The electronics tag has no wiki summary.
2
votes
1answer
96 views
Replace laptop cable with NiMH batteries
I wanted to use my laptop for way longer than the time I could do with the internal battery alone, so I went ahead and bought 16 batteries (NiMH 2600mAh), connected them in a series to reach the 19V ...
1
vote
3answers
108 views
Could a faulty USB keyboard damage my motherboard?
I have an LED-backlit USB keyboard. I recently took it apart to clean it, and after doing so, the LED backlight has started flickering. I assume that this means that I damaged some part of the ...
2
votes
2answers
140 views
Software to easily design electrics / electronics circuits
Does anyone know a software to easily design electronic / electrics circuits (for resistors, capacitors, inductors, sources, transistors, ...) which already has a large and easy-to-use "library" of ...
47
votes
10answers
2k views
Can Screwdrivers With Magnetic Tips Cause Damage To Electronics?
While it is convenient to pick screws with magnetized tips i wonder if the magnetism can cause any damage to electronics?
0
votes
2answers
74 views
Does a Coaxial Lightning Surge Protector protect against Power Surges?
Does a coaxial lightning surge protector also protect against power surges?
I don't know if there is a difference between lightning surges and power surges, thus I ask this question.
I have a ...
3
votes
1answer
200 views
Using Anti-Static Wrist Strap - How To Ground With Laptop?
When i want to do laptop maintenance i want to ground myself with anti-static wrist strap. But how do i ground myself to laptop? Where can i find grounding point in order to not make mistake and spoil ...
5
votes
4answers
343 views
Which Static Electricity prevention tools do actually work?
I need a device that would discharge static electricity from my body in order to safely work with electronics. I have looked and found some that interested me, but I don't know whether they work:
...
0
votes
1answer
124 views
Easy way to trigger a switch via USB? [closed]
I'm not really into electronics but for some projects I would like to be able to control some real hardware with a computer. So I'm looking for a solution that I can simply plug into my USB port and ...
12
votes
2answers
324 views
How can I check if an anti-static wrist strap works?
I bought Belkin's anti-static wristband but i must be sure it works, since sometimes people report getting units that are defective or do not work in reality.
I have laptop only. How to check if ...
0
votes
0answers
37 views
Energy in semiconductors (eg CPU) [closed]
Assuming a CPU consumes 60W, how much of this energy is actualy used to "make calculation" and how much of this energy will became mere heating?
7
votes
2answers
173 views
Did my apartment's electronic key fob fry my flash drive?
I had a great thumb drive on my keychain (a LaCie iAmAKey), right next to the electronic key fob I use to beep myself into my apartment. Recently it's given up the ghost, refusing to be recognized on ...
4
votes
2answers
148 views
Storing hard drive near electric wire
Can storing a hard drive near an electric wire (220V) damage the hard drive?
I have no clue about such things so I thought I'd ask here. It's just that I found a suitable storage place for one of my ...
0
votes
2answers
93 views
Best way to find a driver for an onboard (NIC) card
I've just recently installed Windows XP Service Pack 2 onto a second partition on my hard drive. The primary Operating System (partition 1) is Windows 7. Realizing that I could probably boot up into ...
2
votes
1answer
248 views
Adding a new USB port inside a Macbook Pro
I have a USB Dongle that I'd like to put inside my Macbook Pro. I have already found a spot that will fit the dongle. The next question is splicing one of the USB ports and connecting it to the ...
1
vote
1answer
376 views
What should I do about a 110v adapter that I plugged into a 220v socket?
I plugged a new 110v Belkin router into a 220v socket. It had an adapter so I'm assuming the router is fine and the adapter just blew its fuse. I live in the Philippines, where there isn't any service ...
1
vote
3answers
181 views
If Voltage is Correct, but Current wrong, what's the expected behavior of a laptop receiving its adapter input?
I'm currently investigating the livelihood of a laptop adapter (as seen in an other question).
It's possible that it is faulty in that there are measurements of correct voltage but with wrong ...
2
votes
3answers
100 views
Tired of AC power adapters [closed]
I have about 20 to 30 peripherals on my computers. Each one with its own &%$/&#$% AC power adapter. I really hate these power adapters.
I am thinking of there's some kind of power supply I ...
1
vote
2answers
294 views
Electrical layout drawing application for Mac
Do you know the free application, that lets me to quickly draw the layout of electrical network ?
