Intro Everybody knows them: solar garden lamps. They work quite well during summers, when there is a lot of sun, days are long and nights are short. But come winter nights and you barely get anything from them. So i thought, what would it take to make a solar lamp that can always run when it is dark, winter or summer? In fact, this ties into a more general question: how do I size a… Continue reading
Update after 3 months The UPS is functioning as it should, and I think the solution is viable as a simple, low cost UPS where it is needed. It was a good mind and build exercise, but there are two reasons why I am not keeping it: First – realistically speaking, electricity fails way too seldom to actually use it. Second, unless I build one of these for each room, I will always have to… Continue reading
Intro When using my new Energizer pivot torch i noticed that it dims itself slowly over 15 minutes from the start, reaching 1/10 of the maximum intensity. The torch does this on purpose and can be reset by turning it off and on again. The HD vision headlamp This lamp is probably my most used torch in my life. Even though I got it about 8 years ago for caving, it saw most action as… Continue reading
Intro Plenty of devices are running on power all the time, even when we are not using them. Sometimes all they do is monitor for the user to press a button or interact with the devices, but many modern devices maintain network connectivity. This allows them to wait for some user interaction which may come through a network connection from a computer, phone or other device. Some of these devices are doing so with low… Continue reading
Intro I spent quite a bit of time trying to design a digitally controlled power supply. I even have some prototypes and three articles, Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. One day it hit me: across the years, I built multiple prototypes, spent a lot of time on it and never ended up anywhere. Why? because I did not really need one and I did not have any pressure to build one. So this… Continue reading
Intro As I was mentioning in my 1000.1000 Hardware selection, I have opted for the cool RFM69HW radio module. Weirdly enough, in quite a few sources (big distributor and ebay) the higher power HW module is cheaper. So there ie no reason not to get the higher power module, given quantity discounts. But I want it to operate at lower power most of times. The datasheet does not show any differences at lower power, so… Continue reading
An in-depth view of the new PeakTech 6225A 30V 5A switch mode laboratory power supply showing very good results. Continue reading
How do you test a power supply? With an Analog Discovery controllable electronic load, of course! Continue reading
Got a device that needs periodic rebooting? Try this! Continue reading
How do some topologies of power supplies perform? Find out! Continue reading