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An increasing number of appliances draw a very small current from the power supply. If you need to design a mains powered device, you could generally choose between a linear and a switch-mode power supply. However, what if the appliance’s total power consumption is very small? Transformer-based power supplies are bulky, while the switchers are generally made to provide greater current output, with a significant increase in complexity, problems involving PCB layout and, inherently, reduced reliability.... [read more]

This lovely circuit is a real gem! Easy to assemble and more sensitive than many commercial devices available.... [read more]

If you are lucky enough to have a big house, a large garden, and small children, this project just might interest you. It’s actually a telephone ringer capable of making any mains-powered device work from the ringer of your fixed line. With it, you will be able to control a high-powered siren or horn, as you like, in order to relay and amplify the low-level sound of your telephone (making it audible in a big house or in a large garden)! Alternatively, you can make a lamp light (or an indicator light) and so create a ‘silent ringer’ (helpful when small children are napping).... [read more]

The purpose of this circuit is to animate shop-windows by means of a capacitive sensor placed behind a post-card-like banner. The card is placed against the glass inside the shop-window, and the visitor can activate the relay placing his hand on the card, from the outside. Especially suited for toy-shops, the circuit can activate model trains, small electric racing cars, lights etc. Further applications are left at user's imagination. Adopt it to increase the impact of your shop-window on next Christmas season!... [read more]

Another method of using opamps to regulate a power supply is shown. The power transformer requires an additional winding to supply the op-amps with a bipolar voltage (+/- 8 volts), and the negative voltage is also used to generate a reference voltage below ground so that the output voltage can be adjusted all the way down to 0. Current limiting is accomplished by sensing the voltage drop across a small resistor placed in series with the negative supply line.... [read more]

To complement the 60 Watt MosFet Audio Amplifier a High Quality Preamplifier design was necessary. A discrete components topology, using + and - 24V supply rails was chosen, keeping the transistor count to the minimum, but still allowing low noise, very low distortion and high input overload margin. Obviously, the modules forming this preamplifier can be used in different combinations and drive different power amplifiers, provided the following stages present a reasonably high input impedance (i.e. higher than 10KOhm).... [read more]