I have participated in Free Product Road Testing program by Farnell. Farnell indentified my blog to road test some of their products. I was willing to participate, because what’s more fun than free high tech products to test. The first product i got was Arduino UNO. Arduino Uno is a a microcontroller board based on →
I have earlier written about 555 timer design contest. 555 Servo Controller was winner in several categories. It looked so simple and “have seen that eariler” type of circuit that I wondered why this was so winning circuit: Finally after few days I got time to check out the Simple 555 timer based servo controllers →
I have earlier written about 555 timer design contest. The contest is over and winning circuits have been found. Here is one very interesting contest entry (got second place in Minimalist category): AM radio receiver built around 555 timer IC. Look at the following video that presents the circuit. →
Google announced on Tuesday a new feature of the Android operating system called Android @ Home. This framework and associated functions promise to transform an Android device into a home automation controller that connects and directs all of the devices and appliances in the user’s home: gaming consoles, lighting, appliances, irrigations systems and anything else →
Testing audio-noise-reduction circuits, PLLs (phase-locked loops), and audio-frequency filters may require a noisy sine wave. Generate noisy sine waves with a sound card article tells that using a typical computer sound card, free software, and an external amplifier circuit, you can create a noisy sine wave. So a sound card, software, and an amplifier circuit →
Audiophiles seem to revel in minor controversies – vinyl vs CD’s, tubes versus solid state, capacitor, wires, magic dots… and negative feedback. At one extreme (“objectivists” and engineers), the position is that “feedback makes amplifiers perfect”. At the other extreme (“subjectivists”) usually claim that “feedback is a menacing succubus that sucks the life out of →
Using existing triac controllers and wiring offers a number of challenges for LED lighting. To maximize the success and adoption of solid-state lighting for retrofit lamps, the LED lamps should be capable of dimming when used with existing controllers and wiring. Lighting designs with flicker-free LED dimming article explores the typical TRIAC dimmer, some of →
Power-supply circuit operates from USB port article mentions some useful points on using USB connector as power source as well as gives an useful circuit diagram. You can use a USB port to power an external circuit. Even one without any USB functionality in it. Every PC has a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port that →
Toolduino is a simple software tool that lets you easily interact with Arduino hardware. With this software you can easily can test the circuits you create. The Arduino must be running the Firmata firmware that comes with the Arduino IDE. Things can’t get much easier for all kinds of hacks. You can just connect some →
Troubleshooting grounding problems can be difficult at best. Especially on complex automation/instrumentation systems. Use your power system drawing or a system map to document as you go because these problems can be quite complex requiring some logic to figure out. The typical utility DC bus consists of a battery charger, a string of batteries, a →