Designing a circuit is a lot easier on paper, where components have well-defined values, or lacking that, at least well-defined tolerances. Unfortunately, even keeping percentage tolerances in mind isn’t always enough to make sure that circuits work correctly in the real world, as [Tahmid] demonstrates by diagnosing a buck converter with an oddly strong voltage […]
The Texas Instruments TP4056 is the default charge-controller chip for any maker or hacker working with lithium batteries. And why not? You can get perfectly-functional knockoffs on handy breakout boards from the usual online sources for pennies. Betteridge’s Law aside, [Lefty Maker] thinks that it may well be time to move on from the TP4056 […]
Wall warts. Plug mounted power supplies that turn mains voltage into low voltage DC on a barrel jack to power a piece of equipment. We’ve all got a load of them for our various devices, most of us to the extent that it becomes annoying. [Mikeselectricstuff] has the solution, in the shape of a USB-C […]
Few electronic ICs can claim to be as famous as the 555 timer. Maybe part of the reason is that the IC doesn’t have a specific function. It has a lot of building blocks that you can use to create timers and many other kinds of circuits. Now [Stoppi] has decided to make a 555 […]
When we do textbook analysis, we tend to ignore the real-world concerns for the sake of learning. So, a typical theoretical voltage divider is simply two resistors. But if you examine a low-pass RC filter, you’ll see a single resistor and a capacitor. What if you combine them? That’s what [Old Hack EE] did in […]
Many people who get analog electronics still struggle a bit to design oscillators. Even common simulators often need a trick to simulate some oscillating circuits. The Barkhausen criteria state that for stable oscillation, the loop gain must be one, and the phase shift around the feedback loop must be a multiple of 360 degrees. [All […]
A hacker’s view on ESD protection can tell you a lot about them. I’ve seen a good few categories of hackers neglecting ESD protection – there’s the yet-inexperienced ones, ones with a devil-may-care attitude, or simply those of us lucky to live in a reasonably humid climate. But until we’re able to control the global […]
You can get just about any gear reduction you want using conventional gears. But when you need to get a certain reduction in a very small space with minimal to no backlash, you might find a wave drive very useful. [Mishin Machine] shows us how to build one with (mostly) 3D printed components. The video […]
For most of us, mirrors are something we buy instead of build. However, [Unnecessary Automation] wanted to craft mirrors of his own for a custom telescope build. As it turns out, producing optically-useful mirrors is not exactly easy. For the telescope build in question, [Unnecessary Automation] needed a concave mirror. Trying to get that sort […]
DIY mechatronics always has some unique challenges when relying on simple tools. 3D printing enables some great abilities but high precision gearboxes are still a difficult problem for many. Answering this problem, [Sergei Mishin] has developed a very interesting gearbox solution based on a research paper looking into simple rollers instead of traditional gears. The […]