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EEVblog #215 – Gaussian Resistors

EEVblog — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 06:22:55 +0000

Just how far out is that +/-1% metal film resistor you are using?
Is it just random?
Does it follow the classic bell shaped Gaussian response?
What are the odds of getting one that’s spot on, or right out at the limits?
Dave thought he’d find out, the hard way…

Original Data can be found here, in both Open Office and Excel formats, play around yourself!
http://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=5460.0;attach=16808

See here for more analysis on the data by Bob from Ohio:
http://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=5460.msg71085#msg71085

EEVblog #181 – Dead Bug Prototype Soldering

EEVblog — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 11:47:49 +0000

Dave show you how to solder a small 3 axis accelerometer LGA surface mount chip “dead bug” style onto a microcontroller prototyping board.
This technique allows you to easily prototype projects using tiny SMD components designed only for reflow soldering.

EEVblog #180 – Soldering Tutorial Part 1 – Tools

EEVblog — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 12:26:09 +0000

Dave takes you through everything you need to know to do good quality soldering.
Part 1 is all about the tools you might need.
A lot of this was already covered in my general lab tools video.

EEVblog #159 – Oscilloscope Trigger Holdoff Tutorial

EEVblog — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 03:44:08 +0000

One of the more obscure controls on an oscilloscope is the Trigger Holdoff control. A dedicated control on most high end analog oscilloscopes, and a main menu option in modern digital scopes, yet often poorly understood. What does it do and how does it work?

EEVblog #158 – AVR ISP MK2 + LM317 Regulator Tutorial

EEVblog — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:06:50 +0000

Who else but Dave can turn what was supposed to be a simple 2 minute AVR ISP hack video into a 30 minute episode on designing and measuring the performance of an LM317 voltage regulator circuit, with a bonus shootout between the Fluke 87V and the Gossen Metrahit XTRA multimeters?

EEVblog #140 – Battery Capacity Tutorial

EEVblog — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 22:20:07 +0000

Ever wanted to know what battery capacity is? Dave takes you through everything you need to know about amp-hours, mAh, watt hours, internal or series resistance, temperature effects, battery cutoff voltages, and characteristic curves.
Part 2 coming soon.

EEVblog #133 – Dodgy Digikey Components

EEVblog — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 00:31:46 +0000

Dave cuts loose on Digikey (or Bourns?) for providing dodgy resistors which made their way into his

EEVblog #110 – Let’s Design a DC to DC Switchmode Converter

EEVblog — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 00:22:16 +0000

Dave takes you step-by-step through designing a DC-DC converter using the venerable MC34063. And then he build it and checks the performance.

An online calculator is here:
http://dics.voicecontrol.ro/tutorials/mc34063/

EEVblog #105 – Electronics Thermal Heatsink Design Tutorial

EEVblog — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 22:44:43 +0000

A follow on from some of the recent blogs that have involved basic thermal heatsink calculation. This time around Dave takes you though the basic theory of thermal design and how heatsink calculations work. Then there are some real world temperature measurements to see how close to the theory we get.

How do you read a heatsink thermal response graph? What is emissivity? It’s all here in thermal design 101.

EEVblog #95 – Linear Regulators, Closed Loops, Simulations, & Brand Shenanigans

EEVblog — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 00:17:43 +0000

A bit of a follow-on from the linear regular episode. Dave dances with a simple linear closed loop circuit he built, and bodges it up in LTspice to get a remarkably consistent result.
Not really a tutorial, just a few random tidbits.

EEVblog #90 – Linear and LDO regulators and Switch Mode Power Supply Tutorial

EEVblog — Sat, 29 May 2010 10:24:32 +0000

Just how different are linear, LDO and switching buck voltage regulators? You might be surprised!
It’s tutorial time.

NOTE: There are many different methods of SMPS control, this is just one of the simple ones, go investigate!

EEVblog #87 – Let’s hop on the Electronics Design Merry-Go-Round

EEVblog — Sun, 16 May 2010 06:12:04 +0000

Dave demonstrates how much fussing around can be involved in selecting just a couple of cost optimised parts for a new design, using Digikey, Mouser, FindChips, Octopart and Atmel websites.

EEVblog #85 – High Voltage Oscilloscope Probe Design

EEVblog — Sat, 08 May 2010 04:15:19 +0000

Doug Ford shows us how he designed his own 1000:1 high voltage oscilloscope probe.
http://www.dfad.com.au

and the Oscilloscope probe tutorial:
http://dfad.com.au/links/THE%20SECRET%20WORLD%20OF%20PROBES%20OCt09.pdf

EEVblog #72 – Let’s Design a Product

EEVblog — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 21:56:05 +0000

In this supersized lecture length episode, Dave foolishly attempts to explain how to design an example product (the uCurrent) from start to finish.

Read the FULL ARTICLE.
The uCurrent WEB PAGE

EEVblog #61 – Crystal Oscillator Drift

EEVblog — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 21:43:44 +0000

Dave explains the what how and why of measuring crystal clock oscillator drift over time.

