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Here’s an inexpensive electronic circuit that you can build to put in your Jack-o’lantern. It provides power to drive a few LEDs at night, and automatically turns them off during the daytime. It’s a simple and automatic dark-detecting circuit that you can use to for your very own photosensitive pumpkin.
Dark detecting circuit - [Link]
Oscilloscope Tutorial Part 1 – video powered by Metacafe
Oscilloscopes are widely used for electrical testing because they display signal voltages as graphs. Today we’ve got three outstanding video tutorials that’ll tell you everything you ever need to know about oscilloscopes.
How to Use an Oscilloscope Tutorial – [Link]
The fine people over at FaradNet have put together an appreciable set of notes on the electrolytic capacitors that appear in almost all consumer electronics devices. Although this is a good read for those who are interested using the devices in a safe manner (and getting the most performance out of them), there is a lot of text, so I will try to summarize the two features of electrolytics that seem to be most important: polarization and frequency response.
Some notes on electrolytic capacitors - [Link]
![[Basic Electronics] – Capacitors Tutorial](http://www.electronics-lab.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-23-related-posts-plugin/static/thumbs/2.jpg)
One of the most common pieces of circuit bending hardware is the single-position-dual-throw (SPDT) switch. I recently ran into a wiring problem and made an illustrated post on how I figured out the solution and some guesses as to why I came to the solution i did. Hopefully it could save some people the hassle of having to rewire their project up like i did. [via]
SPDT switch wiring explained - [Link]
This instructable shows how to wire up one or more LEDs in a in a basic and clear way. Never done any work before with LEDs and don’t know how to use them? If you have wired up LEDs before, this explanation might seem overly simplistic. Consider yourself warned.
LEDs for Beginners - [Link]
This project was born out of a need for buttons that can be used on a solderless breadboard. I used to solder wires onto a normal push button switch. Not only were they big and clunky, but they would always break as well. I then settled on this design and have never looked back.
It is a tactile button that can easily be put on a solderless breadboard. No more breaking the metal ‘feet’ of the button. No more bending wires, trying to stick a big pushbutton into the prototype board. This project is simple and very useful. Step by step instructions and pictures after the link…
Protoboard Button - [Link]
Finkbuilt has very detailed instructions on building a one-shot 555 timer. The article is full of diagrams and pictures of the circuit building process. This is a great read for anyone interested in the famous 555 timer. [via]
One shot 555 timer - [Link]
scienceprog.com writes:
We used to see dual supply ideal operational amplifiers (Op Amps), what means that Op Amps are powered from dual supplies with equal magnitude and opposing polarity. The center tap is connected to the ground which serves as a center of the supply voltage.
Single supply operational amplifiers are powered with single polarity voltage. In this case you loose convenient ground reference that split supply op amps have. In this case you must ensure that signal swings between correct voltages (eg. VCC and GND) …
Single supply operation amplifiers versus dual supply - [Link]
Op-amps (operational amplifiers) come in an integrated circuit, or IC. The one pictured on the right is in a form called DIP-8, which is short for dual in-line package with 8 pins. “Dual in-line” refers to two lines of pins, in this case 4 on each side. Each pin has a special function and they are numbered from 1 to 8. Often, there is a circle on the top of the case to show the location of pin 1. Also the case is usually notched at the same end with half-circle cut-out. At least one of these two markings appear, but not necessarily both.
There are many kinds of capacitors and several popular ones are pictured here. Generally, capacitors have two leads. Some are axial leaded, like resistors, and others are radial leaded, with both leads at one end. Stompbox layouts seem to use radial leaded capacitors most often, but axial leaded are just as good. Unlike resistors, some capacitors are polarized, with positive and negative leads: the voltage across such capacitors must agree with the polarity of the leads. Take care to orient polarized capacitors correctly in a circuit.
