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A larger die will, with everything else kept the same, be easier to cool than a smaller die. But if "everything else isn't kept the same", it's entirely possible for a smaller die to have better cooling than a large one. It all depends on the die itself (how thick its silicon base is), the...

I've programmed AVRs for several years and have only on a few occasions used assembly code on them. Nowadays, assembly code is something you resort to for the "10% of your code that takes 90% of your CPU time" situation when you need to get more speed. I don't really know what the whole...

Agreed. I personally wonder why they didn't add power pins to eSATA.

The Biax fixtures I was referring to above are self-ballasted bulbs like your standard CFL. They have a folded linear tube instead of a spiral tube, but they're the same thing otherwise. As for the bulbs you're referring to (also named Biax) I've got several fixtures around the house that...

Don't buy your bulbs at walmart or whatever - they're crap. Hit up a lighting supplier and buy professional bulbs. I run GE Biax FLE13TT3/827's everywhere. 15000 hour lifetime which I can vouch for, 2700K color temperature that doesn't burn your eyes, etc.

What you're after is a Tyco Electronics "Commercial MATE-N-LOK", 4-pin, .200" pitch. Here's two from Digikey: http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=A25430-ND http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=A14374-ND

I wouldn't bother with the Trailblazer radio. It's hard to mechanically mount, you'll need to get mating electrical connectors from a scrapyard, etc. The reason it doesn't power up could be caused by anti-theft coding in the radio or something similar - I know in later GM's the radio itself...

Grab a copy of the Abraham Pressman power supply book (aka the 'bible'), there's a whole chapter on compensation. Compensation strategies are different based on whether the supply operates in voltage or current mode. I'm a bit rusty on compensation (haven't done an offline supply in a couple of...

I see CapXon. They made a bunch of bad capacitors (part of the taiwanese bad cap scandal, along with Fuhjyyu annd other makers) with an incomplete electrolyte that create hydrogen gas and bulge. And that's what you've got there. When you replace these capacitors, make sure you get ones with a...

Actually, another thought.. Try a green LED (~2.5V) in the flashlight. Or swap in NiMH's and try a high brightness red LED (~2.2v) instead.

Oh, and to answer your first question... you can't really do much with a white LED running off 2 alkalines. You're better off replacing it with another halogen.

They'll certainly run your radio if you parallel them up. How long depends on the radio, whether you run 2 or 4 speakers, and how loud you run your music. Two batteries in series will give you a 12V, 3.5AH effective battery - meaning if your radio draws 3.5 amps, it'll last about an hour...

This chip should be a bit easier to work with, an Atmel "qTouch": http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/qt220_103.pdf You'll need to put flat electrodes behind the buttons, a buried wire won't directly work unless you do something like make a coil with a flat shape. There's a...

I've personally designed equipment which uses lead-free BGA parts, thousands of units fielded, and I've never had a failure, warranty or field return which could be explained by a solder ball fracture. Hell, the majority of things around you (cellphones, iPods, television sets, game consoles...

I can't stand those steel wool things! wetsponge4lyfe. Here's another Hakko 936 vote. I use a 936ESD as my home machine, and my workplace has 936ESD's all over the assembly line. They're dead reliable and do a good job. Some notes: - For most day-to-day soldering, don't put the...

Screw terminals like that are impossible to find new. You'll be better off modifying the radio shack one to fit. Or, you could buy something like this: http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=WM5730-ND and mount it to a larger piece of plastic with holes that line...

Old amplifiers rock. The reason they sound so "good" is because they actually sound like crap - they're built to be put together as cheaply as possible, and they distort and color the music that goes through them. Which depending on your ears, can actually make music sound better. To answer...

Some fans (usually super-high-RPM monsters, blower fans, etc) have a big inrush current when they start up, and using too large a resistor causes the fan voltage to sag when the fan starts up. In these applications, a zener works better than a resistor.

Those bulbs are commonly referred to as "Tri-Lite" bulbs. Leviton probably makes a socket. Look up lighting suppliers in the phone book, the types of places that sell commercial light fixtures, and call around - if they don't stock it, they might be able to order in one for you.

Depends on the POS display. If you're lucky, it's a HD44780-compatible display and will work with LCDdriver or whatever it's called. If not, you might have to build a bit of interfacing circuitry, etc. to make the thing work. See if you can get your hands on a display, take it apart, and...