The Clock Drift PCBs

Real data collected with the sine fit envelope.
And results showing the same characteristic result over a slow temperature ramp.

EEVblog #50 – Solid State LED Lighting, and How Thermal Design Sucks

EEVblog — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 05:47:13 +0000

Dave lights up his new backyard deck with Cree XPG LEDs, and then winds up measuring the wind from a storm instead. And who can spell efficacy?

LINKS:
Cree XPG LED Datasheet
Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive
Luminous Efficacy Graph
Graph #1
Graph #2
LED Strip, Mounted LED
700mA 35W Mains LED driver

EEVblog #49 – Decibels (dB’s) for Engineers – A Tutorial

EEVblog — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:39:12 +0000

Are you a pessimist or an optimist? Dave explains dB’s and how they are useful for us engineering types.

EEVblog #44 – Part 2 – Logic Analyzer Tutorial

EEVblog — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:13:08 +0000

Part two of Dave’s Logic Analyzer tutorial / monologue

EEVblog #44 – Part 1 – Logic Analyzer Tutorial

EEVblog — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:10:22 +0000

Dave gives you the what, how, and why of Logic Analyzers in this two part tutorial.

EEVblog #38 2of2 – Seismic Survey Boats & Insulation Resistance Measurement

EEVblog — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:35:27 +0000

Dave explains errors and problems associated in insulation resistance measurement through a relay test matrix.
Betcha no one else has covered that one before!

EEVblog #38 – LCR Meters, Transmission Lines, and Moving goal posts

EEVblog — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:32:53 +0000

Dave gives the solution to the first hardware quiz.
How do you design an LCR meter?
What about a stepped transmission line attenuation tester?
What does modular design and management have in common?

LINKS: Guardian Solid Streamer and Marine Aquisition

EEVblog #35 2of2 – NiMH and NiCd Battery Charging Tutorial

EEVblog — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:33:05 +0000

While we’re on the subject, Dave talks about NiMH and NiCd battery charging methods.

EEVblog #35 – Inside the Varta 15 minute NiMH Battery Charger

EEVblog — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:28:40 +0000

Dave cracks open the Varta 15 minute NiMH battery charger, what will he find?

EEVblog #33 2of2 – Capacitor Tutorial (Ceramics and impedance)

EEVblog — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:23:54 +0000

A blog so big it needed two parts.
This time it’s all about ceramic capacitors, and that mysterious things of putting different vale capacitors in parallel. Not to mention microphonics.

EEVblog #33 1of2 – Capacitor Tutorial (Electrolytic, Tantalum, and Plastic Film)

EEVblog — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:17:48 +0000

Dave attempts to give the low-down on different capacitor types in under 10 minutes, can he do it?
(Hint – Dave likes to waffle…)

EEVblog #26 – Multimeter Counts, Accuracy, Resolution & Calibration

EEVblog — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:15:27 +0000

All about Multimeter display counts, accuracy, and calibration.

EEVblog #24 – The secret world of Chopper Amplifiers

EEVblog — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 11:41:47 +0000

The secret world of Chopper (auto-zero) Amplifiers.

EEVblog #23 – GSM mobile phone audio design

EEVblog — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:07:10 +0000

GSM mobile phone audio design, RF immunity, and low noise dead bug point-to-point prototyping.

EEVblog #17 – I hope your next project DOESN’T work!

EEVblog — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:19:22 +0000

I hope your next project DOESN’T work!, dual-purpose I/O pins can be a trap, and www.octopart.com
(P.S Sorry about the audio, been playing around with a new mic)

EEVblog #16 – All about CMOS SCR Latchup

EEVblog — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:22:51 +0000

All about CMOS SCR Latchup

EEVblog #14 – An unusual Oscilloscope phenomenon!

EEVblog — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 11:30:35 +0000

A rather unusual Oscilloscope phenomenon!

Here is an old paper on the ESD chair issue: http://www.emcesd.com/pdf/eos93.pdf

Here is

EEVblog #13 Part 2 of 2 – PC Based Digital Storage Oscilloscope Comparison

EEVblog — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:51:02 +0000

PC Based Digital Storage Oscilloscope Comparison

EEVblog #13 Part 1 of 2 – Digital Storage Oscilloscope Tutorial

EEVblog — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:49:25 +0000

All about Digital Storage Oscilloscopes

EEVblog #12 Part 1 of 2 – Shanghai Special

EEVblog — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 09:46:55 +0000

Shanghai Special – PCB Assembly Tour

EEVblog #4 – Low Power Calculator Design and FPGAs

EEVblog — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:07:57 +0000

Dodgy low power calculator design, Annoying FPGA’s, LCD’s, & Mr Bean

EEVblog #4 Podcast

EEVblog #3 – Anti Static Myths Busted

EEVblog — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:00:43 +0000

DSP, Annoying PIC Micro, Static Myths, Pocket Multimeters.

EEVblog #3 Podcast

EEVBlog #2 – Burden Voltage and HP Multimeter Review

EEVblog — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:34:20 +0000

Black Magic, Burden Voltage, FindChips.com, ThisIsANT.com, Retro Review

EEVblog #2 Podcast