How To: Replace bObsweep's Power Switch
The guide will walk you through a power switch replacement on a bObsweep Standard or Pethair. It includes:
Circuits Design Search Results
How To: Measure current, voltage, resistance, and continuity using a multimeter
If you own or have access to an auto-ranging or manual-ranging multimeter you can measure several different aspects of circuits, resistors, and the like. For example, you can determine the resistance, voltage, continuity, and current with the multimeter to help you determine the precision of a resistor. This guide will help you learn how to use a multimeter to perform these tasks.
How To: Use a function generator to make waveforms for electronics projects
A function or signal generator is an electronic device that can create different types of waves and send them through a circuit without building oscillators. This video will teach you how they work and how to build a basic LED dimmer that uses one as an example.
How To: Build and use a voltage divider
A voltage divider is one of the easier-to-understand pieces of circuity in use in modern electronics. They divide voltage, and are crucial to most modern electronics. This video will show you how they work and how to build one yourself for your circuits.
How To: Learn about capacitors, diodes, voltage states, and potentiometers
Even basic electronics are pretty damn complicated. This video is near the end of Scotty's amazing series of electronics tutorials, and will teach you about adding a diode and a capacitor to a circuit, choosing a power supply, voltage states, and polarity.
How To: Learn about resistance and Ohm's Law and how they help you work on electronics
Math scares a lot of would-be electronics lovers away from the field, and if you really hate math this is probably the video in this series where you stop. It will teach you how to use Ohm's Law to calculate resistance and how that applies to a basic circuit.
How To: Get the rare Paladin Toaster zap glove in Fallout New Vegas in Black Rock Cave
Near the Black Rock Mountains there's a Black Rock Cave, inventive right? Well, regardless of the uninspired name, laying within said cave is a unique weapon that'll make any robot or member of the Brotherhood of Steel quiver in their boots, or circuits, you get the idea! In this video you'll learn where to get the Paladin Toaster, one of the many unique weapons in Fallout New Vegas!
How To: Preform a continuity on an electrical circuit using a multi-meter
The continuity test is one of the least well-known but useful functions on a multi-meter. It allow you to determine whether a fuse works by touching the contacts to it, which allows you to diagnose all sorts of electrical problems. This video will show you how continuity tests work and give you some examples of using them to find problems in household devices like a lawnmower.
How To: Use a soldering iron when circuit bending
In a time of ubiquitous electronics, soldering is an essential skill. Fortunately, if you don't already know how it's done, it's an easy skill to pick up and the tools and associated materials can be had for cheap. This video tutorial from MAKE will get you started. For more information, and to get started using a soldering iron yourself, take a look.
How To: Make a CCTV monitor effect in After Effects
CCTV's (closed-circuit televisions) are more common than ever before, and have become more and more popular to depict in films and in video games like Manhunt. This video will teach you how to create a CCTV monitor effect akin to what a security guard would see on their camera monitor using After Effects. This will work great for any horror movie that you might be shooting, the effect is very creepy.
How To: Make a printed circuit board
See how to make a PCB from a schematic in this ten minute video.
How To: Make a simple lemon battery
This video will show you how to make a lemon battery. You use a copper penny and a zinc coated nail to create a circuit.
How To: Make a rechargeable, solar-powered USB battery
An emergency battery charger for your mobile phone comes in handy, but it's not the ultimate solution; once it's dead it's useless (what a waste). If you want to really get off the metaphorical grid, you can follow the steps in this video to construct a more robust circuit that will not only bail you out of an inconvenient situation but also recharge in between uses. The simple addition of a low voltage solar panel and rechargeable batteries makes this possible. Enjoy!
How To: Replace Bob's Side Brush Motor
A step-by-step guide to replacing the side brush motor on bObsweep Standard or Pethair. Follow the video or multimedia directions in order to open up bObsweep, remove the main board, replace the side brush motor, then close your vacuum for future use.
