In my post before, I have analyzed a handful of rechargeable battery both old and new in an attempt to gain practical information as to what happen to them over time. The observation is made possible only by what I call, “A stable measurement platform” based on a 68HC908QB8 CPU from NXP (in the old days,… Read More Field Reprogrammability for Flexible Automation Control Applications

In this opportunity, I would like to present a quick inspection of a cheap switch-mode power supply used as an Android phone charger. The initial objective was to see the charger can be modified for a different output voltage. However, in this quick review, we will only consider options of modifying it. We will start… Read More CURSORY INSPECTION OF A CHEAP SMPS CHARGER

And Some General Comments on Cheap NiMH Batteries In this opportunity, I want to present my recent discoveries on the measurement results of some old NiMH batteries. These batteries are old. I think they are in the order of 3 – 4 years old and some have undergone medium duty usage, while some has gone under heavy duty… Read More Effects of Long Term Usage on NiMH Batteries

In this article, I would like to write about my recent experiment in constructing schmitt triggers using discrete components. I have constructed 2 versions and the latter version is employed in a flip-flop. This whole excercise is done just to see how they behave, and seeing transistors flip and flop is kind of amusing. Classic… Read More Using Transistor-Based Schmitt Trigger as Astable Multivibrator

Recently I have the need for the ability to log measurement into a digital format. Something that my Tektronix DMM cannot fulfill. With more than a dozen of HC908 MCU in my collection, and with some home made evaluation board available, I went ahead and utilize the eval board into action. The desired host PC… Read More Using 68HC908QB8 As a Stable Measurement Platform