Collaborate Disseminate
There’s no doubting the allure of a nicely crafted LED cube; likewise, there’s no doubting that they can be a tremendous pain to build. After all, the amount of work scales as the cube of the number of LEDs you want each side to have, and let’s face it – …read more
Continue reading Lead Former Makes LED Cubes a Little Easier to Build
Sure, we all love fixing stuff, but there’s often a fine line between something that’s worth repairing and something that’s cheaper in the long run to just replace. That line gets blurred, though, when there’s something to be learned from a repair.
This wonky temperature-compensated crystal oscillator is a good example of leaning toward repair just for the opportunity to peek inside. [Kerry Wong] identified it as the problem behind a programmable frequency counter reading significantly low. A TCXO is supposed to output a fixed frequency signal that stays stable over a range of temperatures by using a temperature sensor …read more
Continue reading Drifting Instrument Presents Opportunity to Learn about Crystal Oscillators
Adjusting the volume dial on a sound system, sensing your finger position on a touch screen, and knowing when someone’s in the car are just a few examples of where you encounter variable resistors in everyday life. The ability to change resistance means the ability to interact, and that’s why variable resistance devices are found in so many things.
The principles are the same, but there are so many ways to split a volt. Let’s take a look at what goes into rotary pots, reostats, membrane potentiometers, resistive touchscreens, force sensitive resistors, as well as flex and stretch sensors.
Continue reading Resistance in Motion: What You Should Know About Variable Resistors