Electronics Forum / Basics / January 2007

I've been looking for a cheap electronic compass.  I've found these sensors:
<http://www.dinsmoresensors.com/index.html>
Does anyone know of any handy PIC-type circuits and programs that would
take analog input from that chip and spit out a bearing on demand?

I have a cargo trailer that the lights work only when the parking
lights are onin my truck.  This is problematic seeing as we are in and
out of the trailer all day.  I am a contractor that uses 18 volt
Dewalt tools and therefore I own many batteries.  We broke open an 18

I have a module which requires a heatsink. I want to add a fan about 3
inches away. My dilmena is this. Should I be blowing air on the heat
sink, or should I be blowing air out of the enclosed module. I made
hole all around so there is a breathing space.

I am considering buying a development system for chip level programming and
wonder what most experts recommend to someone in my position.
I have very little electronics experience other that understanding what the
basic components are <supposed> to do. But I have spent a little ...

Good morning everyone:
I have the following crude circuit on the breadboard:
http://img116.imageshack.us/my.php?image=micpreampbl4.jpg
The opamps are part of an LM6134 IC. Here is a link to its page:

    I've got a Tek TDS-210 DSO that gave up on me last Sunday. I bought it
on eBay for ~$700 2.5 years ago and it's worked great until Sunday. I
was using it Saturday night and when I woke up Sunday and went to use it
I get a blank display. The LCD backlight comes on but no display. ...

I am trying to splice some RG6 Dual Shield and RG6 Quad Shield coaxial
cable.
I have some questions:
A). For stripping RG6 Quad Shield, one web site says to remove the

I recently read about something called the "jing luo meridians", which
are like a form of energy flows around the human body in Chinese
medicine. I have not found information on what the nature of this
energy would be according to conventional physics but if it exists, it

Here's kind of a wierd question.  I would like to try to heat wire (any
kind) to ~40 - 50 degrees for a sustained time with batteries.  I would
love to get 10+ hours out of C or D batteries.  My question is, is
there an easy way to determine how thick the wire should be, and how

I need a simple DAC from a PWM on a PIC. What is the name of the
circuit I need to search for?
Thanks,
John

I am building a robot and wanted to have isaltion between the
microcontroller and the motor. So Iknow have two batteries (one for
each) . I aslo want to have a voltage checker for each battery.
Because the reference value is not present  when I calculate the

Hi all, I am new to this newsgroup but have been doing some back
reading and this looks like a great resource. I hope to learn a lot,
and maybe contribute some!
My question is to do with driving a matrix of common anode RGB LEDs. I

I want to play around a little with the effects of piezo electric crystals
but I'm weary of tearing up my clock's to get them(and the one I did tear up
broke the crystal ;/)
Is there any easy source for these(easy means quick and cheap)?  Are these

I would like to know about the rules for what will impede negative ion
flow (Ion wind) on the output of a negative ion generator.
It's obvious a metal grill covering the exit portal is a bad idea, but
what about a plastic grill, or even a small fan redirecting the flow of

Guys what r the good softwares that analyses circuits and which has
got a good library of components....