13 August 2007

If your car's turbocharger has just been running, it is vital to allow the engine to idle for a few minutes before switching off. This Adaptive Turbo Timer will do the job automatically. It only operates when necessary and sets the idle time according to how hard you've driving.

10 August 2007

In Pt.4 this month, we present a high-performance Stereo Preamplifier & Remote Volume Control module. It's a low-noise, low-distortion design specifically engineered for the Class-A amplifier but which can also be used with other stereo power amplifiers.

16 July 2007

A little over five years ago, before water became a "cause celebre", we published a design for a simple tank water level indicator. Now, with thousands of home water tanks being installed every year (and prompted by many requests for such a project), we thought it time to resurrect the idea, albeit with a couple of tweaks.

14 July 2007

Designed for use in our new Class-A Stereo Amplifier, this Speaker Protection & Muting Module is really a universal unit. It can be used with other SILICON CHIP amplifier modules and commercial stereo amplifiers and protects the loudspeakers in the event of a catastrophic amplifier failure. A second function of the unit is to mute the loudspeakers at switch-on & switch-off to prevent thumps.

12 July 2007

What's a PID controller? PID stands for "proportional integral differential" and relates to a process which seeks to continuously correct the error between a measured variable and a desired setting by calculating an appropriate correction process. In practice, it can largely avoid the large overshoots and undershoots that occur in simple temerature control systems.

10 July 2007

One of the most popular uses of PICAXE chips is in sound orientated projects. Both the new PICAXE-14M and PICAXE-28X1 support the 08M 'play' and 'tune' commands, which allow the PICAXE chips to play mobile phone ring-tones directly via a piezo sounder.

09 July 2007

We have been wanting to produce this Nixie Clock project for a long time and now it has finally come to fruition. It has the warm, fascinating glow of Nixie tubes with their hypnotic counting action, mixed with a cool blue glow from a high-brightness LED from underneath each tube. It makes an eye-catching display, both during the day and at night.

17 June 2007

A cheap, adjustable design that lets you switch devices on and off according to speed.

15 June 2007

There's a new kid on the block! He's from the rapidly-growing PICAXE family (now with 11 siblings!) and goes by the name of 14-M. If you're a PICAXE fan, Stan wants you to meet him 'cos he's really friendly - especially if you already know his younger brother, 08-M!

11 June 2007

The Programmable Ignition System would not be complete without the addition of engine knock sensing. This Knock Detector is useful for adjusting ignition timing maps and can also automatically retard the ignition timing if engine knock is detected.