30 June 2008

Ever seen those video clips of car crash tests where the dummies are thrown about like rag dolls? The dummies are highly engineered to simulate the effect of crashes on human bodies and they carry lots of instrumentation to record the pain (forces & deflections) they suffer.

16 June 2008

Some readers may be annoyed by the sight of a review of a valve amplifier in SILICON CHIP - but we often get requests to publish a modern design. So we thought it would be useful to put this model through our usual performance testing.

05 June 2008

Did you know that it if you want to paint a wall and need to unscrew a power outlet or light switch, you cannot do it legally in any Australian state? Nor can you replace a light switch or power outlet, install a dimmer or ceiling fan. Nor anything else which involves any form of electrical installation, repair or modification. But you can in New Zealand!

26 May 2008

If you're a small manufacturer, design lab or college without in-house PC board prototyping facilities, who do you turn to? It's a problem a lot of organisations face - even SILICON CHIP - but there are answers out there . . .

19 May 2008

Since our debunking of the "Electricity saving box" in the November 2007 issue, another device along the same lines has appeared in Harvey Norman stores. Called the "Enersonic Power Saver" it claims potential power savings of up to 24%. At $59.00, it is considerably more expensive than the previous device but just like that one, it won't save you a cent on your electricity bills.

08 May 2008

The first all-electric production road vehicle available in Australia

01 April 2008

And you always thought that the Farad was a ridiculously large unit... Start thinking in KILOFarads!

01 April 2008

Last month, we introduced the topic of Digital TV and strongly advocated the purchase of a High-Definition Set-Top Box or Personal Video Recorder. In this second part, we discuss the antenna installation and what you need to do to ensure the most reliable and interference-free reception.

01 April 2008

Upgrade your standard 12V lead-acid battery charger or solar cell booster to a complete 2 or 3-step charger using this Charge Controller. It includes temperature compensation and LED indication. All parameters are adjustable for charging lead-acid or Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) batteries.

01 March 2008

Perhaps you are blissfully unaware of it - but the Australian Government plans to progressively switch off all analog TV transmitters, starting in less than two years time. And High Definition digital TV programs are now being shown on "free to air" commercial, ABC and SBS TV. Those programs are not available via Standard Definition digital tuners or set-top boxes. So what do you need to do?