Tag Archives: Electronics

Reviews

Composite vs S-video vs Component

Component CablesI’ve heard that component cables provide higher picture quality than s-video and composite cables but I wanted to find out if this was true and if so, to what extent.  I tried all 3 cable types on a DVD player, Wii, and PS2.  The cables fed into a 32″ LCD HDTV.  I played the same test image on all 3 devices.  I photographed the TV screen with a digital camera on a tripod with a timer so that there would be no shake.  Read on…

Updated: 13 December 2010 (Wii Sports Resort Golf images added)

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Solar Cell Light Meter

solar cell light meterI recently got into pinhole photography and needed a light meter to calculate exposure times.  Light meter are ridiculously expensive and I figured there had to be a way to make one myself and it turns out, I was right.  I will walk you through how to make a light meter from a cheap battery tester and a solar cell ripped from a calculator.  You should be able to make one yourself for significantly less than $10.  Read on…

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Joule Thief in a Jar

jar_onIn this project I am going to show you how to make a joule thief and put it in a jar.  This joule thief is a simple circuit that will take an old “dead” AA or AAA battery and up the voltage enough to power an LED.  I use these as decorations and to completely drain batteries that are too “dead” to work in other devices.  Note:  The only unique idea here is to stick one of these circuits into a plastic jar.  The circuit is not mine. Read on…

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Replacement Ballast

ballast_rawSeveral years ago I needed to replace the ballast for the compact fluorescent bulb on a 13 gallon Nano Cube aquarium.  Looking around for replacement ballasts I discovered that they were quite expensive.  I had the idea to try to use the ballast from one of those screw-in fluorescent bulbs.  Well, It worked and since then, I have used this same process to power other compact and normal fluorescent bulbs.  Read on…

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