k views

Reverse engeneering a home automation RF 315Mhz transimtter

I have this remote control and transmitter and I want to reverse engineer the 2 RF signals sent by the transmitter. This is the board. The board says "ak-rk01se". I can also open up the transmitter ...
31
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2answers
11k views

How can I reverse engineer a simple through-hole board?

How can I reverse engineer a simple through-hole board? Trying to do it by eye gets confusing because it's easy to lose track of component orientation and location while flipping the board over. Maybe ...
4
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2answers
4k views

Reverse-engineering a brushless ESC, could someone help me understand the circuit

So I'm in the process of trying to reverse-engineer a hobby brushless ESC. Above is the schematic for a single half-bridge drive circuit. VIN is 11.1V D1 is an unidentified diode; all that I've ...
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4answers
31k views

Determining I2C Address without Datasheet

When setting up I2C communications, I know that it is certainly ideal to have the devices' datasheet(s), and find the I2C address of the device(s) that way. However, in some reverse-engineering ...
5
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2answers
773 views

Analyzing the Protocol

I am trying to understand a protocol (shown in figure 1) . For now this I have understood that data is transferred at high to low clock. as shown in figure. and the sync is for every 8-bit. But then ...
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1answer
7k views

How does SOLOSHOT work? [closed]

Does anyone know how SOLOSHOT works? I'm interested in exploring cheap ways of tracking an object relative to another object. So my brother sent me a link to this product and I'm having trouble ...
6
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2answers
324 views

Is there any possibility of dissecting a microchip to get data from its internal memory?

There are many devices that perform various cryptographic operations inside their microchips. One of their key feature is that the secret keys are stored inside of the hardware and never leave it. ...
6
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2answers
3k views

Reverse engineering a 12 pin LCD?

I just found a broken "laser projecting alarm clock". I took it apart, and am interested in only the laser projection arm. This consists of a laser diode (although I suspect that this is actually just ...
3
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2answers
2k views

Reverse-engineering RF packets

I have a Blue Line Innovations PowerCost Monitor. It sends packets to a display unit over a 433.92 MHz RF link. There is code (Power Monitor, incomplete) to detect these packets with a RF Link 4800bps ...
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1answer
2k views

Sending IR signals to Robosapien using Arduino

I am trying to send commands to a Robosapien (first generation) using an IR LED hooked up to an Arduino. I have seen web pages on attaching a microcontroller directly to the toy, but what I want to do ...
3
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2answers
343 views

What is this resistor strip on my helicopter circuit?

RM: Smaller photo substituted - larger slower loading one here if desired: http://i.stack.imgur.com/RPM8l.jpg I am building a helicopter and would like to use a linear servo like the one on the ...
14
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6answers
827 views

Legality of Reverse Engineering

If there was a "law/legal" stack exchange site I'd post it there, but it's in its infant stages in Area 51. I'm a musician and an electrical engineering student. I've designed a modification to the ...
4
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4answers
2k views

How hard is it to reverse-engineer a two-way protocol for a beginner with a logic analyzer?

I recently bought a Tacx Flow trainer, which has a handlebar computer, with a 6channel RJ-11 cable between the trainer and the handlebar computer. The computer reads pedal frequency, power and speed, ...
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2answers
635 views

Sniffing data from C8051F007

For fun I have taken it upon myself to try to reverse engineer a consumer blood pressure device. The device uses a C8051F007 32 pin MCU. I am trying to figure out how I can eavesdrop on the ...
7
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5answers
1k views

Reverse engineer a chip or go with a new one and start from scratch?

I'm working on an existing toy product and the chip has been discontinued. We still want to produce more of this product. You press a combination of buttons and it talks to you. What would be a more ...
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3answers
1k views

How to profile the communication protocol of my Microsoft Arc wireless keyboard?

I bought a new keyboard for windows, datasheet, and I would like to sniff the packets between the keyboard and the pc / USB transmitter. The datasheet is useless and there is nothing informative for ...
2
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2answers
1k views

Determining Suitable Replacement Transistor?

I have a toy which developed a short, and one of the transistors on the board is now fried. I've removed the shot transistor, along with the part of the toy which was shorting out, and everything ...
0
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2answers
343 views

checking solar panels current

I have some solar panels, that I don't have any information about it. How can i measure how much current it is able to deliver? With my multimeter under the sunlight? Can I test it with a light bulb ...
5
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2answers
127 views

Determine Attributes of an LED

I have some devices which have purple LED's in them. I need to make another one, but don't know anything else about the LED to buy more. How can I determine the forward voltage and maximum current ...
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4answers
11k views

Is it possible to reverse engineer a chip design?

Can we make something like chip reader, which can understand chip design and generate blueprint of it?
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1answer
344 views

How to reverse cellphone firmware

I want to get full list of supported AT commands and other undocumented codes for some cell phone. I found that using strings command (on linux or win alternative) ...
6
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5answers
8k views

DSC Keybus Protocol

I'm plan to interface a atmel avr with my alarm system in home but the issue is DSC has a propriatary protocol between the keypad and the base. So has anyone messed with this before or can give me a ...
5
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4answers
346 views

Patented hardware architectures

I have seen patented hardware designs at the level of generic digital block such as shift registers, flip-flops and adders. If a chip maker were to include such a design deep within an ASIC, how can ...
4
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6answers
3k views

Monitoring two serial lines at the same time

First this is the setup: (please note that one of the grounds is not connected, both FTDIs working properly) Now, I have used PuTTY to look at these two serial streams, both exchanging data at 9600 ...
5
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5answers
586 views

Identifying the SPI master

I'm trying to reverse engineer the SPI communications between two chips. But, it's not clear who's master and who's slave. I've found the chip select. Without lifting any pins or cutting traces is ...
8
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7answers
14k views

Reverse engineering USB signals

Let's say there is a USB stick that is specifically for storing dates or days or some kind of arbitrary data. In order to access the data you must have the software. Is there any way to analyze the ...

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