Oh, another thing I noticed... "charge time 3-6 hours". Then I looked up the charger... BAH. Stupid piece of plastic that probably weighs 5 grams, and has a single red LED on the thing. Memory effect didn't kill the battery, overcharging did. These stupid little chargers just drive the...

Almost all of those NiCd battery packs use "Sub C" batteries, though I've seen AA and 5/4SC used. Haul the thing apart and measure the dimensions of the batteries inside. But, to give you an idea of what you'll be paying to rebuild the thing, ten 1.2V, 1300mAh SubC's from Digikey cost $33...

oh; Elledan, check out AVR-USB. It runs a USB stack and physical layer emulated in assembly code on AVR parts. So far I've used it to build a USB NES controller, right now I'm using it to build a "capslocker" to prank someone at work.

I wouldn't start out with a USB hub. You'll either use an off-the-shelf hub chip from TI or whoever, and won't really learn anything other than how to assemble the evaluation board circuit... or if you try to do it yourself with FPGA and USB transciever chips or something, you'll have a very...

I've used one of the Circuit Specialists Hakko clones - not that exact one, but one that looks 99% like a 936 but has a metal connector instead of a plastic one where the iron attaches to the station. It was OK, almost indistinguishable from a 936, except the insulation on the iron wasn't as...

I'd say Hakko 936 or Weller WES51. Both are good irons, and both have more than a few fanboys (like myself, I own the Hakko) that swear by them.

If it runs off 3 AA's, it'll definitely handle 4.5V. And almost any chip that runs off 4.5V will safely run off 5.25V. If you want to be 100% sure, haul the speaker apart. There's probably a single chip inside which does the amplification. Look up the part # and you can probably find the...

RED LEDs are typically 2.1 volts forward voltage.

If the LEDs get hot at 9V, and don't work at less voltage than that, then chances are the clock is designed to run off 9V. Run it for a while at 9V and see if it still works - maybe "hot LEDs" are how the clock is designed to work. LEDs (especially in signage applications) can get hot. hell...

I prefer the knob ones. You can set the temperature in one twist, instead of tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-.... I guess it's the same reason I won't buy a car stereo that doesn't have a volume knob.

Hakko 936-ESD owner here. Two thumbs up.

The 100K resistor by itself controls the on-time. With a 220uF capacitor, 100K is 15 seconds, 10K is 1.5 seconds. The 200K series resistance plus the 100K resistance determines the off-time. 300K is 45 seconds with a 220uF capacitor. To make it adjustable, the 100K part is the one to...

True enough. Though I'm out of spare AVR's right now so I'm in analog mode. That works too, but uses an extra resistor :D

Another 555 timer vote. Here you go, with a parts list and calculated values: One caveat: If you're using a 5V-coil relay, you may want to run the circuit off 6V to account for the ~1V of drop you'll get from the 555 output voltage and the PNP follower. If you're using a 12V relay, a...

EMI = RFI. Aluminum isn't magnetic, so it won't block a straight magnetic field by itself - you'll be able to stick two magnets together through an aluminum sheet. But an actual radiated EM field is a coupled electric and magnetic field, and if you block one you block one you block both...

Unless you're running lots of fans off a fanbus, or large/fast fans, the heat dissipated by a linear fanbus should be more than manageable. Unless you *really* try, I doubt you'll get a 4-fan fanbus to dissipate more than 10 watts. But yes, an "ideal" fanbus would use high frequency PWM buck...

That PDF is helpful if the PWM frequency is >10KHz. Some fan PWM controllers operate in the hundreds of Hz, and doing passive filtering of that won't be practical. I recommend LM317-style fanbusses. They dissipate heat, but you won't ever encounter weirdness with fan noise.

Unless you're putting in two delta FFB screamers that draw an amp each, I wouldn't worry about it.

I own a Fluke 179. You can get one new for ~$150 if you shop around carefully - and this a higher-end meter that comes with a thermocouple, measures capacitance, etc. There's probably a lower-end model lacking some of these features which better suits your needs. Also, you might be able to...

I doubt you'll ever run into any interference, instability, etc. from having a non-conductive case. People have been using acrylic cases, "woodies", etc. for years. Hell, running a metal-cased computer with the cover off probably radiates more than a omnidirectional-radiating unshielded case.