RSS
Archive: Electronics
Page 36 of 143 << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 >>
August 11, 2007
Decoding a component datasheet
People are always asking me if you can really tell that much from a component datasheet (if you're not an electrical engineer). Greg Lipscomb shows how to figure out what a chip can do by reasoning through a datasheet's pin-out diagram and schematics. Here he uses the datasheet for the Maxim Max756 DC/DC step-up converter chip found in Ladyada's Minty Boost portable USB charger.
DIY DCDC Stepup with Max756 - Link
3.3V/5V Adjustable-Output, Step-Up DC-DC Converters Datasheet (PDF) - Link
Related:
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 11, 2007 09:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Condenser mic in a tin can
We continue our impromptu series on tin can tech with this scratch-built condenser mic housed in a food tin.
The ultra-lowtech condenser microphone - [via] Link
Related:
- Fire-powered, bean-tin battery charger - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 11, 2007 08:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Music |
Permalink
| Comments (2)
August 10, 2007
Playing with RF Modules - Awesome Electronics Workshop PDFcast
This week's pdf includes Joe's great schematic drawings to illustrate how to play around with an RF module and a Radio Shack recording module! - PDF Link
- In the podcast we show a bunch of RF modules. Here are some links for you to explore them!
- Radio Shack 9V Recording Module (#276-1323A), $10.79 - Link
- Linx Technologies Keyfob Transmitter Basic Evaluation Kit - Link
- RF Digital - Link
- Radiotronix - Link
- Nordic Semiconductor - Link
- Parallax - Link
Posted by Bre Pettis |
Aug 10, 2007 09:00 AM
Electronics, MAKE PDF, MAKE Podcast, Weekend Projects |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Playing with RF Modules - Awesome Electronics Workshop Podcast
The Awesome Electronics Workshop is back! Joe Grand and Bre Pettis show you how to integrate RF modules into your projects. - Subscribe Link
Note: I'm on a slow connection at CCC. When I've got a better connection, I'll upload the hd version of the video.
Posted by Bre Pettis |
Aug 10, 2007 09:00 AM
Electronics, MAKE Podcast, Weekend Projects |
Permalink
| Comments (3)
Adding a remote antenna to Parallax's RFID reader
Frequent Maker and Roomba hacker extraordinaire Tobdbot writes -
The Parallax RFID reader is a pretty cool bit of tech. For $40 you get a reader with integrated antenna that outputs ASCII at 2400bps. Unfortunately, the integrated antenna means you can't place RFID tag sensing in tight spaces. You can however circumvent the built-in antenna and add your own. With a remote antenna of your own creation, you can customize its size and shape to fit your application.Adding a remote antenna to Parallax's RFID reader - Link.
From the pages of MAKE:
RFID for Makers. MAKE 06 - page 162. Build this kit to read radio frequency ID tags. From the column Theory & Practice. Subscribers--read this article now in your digital edition or get MAKE 06 from the Maker store - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 10, 2007 01:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Wireless |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
August 9, 2007
DARPA Urban Challenge semi-finalists announced
Today, DARPA announced the 36 semi-finalists for its Urban Challenge autonomous vehicle competition. The top 20 teams from the National Qualifying Event (to be held Oct. 26-31) will move on to the Urban Challenge final event on November 3. Teams will compete for cash prizes worth $2 million for first, $1 million for second, and $500,000 for third place.
DARPA Urban Challenge Home - Link
Press release (PDF) with list of semi-finalists - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 9, 2007 08:00 PM
Electronics, Events, GPS, Robotics, Transportation |
Permalink
| Comments (2)
Datamancer talks steampunk in WSJ video
Richard Nagy, better known by his online moniker Datamancer, is the star of a new Wall Street Journal video on steampunk hardware hacking.
Peek Into a "Steampunk" Workshop - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 9, 2007 04:00 PM
Arts, DIY Projects, Electronics, Gadgets, Retro |
Permalink
| Comments (1)
Fire-powered, bean-tin battery charger
Here's one for the Hobo Tech file, it's allegedly a "battery charger" that employs the Peltier-Seebeck effect -- using a heat differential to generate a voltage (Seebeck Effect) and using a voltage to create a heat differential (Peltier Effect). Too bad there's no info on the site except this captioned image.
