Thomas Scherer (397)

1-09-2011 | It must have been about a year ago when I first noticed it. I plugged my electric corkscrew (what, doesn’t every engineer carry one in their...

1-03-2011 | Several technical terms in electronics are imprecisely defined, and ‘SoC’ is a prime example. The term can be used so narrowly as to cover o...

1-01-2011 | The chip with three fives in its type code sure is among the biggest selling ICs of all times, but from today’s perspective, the internal bl...

1-06-2010 | LiPos are becoming the cell of choice for a growing range of mobile applications. What exactly are 2s, 3s and 4s battery packs and why do th...

1-04-2010 | Here’s how three Elektor readers came up with an idea for a fully automatic fast charger to keep the batteries in prime condition. This low-...

1-07-2009 | The aim of this circuit is to trick a so-called ‘intelligent’ fan controller that a fan is connected to it when it is not. This may sound li...

1-05-2009 | It’s difficult to be sure that your digital multimeter (DMM) is taking accurate measurements especially if it’s a few years old. This handy...

1-05-2009 | Atmel’s 8-bit AVR microcontrollers lost their novelty value rapidly to become an established cornerstone of many Elektor projects over the y...

1-12-2008 | Low-voltage halogen lamps have grown in popularity since their launch in the 1980s. The same timeframe has seen the development of ‘electron...

1-12-2008 | This year, for the first time, the efficiency of LEDs has overtaken that of fluorescent tubes. Power LEDs are thus now a realistic and energ...