How To: Wire a light with a 3 way switch
In this video, Mark Donovan teaches us how to wire a light with a 3 way switch. Before starting, make sure the power is turned off from the main circuit panel first, and you test to make sure it's off. You will have two switches for the same light fixture. For a 15 amp circuit, you can use 14-2 and 14-3 wire. These wires will have a black, white, and red wire. The 14-2 wire just has a lack and white wire with a copper ground. The power coming into the base should have all the wires that conne...
How To: Do circuit Pilates exercises to improve your golf game
This clip demonstrates a useful circuit Pilates routine sure to take strokes off of your golf game. With Pilates, as with any physical fitness system, a basic mastery of proper technique is essential for both maximizing the effectiveness of your workouts and avoiding accidental injury. Whether you're looking to slim down or merely tighten up your core, you're sure to be well served by this home fitness how-to from the folks at Balanced Body Pilates. For complete instructions, give this free e...
How To: Sculpt your body with an outdoor bleacher workout
We've all come up with lame excuses for not working out: Gym memberships can get really pricey, you don't have enough room in your living room to follow a workout tape, you're too tired, etc. But have you ever considered simply hitting up your local high school track field?
How To: Build a spy clock
HouseholdHacker teaches you how to make a spy clock. You will need a cheap walkie talkie set and a battery powered clock. Fully disconnect the circuit board and cut the battery off from the walkie talkie. Also clip the microphone. You will want to glue the on/off button so it will always be on. Next, open up the clock and rewire the battery with the walkie talkie circuit board. Wire the walkie talkie into the speaker, inside the clock. The clock should look unopened. You're ready to go.
How To: Make a "Shocking" Deck of Prank Playing Cards Packed with 330 Volts of Electricity
A deck of cards may be a magician's best way to demonstrate his or her's sleight of hand, but for the prankster, it's the perfect way to deliver a shocking 300 volts of electricity! And that's exactly what I'm going to show you how to do today. Stuart Edge used it in his "Electric Shock Kissing Prank" to show the ladies how a man can really put the sparks in a kiss.
How To: Design a safe kitchen
Home accidents. It's up to you to protect your family… your children… from accidents in the home. And there's one place that seems to get the most attention when dealing with safety concerns… The kitchen is one of the busiest, most accident-prone rooms in the house. Design a kitchen that will keep your family and guests safe.
How To: Take apart an old broken power supply and turn it into a battery charger
Do you have an old uninterruptable power supply you're not using or that's broken? Most people have scads of them these days, and they contain all sorts of useful electronics parts, including all of the stuff to make a little batter charger, which you'll learn how to do by watching this video and checking out the circuit diagram here.
How To: Hand sew using connective thread, a buzzer and an arduino
You have to be careful not to accidentally sew in a short circuit when you are working with connective thread. This tutorial shows you how to sew in a connection to an arduino, a buzzer and a battery on a glove.
How To: Build machines in Minecraft that will annoy everyone else on your server
This is a great machine you can build on a shared Minecraft server which will no doubt annoy the pants off your friends! Wire up a couple doors to some redstone circuits - as some open, others will close ad infinitum!
How To: Repair home appliances with the use of a voltmeter
With a voltmeter, you can safely check the AC and DC voltage levels, measure resistance and even measure amperage or give circuit readings. What this means is that you can use this to diagnose problems that some of your household appliances might be having.
How To: Measure the DC voltage of a circuit with a multimeter
Measuring the voltage of a piece of electrical equipment is a somewhat dangerous and complicated but necessary process if you want to do any sort of DIY electrical projects. This video will show you how to use a multi-meter to read the DC voltage of a power drill battery, with an emphasis on what you need to do to complete this process safely.
How To: Increase muscle strength with the pyramid method
Cardio intervals, circuit training, plate exercises...when it comes to fitness, it seems like there's always a fancy name for what are essentially really easy yet effective strength building, fat burning, and toning exercises.
How To: Open a power supply without destroying a transformer
First of all, please DO NOT attempt to open any power supply and tweak what's inside unless you know what you're doing and/or are a professional. With that said, this circuitry video will teach you how to crack open a wall transformer power supply without destroying the transformer.
