Electronics Blog 2008

I have ordered and received more parts from Rapid. Most of the time between now and the previous post has been spent on the The interesting parts in the most recent order are the TechnoCard kits I bought as Christmas presents.

I was side-tracked onto the Voltage Comparator project, but failed to get it to work. I think the output should sink from the +5 rail instead of sourcing to ground. In the meantime I had paused this project until I get my head better around this.

The Solar Powered Battery Charger project, the +5V Regulated Power Supply project (although un-boxed), and the 1st Simple LED project are complete. The priority is to get the 555 Tester completed and start on the Electronic Dice project.

I assembled the +5V Regulated Power Supply project onto stripboard, but I have since discovered the polarity of the output is reversed so I need to to re-solder the lead with the correct polarity.

I have also made up a second twisted pair cable.

Woohoo! I have made one of the twisted pair cables.

I have also started assembling the +5V Regulated Power Supply project onto stripboard.

I have also successfully charged both pairs of AAA batteries!

I got some more components from Rapid which will among other projects enable me to complete the Solar Powered Battery Charger project.

The majority of the parts are for the PIC RS485 project.

I breadboarded the +5V Regulated Power Supply project and it appears to be working (wayhey!). I fitted a heat-sink to the voltage regulator, not because I HAD to, but to try out adding a heat-sink to something. I have finally drawn up the stripboard layout for it and will start assembling it.

The Solar Powered Battery Charger after its fix, appeared to charge a pair of my AA rechargeable batteries - woo-hoo. The sun has started to show itself now which is always good and I only left them charging for a fortnight.

Well, January was a slow month; the Solar Powered Battery Charger has a 'dry' solder joint that I need to attend to. Also I need to redo some of the Molex connectors! Apart from that it is looking quite good. I will be concentrating on the +5V Regulated Power Supply project after this.

I have also downloaded the 2008 Rapid catalogue, a bit of a bummer that the free postage has risen to orders over £30.


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Last updated - 5th January 2009
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