Electronics Forum / Basics / August 2006

I have a question about the joule rating on surge protectors. From some
information I found on the net, this is the amount of energy a surge
protector can absorb before it gets saturated, after which it must be
replaced.

Simple question...Do ceramic capacitors have to be oriented in a
specific way like electrolytic do? positive/negative ??? Any help would
be great, Thanks, Lucas

I am looking to build or find a replacement regulator for my '82 honda
CB650 Nighthawk (motorcycle)
My problem arises with my current regulator/rectifier on the bike.  The
rectifier side of the unit works great. but the regulator is a little

I bought me a big old 5A AC ammeter. (8" x 8")
I must admit I bought it thinking it was DC, but hey, I
really only want it to match my old galvanometer  :)
But I was thinking about the difference between an AC

Does anyone have any idea of how to compare two reference clock
frequencies using digital logic only .
The problem is something like this .There are two slow ref clocks Khz
range CLKA (RC oscillator clock) CLKB (crystal oscillator clock) and a

1) Is there any equivalent to monostable in fully digital electronics
(logic gates)? I am trying to trigger a pulse (a set width) with a very
narrow recovery time (in the range of 100ns or less) before the next.
74LS221 seems to work although getting weird pulses (very short

What is the best device for measuring a reference signal (i.e. 10 MHz)
to verify it's accuracy?  
Thanks.

I just bought a used elec scooter for the kids which did not come with
the charger for the battery.  The scotter only came with one battery,
though looking at the manual in the internet, I see it should have had
two.

My last post to this group was erroneous. I have a scooter that uses
two 12 volt lead. acid-free batteries.  I just received one of the best
re-chargers available. Generally, it takes about 2 to 3 hours to
recharge the batteries.

I need to slightly amplify audio from my PC sound card to mono
headphones.  This is for use with Skype (VOIP) so it doesn't need to be
high fidelity or anything.  It just needs a little boost.
My first thought was to just buy an LM386 chip at Radioshack, but this

I tried to find the definition for Lead Pitch (talking about
Capacitor). I don't understand what this term means. Also what is it
used for when people work on Capacitors?
Thanks.

I designed a pulse generator which operate exactly the same way old
computer mouse mechanism works. (IR emmiter-sensor )
the requirment is to count number of pulse from A to D converter.
Is this possible with PWM and low pass filter arrangment ?

If I replace the led lights with blinking lights can I make my solar
garden spotlight blink

I just learned that you can measure the change in resistance in a shunt
connector between source and load as the voltage or amperage changes due to
on/off, and load characteristics. I don't understand why this happens. If
you power a machine like a vacuum cleaner, does the ...

I have a 8 pin dil with a part number that I think says 24C02Wg   a second
number says 106L. Can't find it on digikey - any help identifying this
would be greatly appreciated..
it's used in a simple daughter board with a few caps and resistors in a