Renewable Electrical Search Results

How To: Jump Start a Car

We've all been there before: We're in a hurry to get somewhere (often in bad weather), so we get in the car, turn the key in the ignition and.....WHUH! WHUH! WHUH! The darned battery is dead! After a stream of choice expletives (that is, if you're anything like me....;o)), we open the trunk and take out the jumper cables - but what if we don't know how to use them? Even if we do, we can often forget such things in crisis situations when we're pressed for time.

Force Lightning: How to Make a Shocking Cookie Jar Any Sith Lord Would Be Proud Of

There is nothing more annoying than a greedy roommate. It's absolutely infuriating to wake up and find the cookies your mother just made for you gone without a trace. Your favorite drink is empty and the homemade meal you worked so hard on the night before is nowhere to be found. This irked me so much that I made this shocking cookie jar. When a cookie burglar touches the side and the lid of the jar simultaneously, a small electric shock stops them in their tracks.

How To: Replace & Hang a Chandelier

Installing a chandelier can bring a whole new style to your home’s design. Even though it might seem like a job only a professional can do, it really is quite simple. This DIY video illustrates just how easy it can be to install the chandelier yourself.

How To: Install recessed lighting

Installing recessed lighting into your kitchen or living room creates an immediate update to the look of your home! Recessed lighting is very low-key, makes a subtle statement, and yet is elegantly modern. If you are looking for an update to your home's lighting, think "recessed."

How To: Install low-voltage outdoor lighting

One of the most simple and cost effective ways to liven up your landscaping is through subtle illumination. Low voltage lighting is simple to install and offers many benefits including ambiance, safety and security. They can be used to illuminate a walkway or to lighten up your home's street address at night. Today's manufacturers are making low-voltage lighting products geared for the do-it-yourselfer, which makes purchasing and installation easier. These low-voltage kits come with a transfo...

How To: Install outdoor low voltage lighting

One of the most simple and cost effective ways to liven up your landscaping is through subtle illumination. Low voltage lighting is simple to install and offers many benefits including ambiance, safety and security. They can be used to illuminate a walkway or to lighten up your home's street address at night. Today's manufacturers are making low-voltage lighting products geared for the do-it-yourselfer, which makes purchasing and installation easier. These low-voltage kits come with a transfo...

How To: Electron Spirographs with a Cathode Ray Tube

In this article, I'll be showing you how to make a cool visual representation of sound using an old cathode ray tube (CRT) television, a stereo, and a sound source. You'll also need a pair of wire cutters, and a few screwdrivers. To properly understand this project, it's a good idea to learn a little bit about how CRT TVs work. Check out this article on how they work.

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.

News: Mechanical Sculpture Spits Out 441 Perfectly Sphered Water Droplets

Beauty is a fine line between art and science for Pe Lang, a Swiss sculptor living and working in both Berlin and Zurich. The autodidact artist specializes in graceful, hand-built kinetic sculptures made of magnetic, electrical and mechanical devices, all of which are elegant and completely mesmerizing. "Positioning Systems - Falling Objects" is one of his newest contraptions, which feels like a mix of home waterfall fountains, mechanical metronomes and a busy manufacturing plant.

Coming Soon: Charge Your Cell Phone by Screaming at It

The Telegraph reports that a team of researchers lead by Dr. Sang-Woo Kim of the Institute of Nanotechnology at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul have developed a method for converting the energy from sound into electricity. They've applied the research to the charging of mobile phones, and while you don't have to yell with all the emotion and fear exhibited above by Drew Barrymore in Scream, it sounds like the more energy the better. Dr. Sang-Woo Kim says:

How To: Play Music With Your Mind

Tired of getting calluses from incessantly strumming along to 'No Woman No Cry'? Just hook up to the brain-music system and use your brain power to play a tune instead. I'm not talking—humming along in your head. The machine, created by composer and computer-music specialist Eduardo Miranda of the University of Plymouth, UK, is composed of electrodes taped directly onto your skull that pick up tiny electrical impulses from neurons in your brain and translates them into musical rhythms on a co...

HowTo: Save Wet Electronics

It's one of the most popular queries on the web, meaning the wet electronic disaster is likely a common mishap. There are many answers out there, but if you're lucky enough to have never googled it, pay attention now. You never know when you may drop your cell phone or iPod in the sink...

News: Pentagon Funds Real Life Spider-Man Technology

Chemical engineers at Cornell have created a small device that may one day turn troops into real life spider-men. The device would cradle in the palm of the hand, allowing troops to scale walls. It uses an adhesive inspired by the Floridian leaf beetle, an insect that "can adhere to leaves with power 100 times stronger than its own body weight".

How To: Remove the instrument cluster in an Infiniti G35

Infiniti is like no other car, it has emotion, it has soul, it inspires. There's a difference between being physically transported and emotionally moved, and you can tell them apart when you sit inside this magnificent automobile. Although the Infiniti is like a dream car, it has its problems just like any other brand of vehicle. There's maintenance, minor repairs, major repairs, needed replacement parts, oil changes, headlight adjustment, low tires, transmission and everything else you can t...

How To: Light Up Your Whole House with This DIY 'Nuclear Explosion' Chandelier

If you're the kind of person who misses the bright, sunny days of summer during the colder months, Michail has the perfect addition to your home. He built this "Nuclear Explosion" Chandelier that's as bright as daylight, so you can recreate the feeling of summer, no matter what time of year it is. It puts out 99,400 lumen (a typical 60W light bulb only produces 800 lm), so it takes quite a bit of electricity to run. Michail used 7 metal-halide lamps, which are much brighter and more energy ef...

DIY Portable Power Pack: Turn Your Backpack into a Solar-Powered Gadget Charger

A smartphone is pretty much useless with a dead battery. When you're out and about, it can be hard to find a place to plug in (if you remembered your charger, that is). But this DIY solar panel backpack made by electrical engineer Theodore Protasiewicz will help you use the scorching sun to your advantage and make sure that your gadgets are always ready to go. Theodore started with just a normal backpack, some solar panels, 18 gauge wire, and a USB port and hacked it into a traveling solar ch...

How To: Organize cord clutter with Martha Stewart REAL SIMPLE

Learn how to eliminate cord clutter with the folks from Martha Stewart's REAL SIMPLE. Nothing is more annoying than a pile of messy cords. Those dozens of wires around your home?in your kitchen, by your computer, behind your TV?can be a tangled nuisance. Control cord clutter with these quick tricks and clever organizing products. Let REAL SIMPLE guide you on the best solution to eliminate cord clutter.

Understanding Electricity: Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla In my opinion, one of the most neglected inventors of all time. The names Edison and Marconi come to mind as familiar, but Tesla? Most think of a car. Few know that Tesla is responsible for alternating current, florescent lights, radar, remote control, generators that preform efficiently, the spark plug, and many others. The U.S Supreme Court declared in 1943 that Tesla, not Marconi, was the true inventor of the radio.

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.