[sdiy] Vactrol projects - socketing Vactrols

[Mike]

On the subject of Vactrols, I tried an idea which might just be worth making
an impromptu standard of.

This came up because of an experiment in matching vactrols, and the ability
to change them around easily.

I soldered the vactrols to 16 pin DIL headers (it works Okay-ish with a 16
pin turned pin socket used as a plug too).

The convention I used was:

Pin      Connection
1          LED + Vactrol pin 2
16        LED -  Vactrol pin 1
7          PE Cell 1/1 Vactrol pin 5
8          PE Cell 1/2 (or common) Vactrol pin 4
9          PE Cell 2/1 Vactrol pin 3

This way, a dual vactrol can be used istead in the same place as a single,
if you have stock problems, and there is less likelihood of the vactrol
being zapped if plugged into a logic IC socket, and the vactrol label is
still readable.

Just a thought. It might simplify PCB layout in some ways - you can use an
edited socket (with the unused pins missing) to aid routing.

Does this qualify as an RFC?

Mike