Counterfeit electronics components have caused problems for many companies. There are New Trends in Counterfeit Components. IEEE Spectrum magazine article The Hidden Dangers of Chop-Shop Electronics article tells now clever counterfeiters sell old components as new, threatening both military and commercial systems Usually, it’s good to recycle electronics products. The Hidden Dangers of Chop-Shop Electronics →
Thixotropy article tells about the technology of anti-shoplifting tags used on store merchandise. They are high-Q tank circuits which if carried between a transmitting and receiving panel at a store’s doorway, they enhance 9 MHz signal propagation between those two panels and the alarm goes off. When a purchase is made, the store clerk deactivates →
I have written about sending video signals over UTP cable. I have covered single composite video signal and audio. Now it is time to discuss sending VGA over UTP cable. Some DIY people (including me) have built different kind of adapters from VGA connector to RJ-45 connector. In best cases simple passive connection between those →
Here is the power supply that came with a cheap MP3 player. It is a power supply that takes in 230V mains power and outputs 5V at USB connector. What is wrong with this power supply? Let’s start with the electromechanical design. The mains connection pins that can be folded in and out at a →
I have written about passive methods on adapting 75 ohm video signals to 100 ohms UTP wiring at Differential video signals on UTP cable section of ePanorama.net and my postings Audio, Video and other signals over UTP, Video over UTP and Video over UTP – commercial balun circuit articles. Possibility to send composite video signals →
The secret to sending analogue video signals over UTP is to balance them well. Video balun is a device made for this. I earlier write about Video over UTP and my own experiments related to it. Here is a look wat what is inside a commercially made inexpensive video balun, in this case LLT-201 from →
Traditionally analogue video transmission is done using 75 ohm coaxial cables. Those video signals are not directly compatible with nowadays more widely used twisted pair wiring (CAT5, CAT6 etc..), which means you just can’t wire the signals directly form video output to a twisted pair wire. The mains problems in connecting 75 ohms video source →
EDN Magazine blog has an interesting series on posting on software tools available to engineers that make our lives easier. Check out those postings to get to know a large number of electronics engineering related software (most of the software mentioned on postings are free and open source). An engineer’s software toolbox – Part 1 →
Do engineering videos grab your interest? What is the correct way to advertise an engineering product? Which is the better MCU pitch? Song-and-dance or dog-and-pony video? article asks if traditional dog-and-pony show or uptempo song-and-dance style is a better way to advertise a micro-controller. Because this is a Friday post, I will link here that →
Build your own metal detector article mentions a pretty interesting Diy Arduino based metal detector. The article starts with with an explanation of how most oscillator based metal detectors work. Most metal detectors uses a search coil that act as part of an oscillator circuit. When metal is put in proximity of the search coil →