Seebeck battery charger - [via] Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 9, 2007 02:00 PM
Electronics, Gadgets, Science |
Permalink
| Comments (4)
Multimeter tutorial, part 2: Resistance!
The most important debugging tool in any E.E.'s toolbox is a trusty multimeter. A multimeter can measure continuity, resistance, voltage and sometimes even current, capacitance, temperature, etc. It's a swiss army knife for geeks! Here's a great resistance tutorial - Link & more.
Related:
Multimeters - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 9, 2007 01:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
DIY Homemade mini plasma gun
Huh, I need to check this out a bit more... but take a look at this DIY Homemade mini plasma gun (hand held Tesla Coil turns a light bulb into a plasma globe)... - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 9, 2007 11:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (1)
Cheap 3D plotter
Here's a cheap plotter for graphs, PCBs and masks for etching metal plates, thanks Alex - Link & translated site.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 9, 2007 08:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Grab bag sorting how-to
David writes in -
How-to sort a 1 pound grab-bag of small electronic components. I sort through one of the $1 grab-bags I purchased at the Austin Summer fest 2007 HAM meet up. The reason these grab-bags are cheap is that you have to do a lot of work to make the collection of parts useful. I explain my method and give the tally for the parts.Grab bag sorting how-to - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 9, 2007 06:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (2)
Ardustat - low cost Arduino based galvanostat/potentiostat
Dan has a cool low cost Arduino based galvanostat/potentiostat, he writes -
What?Ardustat - Link.
The Ardustat is my open source successor to Jonny Galvo. It uses a standard USB-Arduino unit with a custom designed daughterboard to provide:* A galvanostat with a current range from .1 µA to 10 mA
* A potentiostat with a potential range from 0 to 5V with 5 mV resolution.These features are provided from a single USB port on a testing computer. A java based GUI (again, open sourced, written with Netbeans) allows complete control of the ardustat unit, and a custom scripting language, JonnyScript (based on DUALFOIL convention) allows multiple potentiostat and galvanostat commands to be strung together. This lets the ardustat cycle batteries or capacitors for weeks on end with complex charging/loading parameters.
Each Arduino stat costs ~$60 in parts and involves minimal, simple soldering (no surface mount parts, etc). The software runs on just about any modern platform (tested on Windows XP, 2000, Mac OS X, Ubuntu Linux, Fedora Linux).
As a bonus I've written a small php package that allows Ardustat file management and plotting (via gnuplot) over the web. Currently this has only been tested with Ubuntu Linux. A stand alone gnuplot script will work with most any gnuplot distribution. The following links detail the software, hardware
Why?
Email any major manufacturer of battery testing equipment for a quote, wait three days, and see that a basic galvanostat/potentiostat costs $5,000 a channel, without software. The Ardustat does not replace these units (completely, at least). The Ardustat does enable easy, accurate and cheap long term cycling and pulse testing far more easily than most commercial solutions, and again, at a fraction of the price.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 9, 2007 04:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Voltage, current, and resistance
Here's a handy resistor value chart from our article Voltage, Current, and Resistance in MAKE volume 10....Voltage, current, and resistance are three staple quantities you'll encounter with anything that has electrons running through it. Here's how they all tie together- Link.
Subscribers--read this article now in your digital edition - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 9, 2007 02:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
August 8, 2007
RFIDIOt.org - RFID IO tools
Adam writes -
RFIDIOt is an open source python library for exploring RFID devices. It's called "RFIDIOt" for two reasons:
- I like puns. This one stands for "RFID IO tools"
- Since I haven't done any serious programming for a long time, I felt like an idiot having to learn a whole new language and the code probably looks like it's written by an idiot. However, python rocks, so it was worth it!
What does it do?RFIDIOt.org - RFID IO tools - Link.
