Posts by Olin Lathrop
The flashing-light frequency shall be 90+/-30 times per minute. I don't know what could be more clear. This spec says that the light must flash 90 times per minute, ±30 times per minute. In othe...
Your question is ambiguous. First, you need to define "rise time". That applies to a step, not a periodic signal. Let's say you have a 0 to 5 V digital signal. The rise time is how long it take...
I'll take it that you want this circuit to actually work, not just appear to work in some software simulation. In that case, it's about the circuit, not the simulator. A simulator is just one too...
The component with the coil of wire is an inductor. Judging from the small size, it is probably only a few µH. There are lots of uses for inductors, like for filters, switching power supplies, tu...
First, common mode is something that only applies to a differential signal. When a signal is encoded in the difference between two voltages, the common mode voltage is the average of the two. The...
That circuit is drawn rather obfuscated, but it does seem to make sense: Start by looking only at D1, D2, C1, and C2. Pretend D3, C3, and D6 don't exist. Although not drawn very well, this is ...
It's really not clear what exactly happened in that video. We see someone slinging a hook over the power line, then we see a white picture. We don't know what the cable was made of and where the ...
At first glance, your design looks reasonable. I assume D1 and D2 are really supposed to be on opposite data lines, and them both being on the A line is a typo? One thing that sticks out to me is...
It's been a while since I did 1-wire, so I don't remember the current levels. R18 seems rather high for supporting the minimum required voltage at the maximum possible current. Let's say for sake...
Your controller is too fast compared to the plant (the thing being controlled), thereby causing instability. The most obvious culprit is the 50 kΩ resistor between the controller output and the FE...
I guess it would work. I have used electrodes on a PCB to detect whether water level got high enough to turn on a sump pump. It worked, although it hasn't been installed very long. In that case ...
Now that you've supplied a link to the product, I can provide a different take on this affair. Your "UPS" is an Amazon Basics model described at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073Q3BSPG/?th=1....
I see that manassehkatz has already given you a good answer and plausible explanation for what you observed, so I'll fill in a few other points. Your battery is 5 years old, so is getting to the p...
Such a domed button is usually called a "membrane switch", at least here in the US. As you say, the small metal bubble makes contact with something underneath when pressed. Advantages of membrane...
Is there a scientific way to estimate the resistance of a pogo pin? Ultimately there must be, but it generally requires knowing things you don't know. Worrying about the resistance of the barrel ...
When should a transformer core be potted? Whenever you need some of Mechanical ruggedness. High dielectric strength. Minimize vibrations (and therefore audible whine) from capacitive, inductive...
My first knee-jerk reaction was to use opto-isolators. There are some that have been around for decades and are unlikely to go obsolete any time soon. I wasn't previously aware of these "digital ...
It has two female inputs on the backside that are labeled as "Grounding". This is incorrect. Take a closer look at the two connections and you will see that the left is labeled "Antenne" and t...
CAN lines in the most common implementation have 60 Ω impedance between them. Anything that is substantially larger than that won't effect the lines much. I'd use 1 kΩ at least, preferably more. ...
You say the only thing that will be powered by the ±12 V supplies is a comparator. The first thing I would look at is whether you really need the comparator to run from that voltage range. Presum...
It's hard to answer your specific case since you didn't label the layers in your picture, or which traces are doing what. That said, a few traces crossing each other on different layers is not muc...
I want to know why the top-of-the-line CPUs and GPUs from Intel, NVIDIA, and AMD are all bragging about the fabrication process (7nm and 5nm) and trying to be consistently smaller. It's marketing ...
I have run into an interesting phenomenon related to ceramic capacitors. This question is part of the effort to understand the issue, and eventually work around it. But first, some background of ...
An induction motor with its shaft held still will mostly look like an inductor with a series resistance electrically. However, there will be some issues: It will be difficult to guess the inducta...
