Low Voltage Search Results

How To: Install perfect pathway lights

Looking for a front-yard upgrade that'll have visitors beating a well-lit path to your door? The answer is an easy to install pathway lighting set. Too often, we're forced to choose between form and function. But when it comes to the route that leads to your front door, you can have it both ways: a pathway lighting system that combines the safety and security of good exterior illumination along with decorative elements that enhance your landscaping. Even though you might not have any experien...

Master the Power: How to Make Fluorescent Tubes Glow with Your Bare Hands

I'm sure most everyone has some kind of fluorescent light source in their home; those long white tubes that emit a bright white light when turned on, or maybe a few of the CFL power-saver bulbs. These bulbs actually require very little "power" (i.e. a high voltage:almost no current ratio) to emit light. In fact, static electricity is enough to make them flicker. Inside these tubes is a gas, and when electricity flows through that gas, it gets "excited" and produces light.

Master the Power: How to Shock People with Your Fingertips

In this article, I'll be showing you how to make a simple yet effective static electricity generator. Basically, this device allows you to carry a constant static charge on your body and discharge it on anything grounded or of opposite polarity. The electricity generated is around 8-10 kV, at a very low current. The shock is enough to startle your friends, just like a static shock from a trampoline or carpeted room. You'll need a little experience in soldering and circuit design to build the ...

News: Butane Combustion High Voltage Capacitor Launcher

Here's a little gadget I made based on the concept of a potato launcher, a stungun, and a dart gun. The gun uses an explosive gas (butane) to launch a charged high voltage capacitor at a target. The gas is ignited by a small spark, created by a pulse transformer. The trigger automatically fills the combustion chamber with the correct amount of gas, then ignites it with the pulse transformer. The result: a long range stun dart gun.

How To: Protect Your Door with High Voltage

In this article, I'll show you how to create a simple yet effective way of scaring off intruders. Of course, there are methods around this approach, but it's great for office pranks and general fun. The project requires a little background knowledge in electronics and circuitry, like reading schematics and using a soldering iron.

How To: Make a Simple Touch-Triggered Transistor Relay

In this article, I'll show you how to make a simple touch-triggered switch. This is very useful for various electronic projects, from a simple bedside light to a flat panel touch keyboard. The circuit can vary in switching power depending on the transistors you use. For example, if you're looking into creating a 120V light that turns on when touched, you'd need two powerful transistors and an isolation relay. However, a simple flashlight that turns on when touched would only take a couple of ...

Making Electromagnetic Weapons: The Theory Behind EMP Generators

This is the third part of my electromagnetic pulse series (see Part One and Part Two). By now, I've covered the hardware and general concept of electromagnetic pulse generators, but how exactly do they disable electronics? How can an invisible field of energy have such a catastrophic effect on computers, cell phones, and most any other electronics? I'll be answering all these questions in part three of Making Electromagnetic Weapons.

Making Electromagnetic Weapons: EMP Generator, Part One

In this series, I'll be exploring electromagnetic weapons, how to build them, their function and application to the future, and the amazing possibilities electromagnetism has to offer. First, the electromagnetic pulse generator, or EMP. You've probably heard of these before, and their devastating effects on electronics. A simple EMP consists of a capacitor, transformer, trigger, and coil of copper wire. This, when triggered, would produce an intense magnetic field for a brief period, similar ...

How To: Improve reading for people with low vision issues

Low vision therapist Diane Michels share tips on how to improve what you can see for people with low vision challenges. Ideas like improving lighting by using lighter lampshades or dusting light bulbs, shields for your computer monitor to reduce glare, and contrasting colors for up close work are among the ideas shared. Improve reading for people with low vision issues.

How To: Keep the golf ball low

The low golf shot is particularly useful when you are playing a links course and the wind is blowing, as it stops the ball ballooning and losing distance in its flight. It's also the best way to punch the golf ball out from beneath the branches of a low, overhanging tree. A lot of golfers play this shot the wrong way . Keep the golf ball low.

How To: Origami a low box with heart ornament Japanese style

These instructional animated slides teach you how to easily fold a paper low box with heart ornament Japanese style. Learn how to use the Japanese art of origami to make your own paper low box with heart ornament. Use the start, stop, forward and back buttons to easily follow along. You can also speed up the instructional origami video if it is going too slow. Very cool Japanese origami how-to video! Origami a low box with heart ornament Japanese style - Part 1 of 2.

How To: Unwrap a low-polygon building in Blender 2.5

In this Blender 2.5 video tutorial, you'll see how to begin the process of completely UV unwrapping a low poly, hard-surface building. The tutorial provides tips on how to deal with a large number of replicated objects and unwrapping a multitude of small parts. Part one covers unwrapping part of the side of the building and the fire escape. Whether you're new to the Blender Foundation's popular open-source 3D computer graphics application or are a seasoned digital artist merely on the lookout...

How To: Shoot a low speed bank shot

This pool shooting video shows the effect of a slow speed shot and mentions the difference between what the ball will do at slow and medium speeds. It is important to keep in mind that when trying to bank a shot at low speed the rebound angle will be wide. Shoot a low speed bank shot.

News: Space Painting with a Tesla Coil and One Million Volts of Electricity

Nikola Tesla. He was the man behind some of the greatest inventions of all time, including radio and alternating current. But perhaps his most visually fascinating invention is the Tesla coil. While maintaining a low current, it can produce dangerous high frequencies and voltages that can well exceed 1,000,000 volts, discharging it in the form of electrical arcs very similar to lightning.

How To: High Voltage Happiness? How to Make a Negative Ion Generator

In this article, I'll show you how to build a simplistic circuit to generate negative ions. Negative ions have been known to contribute to fresher air, happier mood, and general health benefits. However, they also look amazing in the dark (check out the photos below, purple plasma is amazing!). And if all else fails, they make a cool nightlight. If you've ever been around a Tesla coil, cathode ray tube TV or sometimes even on a trampoline, you've probably noticed that smell; the smell of "sta...

News: Touchpad Made with Paper and Pencil Scribbles

Who says nothing productive ever came out of doodling? Certainly not the hacker responsible for this fun (and at least somewhat functional) paper-and-pencil touchpad, which takes advantage of the natural conductivity of graphite: There isn’t much to explain here. It just uses pencil graphite on paper as a kind of two dimensional potentiometer. Four voltage dividers between 5v, 2M ohm resistors, the paper, and my grounded finger feeds signals from each corner into an Arduino. The Arduino does ...