How To: Modify a solar yard light into electronic crickets
Create a nighttime chorus of insect sounds by modifying a solar yard light! You'll need some components, and the circuit board is not for the timid. It's pretty complicated with resistors, capacitors, thermistors, amplifiers, and some transformers. If you can manage all of this soldering work, then you will have one hell of a cricket show!
How To: Make a TRON style lamp
The key to this lamp is creating the luminescent shapes which represent electronic circuits or magic spells on the lamp surface. You could also do this on coffee tables or other objects you can make out of plexiglass - get creative!
How To: Get a Lot More Use Out of Printer Ink Cartridges
This video reveals to us about the secret of ink cartridges. It is a very common problem faced by those people with ink printers that run out of ink, but this video shows us that even though it signals that we are running out of ink, do not throw the ink cartridge into the waste bin.
How To: Understand the basics of electronics with a 28-280 kit
In this five-part video tutorial series, you'll learn the fundamentals of working with electronics. To follow along, you'll need a 28-280 Electronics kit from RadioShack.
From Studebaker to Nanobaker: How to Add a Touch-Controlled, iPod Nano Sound System to Your Car
How do you make a 1950 Studebaker even cooler? By installing an iPod Nano in the dashboard, of course! The folks over at MAYA Design hacked their way to a touch-controlled sound system with this project they've dubbed the "Nano-Baker" (or "Stude-iPod") using a pair of Apple ear buds, a USB cable, a voltage regulator and a set of speakers. Here's how they pulled it off.
How To: Make a remote control work with only one battery
Hack your remote control so you only need one battery to run it! All you need is one paper clip to let you complete the circuit between the battery and the hardware on your remote control. It'll run at a lower voltage, so you'll have to be closer to the TV, but it will still work!
How To: Calculate electrical power
This video introduces the formulae for watts in an electric circuit, P=IxE, P=I^R, and P=E^/R. It also explains how P=I^R and P=E^/R are algebraically derived from P=IxE and Ohm's Law.
How To: Build a Bedini motor
This two part video shows you how to build a Bedini motor. If you get bored of the endless ranting about the motor in part one, jump to Part 2 where they start building the bedini circuit.
News: Here's How Much Damage Samsung's Galaxy S7 Can Take
We already know that Samsung's Galaxy S7 is one of the most versatile smartphones ever made, complete with edge-to-edge displays, water resistance, and a huge battery. But what's versatility without durability? How much punishment can the Galaxy S7 take? Let's play a game of Samsung Galaxy S7 Punch-Out!! and see what happens.
How To: Make a Dandelion Lamp Using LEDs, Optical Fibers, and Straws
Albert Einstein once said, "We know less than one thousandth of one percent of what nature has to reveal to us."
How To: Turn a used TV into an oscilloscope
Leeann of Hierchiss explains how to turn a TV into an oscilloscope. Turn the TV on and make sure it works. First, unplug the power. Take the back off the television. Cut the four picture wires that attach to the circuit board. Strip the ends of the wires. Tape the remaining wires off to prevent short circuiting. Clamp the red and yellow wires and attach to a 1/4 inch jack which feeds into a tape player. Repeat the same process for the green and blue wires. Plug in the TV to make sure the conn...
How To: Replace bObsweep's Bumper Sensors
Both bObsweep Standard and Pethair models have two bumper sensors inside their covers. Whenever Bob runs into an obstacle, the sensors tell Bob to back away.
How To: This DIY Baby Monitor Uses Lasers and a Wiimote to Detect Your Child's Breathing
Proud new papa Gjoci wanted to make sure he never had to worry about whether or not his baby girl was breathing, so he built this amazing breath-detecting baby monitor using a Wii remote, a printed circuit, and a laser. First, he opened up the Wiimote and took out the camera, then used an Atmel Atmega88 microcontroller to make a printed circuit. Low-power infrared lasers shine on the baby's clothing and the Wii camera detects the motion of the baby's breath, activating an alarm if the motion ...