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The circuit below illustrates powering a LED (or two) from the 120 volt AC line using a capacitor to drop the voltage and a small resistor to limit the inrush current. Since the capacitor must pass current in both directions, a small diode is connected in parallel with the LED to provide a path for the negative half cycle and also to limit the reverse voltage across the LED. A second LED with the polarity reversed may be subsituted for the diode, or a tri-color LED could be used which would appear orange with alternating current.... [read more]

The circuit will give us 10 amps (12 amps surge) with performance that equals or exceeds any commercial unit. The circuit even has a current limiting feature which is a more reliable system than most commercial units have.... [read more]

Here’s a project that could be useful this summer on the beach, to stop anyone touching your things left on your beach towel while you’ve gone swimming; you might equally well use it at the office or workshop when you go back to work. In a very small space, and powered by simple primary cells or rechargeable batteries, the proposed circuit generates a low-energy, high voltage of the order of around 200 to 400 V, harmless to humans, of course, but still able to give a quite nasty ‘poke’ to anyone who touches it.... [read more]

One reason why commercial soldering stations are expensive is that, in general, they require the use of soldering irons with inbuilt temperature sensors, such as thermocouples. This circuit eliminates the need for a special sensor because it senses the temperature of a soldering iron heating element directly from its resistance. Thus this circuit will, in principle, work with any iron with a resistance which varies predictably and in the right direction with temperature (ie, positive temperature coefficient).... [read more]

A truly timeless circuit. LM317 is a versatile and highly efficient 1.2-37V voltage regulator that can provide up to 1.5A of current with a large heat sink. It's ideal for just about any application. This was my first workbench power supply and I still use it.... [read more]

Designed around the popular ZN414 ic this receiver covers the AM band from 550 - 1600 KHz with the values shown. For Longwave the coil needs to be changed. Use one from an old MW radio to save time. The ZN414 is a tuned radio frequency designed and incorporates several RF stages and an AM detector. It is easily overloaded and the operating voltage is critical to achieve good results.... [read more]