3
votes
4answers
388 views
How does increasing the number of transistors in a chip increase its speed
Is the only purpose of transistors in a cpu to act as the switches that define its instruction set? And if so then why does increasing the number of transistors increase its speed?
2
votes
2answers
1k views
Proper multimeter specs for fixing capacitors on your motherboard?
When our motherboards or LCD's go out it is possible that the capacitors are at fault and can be easily replaced by removing and replacing the bad caps rather than buying new screens or computers. ...
0
votes
1answer
205 views
How much does it cost to make a phone? [closed]
I was curious if there are any websites that detail how much it costs to make a phone. Not a cell phone but a landline phone.
It seems that the ones with any decent features have always cost $100+ ...
5
votes
1answer
190 views
I want to plot ocean current with a GPS in a bottle [closed]
Thinking of using a wine bottle with a cork that barely sticks out.
Anyhow, I want to put in a GPS, a battery (that can last 1 month hopefully) and a transmitter and to be able to collect position ...
5
votes
3answers
1k views
How can I get data off of a damaged thumb drive?
A guy I work with just came by to ask me about a damaged thumb drive/USB flash drive. Apparently his son dropped it on a hard surface and it won't power up anymore. They've tried plugging it into ...
1
vote
2answers
77 views
Is there a peripheral that lets my computer monitor the connectivity of pairs of wires?
I've got a bunch of physical switches and circuits that act like switches (they're either connected to ground or they're just an open wire). Is there some sort of thing I can plug into my computer ...
20
votes
10answers
3k views
What computer components are currently vulnerable to magnets?
When I first started using computers, law of the land in computer class was never bring magnets near anything computer related, lest you lose all your data or screw up your monitor.
Now I am pretty ...
1
vote
1answer
72 views
What to do with old systems that can't be upgraded or reused? [closed]
Possible Duplicates:
Determining the best value of an old computer.
What to do with old (example: 7+ years) PCs?
What do you do with your old computers, cellphones, broken cameras & ...
8
votes
6answers
826 views
What type of Multimeter is safe to use on computers?
In "Upgrading and Repairing PC's - 18th edition" by Scott Mueller on pg. 1278 he discusses multimeters. "You should only use a DMM (digital multimeter) instead of the older needle-type multimeters ...
5
votes
6answers
265 views
What is a good program for mixed mode circuit simulation?
I'm looking for a program that will perform schematic capture and mixed-mode (analog and digital) circuit simulation. If it also did PCB layout and routing, that would be a bonus, but not necessary. ...
2
votes
1answer
2k views
Repair snapped USB flash drive
I have a USB Flash Drive that has had the USB connector snapped away from the circuit board. In the past I have had great sucess with soldering the connector back to the circuit board with 4 solid ...
4
votes
7answers
819 views
Portable Wikipedia without having to buy a smart phone
I read books, but do not carry my laptop everywhere. This makes it hard to
find definitions of words
refer new concepts in Wikipedia/encyclopedia
For (1), I can probably buy an electronic ...
1
vote
2answers
187 views
What is a good program, with PostScript output (for LaTeX), to make circuit diagrams?
I just found out to my dismay that Visio 2007 does not include the ability to output drawings in EPS/PS formats, which makes it unsuitable for my uses.
I wish to create various circuit digrams ...
8
votes
5answers
463 views
What are these? Are they broken?
Please excuse the poor image quality:
What are the components that I've circled in red?
The ones on the left look whole and solid. The ones on the right have cracked tops, and although this ...
1
vote
2answers
502 views
Modifying my nicad battery pack charger to charge nimh batts
I've got a battery pack for one of my peripherals that recently died, so i took it apart to find half the (nicad) cells were dead (I tested each cell's voltage both with and without a load - the dead ...
3
votes
4answers
833 views
Controlling an amplifier power supply from Squeezebox/SqueezeCenter
I have a Squeezebox that is connected to an amplifier. I'd like the amplifier to switch on/off whenever the Squeezebox is powered on/off. I don't mind writing some plugin code to SqueezeCenter to do ...
15
votes
7answers
1k views
Electronics Starter Kit
I am currently getting interested in starting experimenting with Electronics, and am searching for some sort of electronics starter kit to get me started.
I have look at Arduino's Starter Kit and ...
