OptoNews - August 8, 2007

This SSR May Be Old, but He's Still Got It

New OptoScreencast Introduces PAC Manager

Announcing the July "Shoot This, Opto!" Contest Winner—and Your Last Chance to Enter

Schedule Your Lunch & Learn Today

This SSR May Be Old, but He's Still Got It

Customers are always telling us about their "old Optos" still working amid heat, floods, dirt, you name it.

Now we've found some right in our own factory, in an old substrate testing machine we're replacing.

When design engineer Ron Schmidt dismantled the machine to salvage parts, he found three Opto 22 solid state relays. But not the ones we sell today. These were from Opto 22’s first product line, introduced over 30 years ago.

And here's one of them, on the left in the photo above. It's so old, it bears the original Optrol logo. (Optrol was our original company name, changed 30 years ago.) This little guy is one of the world’s first liquid epoxy-filled “hockey puck” relays—now an industry standard—and he's been plugging away in constant use for over 30 years.

This OptoBlog entry has more details on the find—and the results when we tested the old-timer against the brand-new hockey pucks (like the one on the right in the photo) we ship today.

Whether it's SSRs or the newest SNAP I/O, that's reliability!

New OptoScreencast Introduces PAC Manager

Our latest OptoScreencast brings you a video introduction to PAC Manager, the configuration and troubleshooting tool for the SNAP PAC System.

This video is a little longer than others—almost nine minutes—because PAC Manager is useful in so many ways. Your host, Alexi Beck Gray, demonstrates a few of these: assigning IP addresses, configuring I/O modules, testing I/O, and troubleshooting hardware.

While you're in the Learn section, check out some of the other videos we have available, such as Introduction to the SNAP PAC System and Introduction to the PAC Project Demo, a demonstration of Opto 22 automation software.

Announcing the July "Shoot This, Opto!" Contest Winner—and Your Last Chance to Enter

It's your last chance to tell us what you'd like to have explained in our next Learn section video—and maybe win a Nintendo Wii!

Our July contest winner is Robertson, who suggested that Opto 22 create a video explaining OptoDataLink features and setup. Great idea! This winning suggestion brought Robertson a digital camcorder as his prize.

The contest runs only through the end of August, so enter now! Go to the Shoot This, Opto! Forum and tell us about any questions, tricks, or features you'd like explained in a video or screencast. While you're there, check out the other OptoForums for information from other Opto 22 customers that may spark an idea or help with a problem you have.

Enter contest now.

Schedule Your Lunch & Learn Today

If you're curious about the new SNAP PAC System but haven't got enough time, Lunch & Learn is the answer.

In just an hour or less, we'll demonstrate the easy-to-use SNAP PAC System at your place of business—and we'll even bring the lunch.

Contact your local Opto 22 distributor, call us at 800-321-6786 or 951-695-3000, or email Sales to schedule your Lunch & Learn today. Lunch & Learn is available throughout the U.S. and Canada.