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This circuit was purposely designed as a funny Halloween gadget. It should be placed to the rear of a badge or pin bearing a typical Halloween character image, e.g. a pumpkin, skull, black cat, witch, ghost etc. Two LEDs are fixed in place of the eyes of the character and will shine more or less brightly following the rhythm of the music or speech picked-up from surroundings by a small microphone. Two transistors provide the necessary amplification and drive the LEDs.... [read more]

Most, if not all, recent cars have an impressive amount of electronics, whether it be ABS brake systems, engine control with injection calculators, airbag activation, or other various functions, called comfort functions. Among them is one which we tend to forget because it has become so common today. It turns on the windshield wipers automatically for a few seconds after the windshield cleaner. This practice is almost indispensable because it avoids any dripping of excess rinse product right in the middle of a just-cleaned windshield.... [read more]

Due to the low current drawing, the circuit can be supplied from 230Vac mains without a transformer. Supply voltage is reduced to 12Vdc by means of C1 reactance, a two diode rectifier cell D1 & D2 and Zener diode D3. IC1A, IC1B, R2, R3 and C3 form a reliable bounce-free toggle switch operated by P1. R4 and C4, wired to pin #6 of IC1B reset the circuit (lamp off) when power supply is applied. IC1C and IC1D wired in parallel act as a buffer, driving the Gate of the Triac through R5.... [read more]

In this circuit, one, two or three neon indicator bulbs can be made to flash in sequence at rates determined by the R and C values. In the single stage circuit, using one lamp, the capacitor charges through the resistor until the ionization potential of the neon is reached (about 70 volts) and then discharges quickly through the lamp until the voltage falls below what is needed to sustain the lamp which is approximately 45 volts.... [read more]

Sure, listening to VHF FM has great advantages over MW/LW AM from the old days — now we have bright stereo free from interference, fading and noise! However, your FM radio will no longer predict the arrival of a thunderstorm as did the AM radio many years ago-reliably and hours before the trouble was upon you! The crux is that AM detection will faithfully reproduce the effects of lightning and other massive static discharges approaching in a very simple way: they’re audible as slight crackling noises in the loudspeaker, almost irrespective of the tuning of the radio! Assuming no AM radio is available anymore, a dedicated VLF receiver tuned to about 300 kHz can faithfully detect the crackle of approaching lightning.... [read more]

In order to obtain a good audio reproduction at different listening levels, a different tone-controls setting should be necessary to suit the well known behavior of the human ear. In fact, the human ear sensitivity varies in a non-linear manner through the entire audible frequency band, as shown by Fletcher-Munson curves.... [read more]