Hackett’s Bike Generator Keeps the Juice Flowing During Blackouts
Having witnessed the effects of Superstorm Sandy on the New York power grid, Hackett built this easy bike generator to stave off the next power outage.
component of the month
Building a BatBox: a DIY Battery Backup
Bill Porter had some nice batteries lying around and had suffered some power outages, so he decided to make a battery backup in the spirit of Minecraft’s BatBox power packs.
Make a Gel Electrophoresis Power Supply
Open-source DIY Bio company IO Rodeo created a DIY gel electrophoresis power supply, which creates the electrical field that manipulates molecules suspended in a gel or liquid.
Building a Power Supply Kit with Collin
In this classic video Collin Cunningham describes power supplies and walking through building a dual linear regulated power supply from a kit.
Lego Desktop Power Supply
I like this creative way of packaging up an ATX power supply that Instructables user jtmanders created. He added terminals for 5v, 3.3v, and GND, a power LED indicator, as well as a power switch
Component of the Month: Relays
A relay enables a signal or pulse of electricity to switch on (or switch off) a separate flow of electricity. Often, a relay uses a low voltage or low current to control a higher voltage and/or higher current. The low voltage/low current signal can be initiated by a relatively small, economical switch, and can be carried to the relay by relatively cheap, small-gauge wire, at which point the relay controls a larger current near to the load. In a car, for example, turning the ignition switch sends a signal to a relay positioned close to the starter motor.
Building a Transistor-Scale 555
Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories and Eric Schlaepfer have developed a kit that builds a working 555 built out of discrete, through-hole transistors.
