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Most thefts happen after midnight hours when people enter the second phase of sleep called ‘paradoxical’ sleep. Here is an energy-saving circuit that causes the thieves to abort the theft attempt by lighting up the possible sites of intrusion (such as kitchen or backyard of your house) at around 1:00 am. It automatically resets in the morning. The circuit is fully automatic and uses a CMOS IC CD 4060 to get the desired time delay. Light-dependent resistor LDR1 controls reset pin 12 of IC1 for its automatic action. During day time, the low resistance of LDR1 makes pin 12 of IC1 ‘high,’ so it doesn’t oscillate.... [read more]

This is a very good integrated circuit. There is no need for any external glue logic to drive the circuit, there is only 2 pins to drive the motor, one for controlling the direction and the other to trigger the stepping pulses. It provides a very compact design that drives 5 or 6 or 8 wire stepper motors.... [read more]

This circuit is permanently plugged into a mains socket and NI-CD batteries are trickle-charged. When a power outage occurs, the lamp automatically illuminates. Instead of illuminating a lamp, an alarm sounder can be chosen. When power supply is restored, the lamp or the alarm is switched-off. A switch provides a "latch-up" function, in order to extend lamp or alarm operation even when power is restored.... [read more]

If you’re expecting an important visitor but you just have to step out for a moment, an electronic doorbell memory can come in handy so you can see whether someone rang while you were out. Of course, you can’t tell whether it was the visitor you were expecting who dropped by then, but a call to the mobile phone of the person concerned can quickly answer that question. A doorbell memory can also save you the trouble of going to the front door (if you live upstairs) when you think you heard the bell but aren’t sure. And if you can’t buy one, then of course you can build one yourself! Read on to find out how.... [read more]

This circuit will detect AC line currents of about 250 mA or more without making any electrical connections to the line. Current is detected by passing one of the AC lines through an inductive pickup (L1) made with a 1 inch diameter U-bolt wound with 800 turns of #30 - #35 magnet wire.... [read more]

Going camping nowadays involves taking lots of electronic equipment whether for day to day running or for fun and entertainment. Most of the time a charged lead acid battery and a power inverter would be used to ensure a smoothly organized holiday where ideally the missus and the children cheerfully use their electric and electronic gear! With rechargeable lead-acid batteries it’s invariably useful - if not essential - to determine whether the power source you’re hauling along on your travels is losing capacity and needs to be topped up. The same circuit would also come in handy when going on a car or motorbike trip as it can check the status of a 12 V (car) or a 6 V (motorcycle) battery.... [read more]