13 January 2010

I first noticed this giant "golf ball" last year, sitting high on its "tee", right next to the Terrey Hills golf driving range in Sydney's north. "Surely," I thought, "that's not just an advert for the driving range . . ." No it's not (although I bet they are very grateful!) – it's much more interesting than that – it's the latest in the Bureau of Meteorology weather radar upgrades! And the best part: you can view its images via the 'net.

08 January 2010

This project was inspired by requests from a number of readers. Essentially they said that the GPS module was great for obtaining a precise time . . . but could we produce a project that used its full capabilities for use in a vehicle?

04 January 2010

Regular SILICON CHIP readers will recall Stan Swan's AIS article in August 2009. It's not stretching the truth to say it has stirred an enormous amount of interest. But we bemoaned the fact that there appeared to be very little coverage in Australia's north west.

18 December 2009

This instrument can perform a leakage current test on almost any type of capacitor in current use, including ceramic, mica, monolithic, metallised polyester or paper, polystyrene, solid tantalum and aluminium electrolytics. There are seven different standard test voltages from 10V to 100V, so most capacitors can be checked at or close to their rated voltage. Leakage currents can also be measured, from almost 10mA down to less than 100nA.

17 December 2009

Interesting circuit ideas which we have checked but not built and tested. Contributions from readers are welcome and will be paid for at standard rates.

15 December 2009

Have you ever had the need for a digital display that can be read from across the room? How about across the factory? How about fifty or even a hundred metres away?

11 December 2009

For anyone involved in assembly line or service soldering, the Hakko brand needs no introduction. Their latest offering, the Hakko FX-888 Soldering Station features a number of upgrades and improvements over previous models and should find a ready market in the assembly industry, service personnel and technicians and advanced hobbyist users.

09 December 2009

At one time, the sensors in cars with engine management were regarded as untouchable. But now you can change the signal response of many of the sensors to improve your car's driveability, throttle response, handling and so on. This voltage interceptor allows you modify and program the response of any voltage sensor in your car, without prejudicing reliability or affecting the ECU in any way. Use it for restoring correct air/fuel ratios after engine modifications, preventing turbo boost cuts or altering sensor signals for improved driveability.

07 December 2009

Originally conceived as a track-in-use indicator for model railway layouts, this one-of-nine indicator can used with any selector switch with up to nine positions. It can be used with a bank of reed switches, as might be used on a locomotive turntable or traverser on a model railway layout or with any switch with up to nine positions. Then we realised it had many other uses . . .

03 December 2009

Last month, we introduced our new Web Server In A Box (WIB) and gave the full construction details. This month, we show you how to connect it to your modem/router and guide you step-by-step through the set-up details. We also show you how to activate a dynamic DNS service, so that you can access the WIB via the Internet.