Schematic Reference

Nowadays you can buy white LEDs, which emit quite a bit of light. They are so bright that you shouldn’t look directly at them. They are still expensive, but that is bound to change. You can make a very good solid-state pocket torch using a few of these white LEDs. The simplest approach is naturally to use a separate series resistor for each LED, which has an operating voltage of around 3.5 V at 20 mA. Depending on the value of the supply voltage, quite a bit of power will be lost in the resistors. The converter shown here generates a voltage that is high enough to allow ten LEDs to be connected in series. In addition, this converter supplies a constant current instead of a constant voltage.


A resistor in series with the LEDs produces a voltage drop that depends on the current through the LEDs. This voltage is compared inside the IC to a 1.25-V reference value, and the current is held constant at 18.4 mA (1.25 V ÷ 68 Ω). The IC used here is one of a series of National Semiconductor ‘simple switchers’. The value of the inductor is not critical; it can vary by plus or minus 50 percent. The black Newport coil, 220 µH at 3.5 A (1422435), is a good choice. Almost any type of Schottky diode can also be used, as long as it can handle at least 1A at 50V. The zener diodes are not actually necessary, but they are added to protect the IC. If the LED chain is opened during experiments, the voltage can rise to a value that the IC will not appreciate.

Resistors:
R1 = 1kΩ2
R2 = 68Ω
Capacitors:
C1 = 100µF 16V radial
C2 = 680nF
C3 = 100µF 63V radial
Inductors:
L1 = 200µH 1A
Semiconductors:
D1 = Schottky diode type PBYR745 or equivalent
D2-D5 = zener diode 10V, 0.4W
D6-D15 = white LED
IC1 = LM2585T-ADJ (National Semiconductor)

There are monitors which only have three BNC inputs and which use composite synchronization (‘sync on green’). This circuit has been designed with these types of monitor in mind. As can be seen, the circuit has been kept very simple, but it still gives a reasonable performance. The principle of operation is very straightforward. The RGB signals from the VGA connector are fed to three BNC connectors via AC-coupling capacitors. These have been added to stop any direct current from entering the VGA card. A pull-up resistor on the green output provides a DC offset, while a transistor (a BS170 MOSFET) can switch this output to ground. It is possible to get synchronisation problems when the display is extremely bright, with a maximum green component.

In this case the value of R2 should be reduced a little, but this has the side effect that the brightness noticeably decreases and the load on the graphics card increases. To keep the colour balance the same, the resistors for the other two colors (R1 en R3) have to be changed to the same value as R2. An EXOR gate from IC1 (74HC86) combines the separate V-sync and H-sync signals into a composite sync signal. Since the sync in DOS-modes is often inverted compared to the modes commonly used by Windows, the output of IC1a is inverted by IC1b. JP1 can then by used to select the correct operating mode. This jumper can be replaced by a small two-way switch, if required.


This switch should be mounted directly onto the PCB, as any connecting wires will cause a lot of interference. The PCB has been kept as compact as possible, so the circuit can be mounted in a small metal (earthed!) enclosure. With a monitor connected the current consumption will be in the region of 30 mA. A 78L05 voltage regulator provides a stable 5 V, making it possible to use any type of mains adapter, as long as it supplies at least 9 V. Diode D2 provides protection against a reverse polarity. LED D1 indicates when the supply is present. The circuit should be powered up before connecting it to an active VGA output, as otherwise the sync signals will feed the circuit via the internal protection diodes of IC1, which can be noticed by a dimly lit LED. This is something best avoided.

Resistors:
R1,R2,R3 = 470Ω
R4 = 100Ω
R5 = 3kΩ3
Capacitors:
C1,C3,C5 = 47µF 25V radial
C2,C4,C6,C7,C10 = 100nF ceramic
C8 = 4µF7 63V radial
C9 = 100µF 25V radial
Semiconductors:
D1 = LED, high-efficiency
D2 = 1N4002
T1 = BS170
IC1 = 74HC86
IC2 = 78L05
Miscellaneous:
JP1 = 3-way pinheader with jumper
K1 = 15-way VGA socket (female), PCB mount (angled pins)
K2,K3,K4 = BNC socket (female), PCB mount, 75Ω

A power supply suitable for use with the hi-fi amplifiers presented in the predeeding project is perfectly simple, and no great skill is required to build (or design) one. There are a few things one should be careful with, such as the routing of high current leads, but these are easily accomplished. Design of this power supply is very simple. A 4 ampere fuse is used to protect the transformer and two LEDs at the end of this circuit are used to indicate power state On and Off. At the output there are 6 capacitors used you can reduce the quantity of these filter capacitors to 2 or according to your own choice.

Turn ON or OFF electrical devices using remote control is not a new idea and you can find so many different devices doing that very well. For realization of this type of device, you must make a receiver, a transmitter and understand their way of communication. Here you will have a chance to make that device, but you will need to make only the receiver, because your transmitter will be the remote controller of your tv, or video …This is one simple example of this kind of device, and I will call it IR On-Off or IR-switch.

How it works:

Choose one key on your remote controller (from tv, video or similar), memorized it following a simple procedure and with that key you will able to turn ON or OFF any electrical device you wish. So, with every short press of that key, you change the state of relay in receiver (Ir-switch). Memorizing remote controller key is simple and you can do it following this procedure: press key on Ir-switch and led-diode will turn ON. Now you can release key on Ir-switch, and press key on your remote controller. If you do that, led-diode will blink, and your memorizing process is finished.

Instructions:

To make this device will be no problem even for beginners in electronic, because it is a simple device and uses only a few components. On schematic you can see that you need microcontroller PIC12F629, ir-receiver TSOP1738 (it can be any type of receiver TSOP or SFH) and for relay you can use any type of relay with 12V coil.

click on the images to enlarge

Click here to download source code for PIC12F629-675 . To extract the archive use this password extremecircuits.net