Gadget Freak

From the Build Your Own Microcontroller Projects site – a very handy and comprehensive collection of electronic DIY projects – comes the electronic distance meter.

Say hello to the no EMI and no battery night light saver.

The night light saver can be attached to a lamp in your very own home. It uses a 2051 chip and a small triac. The night light saver is a very easy-to-install, inexpensive device that will help you save energy in the home, and in these climate change-aware times, that’s a good thing.

It’s fair to say that mobile phones have been in widespread use for about two decades, give or take a few years.

Give that old hard drive that has been gathering dust in your room a new lease of life by re-inventing it as a clock.

This 3A charger was originally designed to work with small batteries such as those commonly used in motorcycles. It is possible to charge a car battery using this device but it will take a lot longer.

Gadget Freak reader David Fowler shares his tips on how to update the Arduino compatible Bare Bones Board.

When using rechargeable lithium-ion cells in large batteries, such as those in an electric vehicle, unique problems can be encountered.

A couple from Sydney, Australia has found a creative way to give all those old circuit boards a new lease of life.

"Millions of CMOS R2R (resistor/two-resistor)-ladder DACs have found use in attenuator applications in which an external op amp acting as a current-to-voltage converter forces one current-output terminal to a virtual ground. The reference input to the DAC can be ac or dc as long as the op amp can produce the desired output voltage. A phase inversion is normal between input and output, so the circuit requires dual power supplies."