For many years this has been my soldering iron. I have liked it and continued to use it because it gives me a choice of a high 40 watt and a low 20 watt heat setting. I also like the variety, durability, and economy of the tips that are availab...
I have been fighting with the wire that connects my solder iron to its station. It is always in the way. If I have meter leads or test clips on the circuit the solder iron wire drags across them and pulls them loose. It catches on parts and hardware ...
Throughout most of my life I have been a scavenger. My eye is always peeled and on the lookout for that little bit of technology that I might be able to use someday. As a boy one of my favorite things to do was to walk along the curbs in the small ci...
This project build and subsequent test of batteries was inspired by shabaz who several times in the last couple years, has brought up the question of which battery is better, E***, D***, or some other less expensive option. I was also eager to use my...
I have made 5 very short videos of the final testing of the DC Load Unit. I usually don't make videos as I have a voice problem which makes it difficult to understand me. That being said, here is the first video in which I track the stabili...
The progress on the DC Load unit has raced well ahead of my progress on this blog. As is my nature once I get involved it is hard to stop working. Fortunately I did remember from time to time to stop and take some pictures. In this next to last blog ...
Last night I was doing the preparatory work prior to the assembly of the final board for the DC Load. This is the board that handles the limits I want to protect like: Over Voltage, Over Current, and Reversed Polarity. I bread boarded the circuit tha...
In this blog post we will talk primarily about the collection of materials needed for the Load Unit and how they are assembled to make the frame work for the electronic boards and wiring that will follow. I began by selecting a suitable enclosure, wh...
In this blog posting I will publish the schematics for La Carga DC Load unit. I will also add some commentary to aid with the interpretation. My style of drawing schematics has evolved some but the roots are back in the 1960s. If you find anything of...
In January of this year, inspired by some of peteroakes 's excellent tutorials I decided to begin to design and construct a DC load. I have been learning and improving my electronics ever since joining E-14 about two years ago. Those of you who a...
The day before yesterday I was told that my mother had slipped from her reclining lift chair at the nursing home where she lives and had lain for an hour on the floor before she was discovered. Mom who is very clear in her mind suffers from Parkinson...
Even though it is summer in the northern USA, with good humidity levels, some new flooring and polyurethane wheels on my shop stool have me dealing with electrostatic discharge. I first noticed the problem when I reached for a tool in the cabinet and...
One of the useful multi-task items in my shop it a 31cm x 25cm piece of plate glass. This particular piece of glass was obtained used from a glass shop. The edges have been beveled and the corners rounded. I have glued 4 rubber feet at the corners to...
Parameters of the Test: This is a rough bench test to determine the pros and cons of using the Recom R78 Series switching converters in place of the standard 78## linear Regulators in simple circuits. Input voltage used for this test was 15...
One of the things that I enjoy doing is taking an old unused circuit board and reverse engineering it to see how it works. Today I have a time display board from a Dental X-Ray machine that my son gave me. The typical old dental x-ray machine dispens...
Several months ago D_Hersey recommended a book to me called "The Art of Electronics" by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill. Since Don's advise has proven accurate and valuable to me in the past I went and looked up the book. I learned that...
I am away from my shop but I miss electronics if I do not take it with me. A week or so ago there was a question on the Forum about the Joule Thief Circuit. I became interested in the circuit as it looked simple enough for me to fabricate with the li...
One of the things that I enjoy doing is taking a small one or two sided circuit board and creating a schematic of it. Today I have a circuit board from a 105 db piezo siren for which I am going to create a schematic. Here is the Module. &n...
Recently my 8 year old grandson, Christian, has taken to hooking switches, lights, motors and other pieces of salvaged electronics together. When I discovered that he was using an old 12 volt wall wart adapter to power his creations I realized that I...
As long as I can remember one of my favorite activities is salvaging electronic components from unused equipment and circuit boards. Recently I took apart a large piece of medical equipment and found myself with a 900 Watt Tectrol Switching power sup...
