Electronics Forum / Electronics / October 2008

I'm looking to buy a cheap and simple set-top-box for my parent's
analogue television.
I've had a quick look around, and I see some pretty cheap STBs at Dick
Smith's, especially the "Bush" branded ones.

I recently got handed down 2 3G Ipods from the kids. I bought new batteries
for both as they werent charging up. Charger didnt work. Replaced charger
still nothing. Used the car charger and it works!! What is going on?

http://www.smh.com.au/news/news/qantas-plunge-laptop-link/2008/10/09/12231454942
93.html
Yeah right, just like mobile phones ignite petrol pumps.
The funny thing is people will actually believe this rubbish.
Dave.

National Semiconductor LM35 temperature sensor.
Am having difficulty in tracking down an Australian source for these.
Any ideas?  Thanks.

How can you raise money by collecting mobile telephones?
According to a post in a re-useit list, some school is doing it.
I'm intrigued about the economics of collectng toxic waste, particularly
as the list posteris offering to drive over a fair proportion of Sydney

http://www.gillesvidal.com/blogpano/cockpit1.htm
Typical Prospective Purchaser Question:
Where is the wind screen wiper switch, and how many speeds?
Don...

Ok, who's NOT jelous?
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-10/ff_walker?currentPage=all
Dave.

Hi to all,
the latest thing in SMD caps is "acrylic" dielectric, stacked film  -
values up to 1uF are available in 1206 and 1210 size  !!!!
Said to be ideal for audio applications in lieu of hi-k ceramic or tantalum.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=bKQbN6tpYXw
$98USD Laptop running Linux
Don...

Recently I stayed in a motel in the Southern Highlands with my partner. I
had cause to use the VoIP 'phone via a telstra card on my laptop and on
connection (or maybe just before) I got a loud "squel" through my
headphones & whipped them off. At the same time the television in the ...

While messing with buck/boost circuits I had some thoughts which don't
hold up in real tests....
A simple example (aside from losses) is that if transfer energy from
say 10V 10uF into 1uF the voltage will increase to preserve the

You now seem able to buy AA NIMH batteries with 2500 mAH capacities
but similar branded C size Nimh batteries have only 4500 mAH.
Given that the C battery is 4 times the volume of the AA something
seems wrong here.

Hi, I have an old Zenith valve radio from the US, with a speaker in
bad shape, and I was wondering if anyone had good experience with any
reconing shop in Australia. My Google search came up with some hits,
like http://www.speakerhospital.com.au/recone.htm

OK, maybe I'm preaching to the choir, but I had a specific problem this
week. I needed to mount some TO-220 (uninsulated case) transistors on a
metal chassis, without any drilling. After some searching, I found some
stuff from Jaycar, for a surprisingly reasonable price. Part # ...