The Raspberry Pi represents a breakthrough in low cost computing power. Get a piece of this popular DIY action by learning how to cook up your own RPi to start experimenting with.
Keeping tabs on relative humidity and temperature is important in a variety of situations. The DHT22 is a recent contribution to the lineup of joint humidity/temperature sensors, and is particularly attractive to DIYers thanks to its low cost. Uncover its secrets to get it working for you.
This article shows you how to build a really cool 3D cube with a 4 x 4 x 4 monochromatic LED matrix which has a total of 64 LEDs.
Ground faults are a curse to fire alarm systems. Even a small amount of current leaking to ground somewhere in the building can cause an unscheduled fire drill. Worse yet, a second ground fault somewhere else in the building can short out the whole system. An easy modification allows a low tech analog ohmmeter to detect insulation faults that a high tech digital ohmmeter fails to find.
I examined the almost perfect circle surrounding a stylized “M” (for Motorola) that was branded into the end of my index finger after touching the case of a power transistor to see if it was “warm.” This was my introduction to “heatsink selection for power semiconductors” I received as a young experimenter building a power supply — a lesson I have not forgotten several decades after the event.
The first project is a transformerless voltage doubler that takes a DC voltage from 12 to 30 volts and doubles it. Unlike most other voltage doubler circuits, this design can supply amps of current. The second project uses a power MOSFET in a linear (rather than switching) application.
The goal of breadboarding is to mount electronic components on a supporting substrate and make all of the necessary electrical connections that result in a functional electronic device.
Some people tend to shy away from using surface-mount components in their projects. It seems to be too difficult or needs an array of specialized equipment. In the past, I found myself in this same mindset — wary of using these types of parts. That all changed.
The goal of this series is to introduce you to the world of control electronics. Practical examples will be presented and the math will be kept to an absolute minimum. This is not to say that the math is not important. Quite the opposite — control systems may be modeled and analyzed mathematically. The mathematics is nothing short of amazing and I would encourage you to peruse it.
A logic analyzer — like so many electronic test and measurement tools — provides a solution to a particular class of problems. These include digital hardware debugging, design verification, and embedded software debugging...
