After a year or so of reading and drooling over other people’s wonderful projects in these pages I decided to finally make one of my own. Here is my first instructable, a version of the ever popular Battery Desulfator, which I built in an Altoids tin. First, some background: My urge to build this project […]
Desulfator for 12V Car Batteries, in an Altoids Tin Read More »
This wearable LED heart simulator pendant was inspired by my work as a cardiovascular surgical nurse as well as my love of electronics. It simulates the electrical activity of 17 different rhythms and when paired with the heart backplane, it becomes an audio and pulse simulator as well. It is not so much a
Wearable LED heart simulator pendant Read More »
Introduction Imagine a marathon on a very hot, dusty day when saving every ounce of energy matters to the outcome. This race isn’t half over, but the winner seems certain. The lead looks insurmountable, because this runner can do more with less energy. This runner shines brighter. In the face of heat and competition, this
Adding Intelligence to LED Lighting Read More »
After making a 8X10 matrix a lot of people asked me about expanding the matrix to some thing bigger, and some wanted to write stuff to the matrix via a PC, so one day I looked at a pile of LEDs that I had leftover from a LED cube projected and I decided to make
Make a 24X6 LED matrix Read More »
This instructable fully describes building a PWM driver to control four LEDs from one small Microchip 12F609 board.The original design was called the “Kemper LED Lamp” and I sold a few lamps to several brave folks through my web site. However, I’ve come to discover selling small quantities to a few folks is a major
Open Source Microchip LED / PWM Driver Project Read More »
I have something with the weather. I always like to know how warm or cold it is, how much rain has fallen, how hard the wind blows and from what direction,… and so there are lots of sensors around our house to keep me up to date. These sensors give only a limited range of
LED wind indicator Read More »
What follows are instructions for constructing a battery powered portable VU meter, as well as detailed instructions for the construction of the PCB needed to complete this project. It was designed to illuminate from 0-10 LEDs depending on ambient sound levels. I designed it to be attached to a wristband, clothing, or a necklace if
Battery Powered Portable VU Meter Read More »
My obsession of this year is full-color LED. I have made Aurora 9×18 as a result. As much as I love the scale of Aurora 9×18, I also wanted to have something smaller, perhaps something that can go on a costume. Here’s Aurora mini 18. It has 18 full-color/RGB LEDs on a smallest possible circle.
One of the biggest challenges faced by solid-state lighting designers is reliability. Electrical and thermal conditions are two major factors affecting device life and lighting output and, while long life is a key benefit of LEDs compared to incandescent and fluorescent light sources, all bets are off if the LEDs exceed their temperature ratings. Thermal
The Reliability of LED Lighting Fixtures Read More »
Lithium-ion batteries are sensitive to bad treatment. Fire, explosions, and other hazardous condition may occur when you charge the cell below the margin that the manufacturer defines. Modern battery chargers can manage the hazardous conditions and deny operation when illegal situations occur. This fact doesn’t mean, however, that all cells are bad. In most cases,
Simple circuit indicates health of lithium-ion batteries Read More »
