Electronics Forum / Electronics / December 2004

Is there any good electronics supply stores in the
Seattle area after the demise of Active Electronics?
I know there is still Radar (now in Bothell), Frys, and
Radio Shack, but they usually don't have what I want,

Hi mates.
Albert's here. I'm new here and i'm seeking your helps regarding the
following.
I'm working on a project which involves the arithmetic operations (+,

I have a cordless telephone with NiCd rechargeable battery.
I am wondering what the best strategy for prolonging the life of the
battery.
Should I always leave the phone in the cradle to recharge or will that

I wish to conduct an scientific experiment in wich
to send High Voltage pulses over ionized air by two
identical UltraViolet lasers .
I wish to use the ionizated trail produced by the lasers as

I am trying to use the MPLAB IDE v6.40 to program a PIC16F684 via a
Warp-13a board. The problem is that MPLAB insists that firmware
version 4.10.0 needs to be on the board. Apparently my Warp-13a does
not have the most up-to-date firmware.

Can someone enlighten me as to why there are two focus pots on the FBT
in these 19'' monitors , all i know is one is called "static" and the other
"dynamic"
Also whats the best procedure for adjusting it , i have a program called

Would it be possible to use one of those universal AC/DC power supplies
as a 12-volt battery trickle charger?
The power supply is one of those that you can select the voltage via a
switch, you can choose between  3 - 4.5 - 6 - 7.5 - 9 or 12 volts.

Wish to use the regular electrical instalation in order
to produce sparks by having an differently charged conductive sourface
higly chaged around (from ac to c.sourface) , something like the Van
Der Graff Generator .

I have DSE kit ZA-9178, and quoting from the text:
"The 10k ohm and 5.6k ohm resistors, along with the 0.1uF capacitor at pins
2 and 6, set the output frequency of the 555 to about 6.8kHz, although this
will vary according to the speed setting."

I have no idea about electronics but have heard this is a most knowledgable
group and very helpful :-)
Problem:
I have organised a community night cycle ride touring the local house light

I am looking to buy a VCR that has an S-video socket so that I can transfer
my tapes to DVD via my camcorder. But I am having trouble finding info
online.
Does anyone know of any good VCR's that have a S-Video socket? I don't want

I wonder if someone can tell me what is the sensor used in the tyre pressure
reading gadgets on sale at Dick Smith Electronics. They sell two different
versions one as small key-chain like gadget and the other is a little bit
larger as a hand held device both with LCD display.

I am wondering if anyone can help me with some design questions I am
having.
I have done a fair amount with microcontrollers, mainly AVR's, but now I
am reaching the limits of what they can do. So I am starting to look at

I wish to conduct an scientific experiment in wich
to send High Voltage pulses over ionized air by two
identical UltraViolet lasers .
I wish to use the ionizated trail produced by the lasers as

Hi Ross,
Further to our meeting at Duet yesterday with Peter.
The simplest circuit to alternately flash the lamps would use a LM555
astable oscillator connected timer IC and a relay to switch the lamps.  Both