It currently drives a range of RFID readers made by ACG, called the HF Dual ISO and HF Multi ISO, which are both 13.56MHz devices, and the LF MultiTag which is 125/134.2kHz. Frosch Hitag reader/writers are also now supported. There's no reason it couldn't work with others, these are just the first ones I got my hands on, and since they present themselves to the O/S as standard serial devices without having to install any drivers, it made interfacing very simple (but see the Technical Note section below as I've had some issues recently). I have written some example programs to read/write tags and have started on the library routines to handle the data structures of specific tags like MIFARE®. It is far from complete but I thought I'd follow the "publish early, publish often" philosophy on this one...PC/SC (MUSCLE) devices, such as the Omnikey CardMan are also supported. I am curently testing with a CardMan 5321.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 8, 2007 07:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
KLOK K7 - Nixie clock kit
Continuing on the Nixie clock kitting... The KLOK K7 - Nixie clock kit is stunning! - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 8, 2007 03:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Kits |
Permalink
| Comments (2)
Sketching in Hardware 07
The participants and presentations from Sketching in Hardware 07 are posted, it's worth spending the time to check'em all out! - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 8, 2007 12:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
August 7, 2007
MAKE:it - Electronic makers kit
Here's a new set of tools we have in the MAKE store - hand picked by our Makers this kit features everything you need to get started with electronic construction.
Features
- Soldering Iron
- PCB Vise Panavise "Jr"
- Small (7.8") DeSoldering Pump
- Soldering Stand with sponge
- 0.5lb 60/40 Solder
- Desoldering Braid
- Wire Cutters/Stripper
- Shear Cutters
- 7-Function 2000-Count Multimeter
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 7, 2007 07:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Kits, MAKE Store |
Permalink
| Comments (9)
August 6, 2007
Touch box
Craig writes -
Recently I have been exploring Physical Computing. I have always preferred learning new subjects by developing self-defined projects that use the topics, skills or components I want to understand. Here is my latest project that is helping me understand digital electronics.Touch Box - Link.This whatchamacallit uses an Arduino NG for the microcontroller and an LED Red/Green/Blue Serial Matrix from Spark Fun for the display. When left on its own the display randomly displays patterns and alphanumeric characters that dissolve by way of some random shenanigans. It also picks colors randomly from a set that I have deemed aesthetically pleasing. My first computer was an Atari 400 (1979). Its system font used an 8 X 8 matrix which just fits the RGB LED matrix. So for old-times-sake I found the font on the internet, and with a little massaging in Photoshop and Actionscript, encoded it in a form I could transfer to the Arduino for use on the LED Matrix display.
I like the fork.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 6, 2007 06:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
HOW TO - Sprinkler control with embedded linux
Dave writes -
Arek combines a wireless router, NAS, and a USB Bit Whacker to take control of his sprinkler system. Reflash the router and NAS with linux, add some PHP and USB controlled phototriacs to the sprinkler controller and control it all from the comfort of your PC.HOW TO - Sprinkler control with embedded linux - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 6, 2007 04:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (1)
Page 36 of 143 << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 >>
Features and more @ MAKE!
MAKE @ The NYC Toy Fair 2008 - Covering DIY!HOW TO - Build the arms of assistance.
MADE in Japan - Part I.
MADE in Japan - Part II.
MADE in Japan - Part III.
Make store - Blinky bug kit - Blink!
Make store - Loud Objects Noise Toy Kit
Makers - MAKE Flickr pool contest. Win cool stuff!
Makers - Join the MAKE Facebook page - Meet other makers.
MAKE on Twitter - Tweet! Tweet!
What you're reading in MAKE - Data!
Add MAKE to your RSS reader - Real simple.
Why advertise on MAKE?
Read what folks are saying about us!
Click here to advertise on MAKE!
Phillip Torrone
Senior Editor
Tel: 707-827-7311
Gareth Branwyn
Robot Maker
Jonah Brucker-Cohen
Researcher
Natalie Zee Drieu
Senior Editor
CRAFT
Becky Stern
Culture jammer
Collin Cunningham
Sound Maker
Marc de Vinck
CNC Maker
Current Podcast
AHAB High Altitude Ballooning - Best of Weekend Projects
mp4|mov|hd|3gp|3g2|itunes This week on Best of Weekend Projects, we look back at part two of the AHAB (High Altitude Balloon Adventure). In this epic Bre & Co. travel to Eastern Washington to launch a GPS and camera enabled balloon...
More...
