Electronics/DIY

DIY
Electronics:

See Electronics/DIY

Home Automation:

See Home Automation

Hardware Hacks:

See Hardware Hacks

Ohms Law

 * All About Circuits (see ch 5) (GOOD RESOURCE!)
 * Rules for Parallel DC Circuits
 * Matter, Energy, and Electricity (see ch 3)
 * Wiki: Ohm's law

http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/a/3/d/a3ddbc2ec4f5974fb9d5b7ed9523c93e.png

Test Circuit
Java Applet: Electric Test Circuit

VA vs Watts
Calculating VA and Watts

Electronic Stores

 * Radio Shack
 * Central Utah Electronics
 * 735 South State St., Provo, UT 84606

Your best bet is probably the mail order houses:


 * DigiKey - www.digikey.com
 * Mouser - www.mouser.com
 * Jameco - www.jameco.com
 * Allied - www.alliedelec.com
 * Antique Electronic Supply - www.tubesandmore.com
 * Radio Daze - www.radiodaze.com

The latter two are especially good if you enjoy vintage vacuum tube electronics or guitar amplifiers.

Electronic components are easier than ever to obtain; You just can't get them from the corner Radio Shack any longer.

Some of these companies have a $25 minimum order, though that is really not a deterrent.

Power Management Console
Power Management Console

Writing a Bash For Loop (Turn relays on)

To turn all relays on (power management console connected through serial): [usr-1@srv-1 ~]$ cat allon for ((i=100;i<=115;i+=1)); do  echo $i sleep 1 echo $i > /dev/ttyS1 done
 * 1) !/bin/bash

USB Relay Controller
USB Relay Controller - One Channel:

A general purpose USB Relay controller for connection to a PC's USB port using VCP (Virtual COM port). Control devices using your PC.

Features: • Fully assembled and tested. • For 12V/24V DC 15A or 120V/220V AC at 10A max.

Complete including: - One USB relay Controller

Dimensions (PCB board) : 90 mm / 35 mm

Links: Manual - http://www.sigma-shop.com/manuals/USB1RELAY_manual.pdf Drivers - http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm Support forum - http://www.sigma-shop.com/board/

Drivers are available to work with the following operating systems : Windows Vista x64, Windows XP x64, Windows Server 2003 x64, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows 98, Linux, Mac OS X, Mac OS 9, Mac OS 8, Windows CE.NET (Version 4.2 and greater)

Price $24.95 including worldwide shipping.

Magnetic Card Readers
SparkFun Electronics - Magnetic Card Reader ($59.99)
 * "Description: This is a simple three track magnetic card reader with serial output. This reader takes power from the serial port and outputs a 9600bps 8N1 ASCII serial stream. Plug the reader into a serial port (or USB to serial converter), swipe your frequent shopper card, and you'll see the account number plain and unencrypted on the screen. We couldn't find a card the reader couldn't read. No drivers needed. No software needed. Just pure, wonderful serial."

SparkFun Electronics - Magnetic Card Reader/Writer: ($139.95)
 * "Description: This is a heavy duty, low coercitivity, three track magnetic card writer and reader. This unit takes power from an available PS2 port (includes a pass through connector so you can still use a mouse or keyboard) and passes information through the RS232 serial port.


 * Please note: This writer works with low coercitivity cards only."

Controlling a 120 AC Circuit
ac - Can you put a 120vac positive line into a breadboard? - Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange - http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/19813/can-you-put-a-120vac-positive-line-into-a-breadboard

LED Throwies

 * LED Throwies Instructables
 * LED Throwies
 * Throwies packs
 * Buy LEDs OnLine (Good place to buy small quantities)
 * Cheap Batteries