-
Recent Posts
Archives
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- November 2019
- October 2019
- August 2019
- June 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- November 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- February 2018
- December 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- July 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- December 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- June 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- May 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- November 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
Categories
Meta
Category Archives: Electronics
Lighting retrofit
I just finished a kitchen lighting retrofit so I thought I would share some of the things I learned. Our kitchen had four 40W T12 fluorescent bulbs when we moved in and by the time two of bulbs stopped working … Continue reading
Posted in Electronics, Home projects
Leave a comment
Building the Custom LED Vanity
For this build we are making a wall-mounted vanity mirror with about a 2000K to 8000K color temperature range. White LEDs are available in this range but they typically achieve the color temperature target using special composition and density of … Continue reading
Posted in Electronics, Home projects, Software
Leave a comment
Supercharged pedicure
Luckily, these guys run on DC power! With a little fancy contact rigging and a DC power supply, I’ve got a custom tools with stable, configurable power. Thanks, Electronics!
Posted in Electronics
Leave a comment
Abella, enclosed
Although Abella used to live in a shoebox, now the electronic musical instrument has been fully soldered and packaged in a project box. The prototype is complete!
Posted in Electronics, Music, Software
Leave a comment
Household thermal imaging
I am now the proud owner of a Seek Thermal infrared camera! Let’s play a game: it’s called “guess the subject of this photo”!
Posted in Electronics
Leave a comment
Computer upgrade
Merry Christmas to me! It’s time for a motherboard upgrade. Here are the components I selected:
Posted in Electronics
Leave a comment
USB toggle switch extension
Last week I found myself in need of a USB toggle switch. Such a device would allow me to toggle the power on a USB device without having to unplug it. It is true – I suffer from a disorder that requires me to construct a USB switch rather than simply unplug my devices.
This simple device uses a USB extension cord and a slide switch connected to the +5V power line (the red wire). If you happen to have a device [such as an external video card] that requires to be reset every few days, simply toggle the switch when a reset is needed.
Posted in Electronics
Leave a comment
Upgrade halogen->LED
We have two 300W halogen flood lamps in the house, but I decided it was time for an LED upgrade. I selected the Cree 18W (90W equivalent) flood lamp as the replacement. I wanted to keep the 6ft tall lamp stand and dimmer, but remove the halogen housing, thermal runaway circuit and reflectors.
Posted in Electronics
Leave a comment
$50 electronics test bench
I’ve been having a hard time finding oscilloscopes and adjustable power supplies in the “hobbyist” price range, but I think I have cobbled together a solution.
A few key components:
- Power supply from old PC
- Make sure to short the correct pins to trick the power supply into turning on. This is usually green to black.
- yellow-black is 12 V
- red-black is 5 V
- orange-black is 3.3 V
- If you want other voltages, well.. time to built a buck-boost circuit!
- Gabotronics Xprotolab mini oscilloscope
- 2MHz sampling
- 8 bits resolution
- $50 (the best part)
Posted in Electronics
Leave a comment
Pitch to Color
Here is the color wheel used by my electronic instrument, Abella. When the music box is playing “C”, the pitch display appears yellow. Middle “C” is set at 262 Hz, high “C” at 523, and low “C” at 131 Hz, and each is displayed yellow. The remaining notes occupy a RGB-CMY color space.
Posted in Electronics, Music
2 Comments