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It’s entirely logical that low-cost miniature microcontrollers have fewer ‘legs’ than their bigger brothers and sisters – some-times too few. The author has given some consideration to how to economise on pins, making them do the work of several. It occurred that one could exploit the high-impedance feature of a tri-state output. In this way the signal produced by the high-impedance state could be used for example as a CS signal of two ICs or else as a RD/WR signal. All we need are two op-amps or comparators sharing a single operating voltage of 5 V and outputs capable of reaching full Low and High levels in 5-V operation (preferably types with rail-to-rail outputs).... [read more]

This basic oscillator will detect the Earth magnetic field. The ferrite rod and coil are taken from an old Medium Wave receiver and a small magnet is glued at one end.... [read more]

Most off-the-shelf car battery chargers cannot not be left connected to the battery for long periods of time as over-charging and consequent battery damage will occur. This add-on circuit is placed in series with the battery being charged and is powered by the battery itself. In effect, the circuit uses a high-current Mosfet to control the charging current and it turns off when the battery voltage reaches a preset threshold. Power for the circuit is fed from the battery to 3-terminal regulator REG1 which provides 8V.... [read more]

Most of the IR remotes work reliably within a range of 5 metres. The circuit complexity increases if you design the IR transmitter for reliable operation over a longer range, say, 10 metres. To double the range from 5 metres to 10 metres, you need to increase the transmitted power four times. If you wish to real i se a highly directional IR beam (very narrow beam), you can suitably use an IR laser pointer as the IR signal source.... [read more]

This circuit has an adjustable output timer that will re-trigger at regular intervals. The output period can be anything from a fraction of a second to half-an-hour or more - and it can be made to recur at regular intervals of anything from seconds to days and beyond.... [read more]

This power supply is meant as an auxiliary or as a permanent power supply for all common circuits based on a stabilized DC voltage between 3 and 30V provided that the consumption does not exceed 3A. Of course this power supply unit can also be used for other purposes. Be replacing the trimmer by a potentiometer, it may even be used as an adjustable power supply unit. A good quality heatsink must be used.... [read more]