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Capacitive touch sensors are based on the electrical capacitance of the human body. When, for example, a finger comes close to the sensor, it creates a capacitance to Earth with a value of 30 to 100 pF. This effect can be used for proximity detection and touch-controlled switching. Capacitive switches have clear advantages compared to other types of touch switches (for example 50 Hz or 60 Hz detection or resistance detection), but are often more complex to implement.... [read more]

Wound on a 3 foot length of PVC pipe, the long loopstick antenna was an experiment to try to improve AM radio reception without using a long wire or ground. It works fairly well and greatly improved reception of a weak station 130 miles away. A longer rod antenna will probably work better if space allows.... [read more]

If the unit is brought close to a live conductor (insulated, and even buried in plaster) capacitive coupling between the live conductor and the probe clocks the counter, and causes the LED to flash 5 times per second, because the 4017 IC divides the mains 50Hz frequency by 10.... [read more]

This is a combination digital clock timer and solar panel charge controller used to maintain a deep cycle battery from a solar panel. The timer output is used to control a 12 volt load for a 32 minute time interval each day.... [read more]

A switched timer with equal make and equal space periods timing adjustable from over 6 minutes to 38 minutes.... [read more]

The amplifier's gain is nominally 20 dB. Its frequency response is determined primarily by the value of just a few components-primarily C1 and R1. The values of the schematic diagram provide a response of ±3.0 dB from about 120 Hz to better than 20,000 Hz.Actually, the frequency response is ruler flat from about 170 Hz to well over 20,000 Hz; it's the low end that deviates from a flat frequency response.... [read more]