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  1. (*steve*)

    Solar astronomy taken to a new level for me

    Oh that's very nice. I want one! You probably need to learn something from the people that have gone before you. :-) Remember 5x4 and other large format cameras? Remember the cloth over the head. Something that's not quite as good, but waaaaay more practical is a fresnel lens and a...
  2. (*steve*)

    Anyone bought from "futurlec"? good source?

    Futurlec seem to have a limited collection of parts. I would not be surprised if they have acquired stock from someone's excess stock. They also may have discovered a source of fake parts. Is it too good to be true? Google "futurlec fake"
  3. (*steve*)

    Anyone bought from "futurlec"? good source?

    Nothing high voltage. I can probably look up what I did buy from them, but I think the chips in question were 74HC86, but I may be wrong. There was nothing about them which screamed fake. None of the parts I've subsequently used have proven to be non functional. The only obvious fakes I've...
  4. (*steve*)

    Anyone bought from "futurlec"? good source?

    I have in the long distance past. Everything seemed fine until I got an order of SMD CMOS chips where about half were in a strip of tape (from a reel) and the other half were individually packaged, by hand, on small pieces of card with tape wrapped around them. Shopping times were not overly...
  5. (*steve*)

    Capacitor’s ESR

    The ESR of a capacitor is high when it becomes: Higher than the maximum specified on the datasheet. High enough that the circuit operation is impaired. ESR is not always specified, and some circuits are insensitive to ESR. In these cases, the ESR may never be too high. In other circuits there...
  6. (*steve*)

    Automatic object tracing system

    Each goat (or car) will typically require it's own gps, GSM interface, and microcontroller. Modern phones (and indeed some cars) already have this functionality, so an app on a phone call do most of the hard work. Do your goats carry phones?
  7. (*steve*)

    Automatic object tracing system

    Ok. Just be sure that you're not biting off more than you can chew.
  8. (*steve*)

    Charging 2 12v batteries separately

    You could use 2 chargers if the batteries are completely isolated (and must remain so)
  9. (*steve*)

    Car battery jumpstart gadgets

    Either this section (general electronics chat) or the "off-topic" section would be fine.
  10. (*steve*)

    Automatic object tracing system

    Vead, have you successfully programmed an 8051 yet? And why are you still so focused on the 8051? It might be true that a project like this requires a microcontroller, but it's unusual to be so specific at such an early stage. And have to ever successfully interfaced an 8051 (or any...
  11. (*steve*)

    Car battery jumpstart gadgets

    Yes, the technology is called "a visit from the local constabulary". :)
  12. (*steve*)

    Car battery jumpstart gadgets

    Your original question has been answered. Is there something else?
  13. (*steve*)

    Spurious voltage readings for open transistor

    You are measuring voltages where there is a high impedance in series with some non-linear resistances. The voltage you're reading from a moderate impedance multimeter is pretty much undefined. The act of measuring the voltage changes the circuit state.
  14. (*steve*)

    Can anyone ID this transformer?

    They probably would look like that in real life too, but the pitch or the matrix board is substantially larger than 0.1 inch.
  15. (*steve*)

    transconductance amplifier

    It's the size of the modules, and their power supply requirements. See here for more information. Nice looking synth. What size jacks are you using, 6 mm? One of the problems with eurorack modules is that the controls are often very closely spaced.
  16. (*steve*)

    transconductance amplifier

    I'm probably not in the neighborhood. I'm 14,617 km away as the crow flies.
  17. (*steve*)

    So, I built a guitar neck with LEDs in it .....

    PWM is probably not a good idea around low level signals like those in an electric guitar. A linear regulator would be a better option. You could try placing a capacitor across the LED. It will change the way the LED operates, but it might be interesting. Try 1uF.
  18. (*steve*)

    Why is so expensive to fabricate custom IC

    Why can you buy a mass produced car for some tens of thousands of dollars, yet manufacturers invest a billion (if not more) for a completely new model? "The price tag to develop a new vehicle starts around $1 billion. According to John Wolkonowicz, Senior Auto Analyst for North America at IHS...
  19. (*steve*)

    understanding discrete circuits

    Ok, so OND is similar to A levels. I was thinking it was a higher level (I thought undergraduate degree).
  20. (*steve*)

    understanding discrete circuits

    Maybe he did his degree during the valve era? @Rajinder, can you show us an example of what confuses you? What level of understanding are you after? Do you just want a qualitative understanding, or do you want to be able to derive a full quantative understanding?
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