Horticulture Box

The use of and research into, artificial electric light sources to stimulate plant growth dates to the second half of the 19th century. It closely followed the development of human electric lighting, which can be divided into three main paths of development: incandescent, open-arc and enclosed gas discharge lamps. And of course, our cherished LEDs are now being used for horticultural purposes too. Here we present a plant-friendly LED light source that leaves little to be desired.

DJs and fans of light shows are devotees of USB/DMX512 converters to control their projectors from their laptop PCs. Unfortunately, those found in the commercial world are often not (well) isolated from the mains voltage. Here, on the other hand, an isolated DC/DC converter powers the isolated RS 485 transceiver. Like any DMX device worth of the name, this new converter has an XLR socket.

Würth Elektronik presents the WL-SFTW and WL-SFTD series of new RGB LEDs that are ideal for accent and decorative lighting, optical displays as well as industrial applications. Thanks to their PLCC contacting design, the two series of individually controllable LEDs are ideally suited for SMT assembly and reflow soldering. The WL-SFTW series offers three different standard packaging designs. The WL-SFTD series in 3535 package is characterized by its IPX6 protection class.

The free LTspice electronic circuit simulator has become the simulator-of-choice for thousands of electronics engineers all over the world. To get the most out of this tool a good manual explaining all the menus and functions will save the user a lot of time and lead to better results.

Würth Elektronik eiSos, manufacturer of electronic and electromechanical components, is exhibiting at electronica 2018 (Munich, November 13-16, 2018) in no fewer than four booths: Hall B6/Booth 404, Hall C /Booth 151, Hall A6/Booth 314, and Hall C6/Booth 200.

Along with increasing levels of “analogue talk” in the labs I was happy to hear a motto again from the old days of electronics: “your circuit is as good as its power supply”. Unfortunately, the AC power supply in particular is one of the least appealing circuits to study let alone develop, build, optimize and hopefully sell on the market. After all, this is electronics, right? Not electrical engineering, and there’s always 230 V or so on the wall outlet. True, but In practice much DC to AC conversion and vice versa will remain necessary in the coming years, and that is one of the key points covered by Würth Elektronik’s “Red Expert” online product.

Würth Elektronik eiSos has been the technology partner for the Formula-E-Team of  ABT Sportsline from the get-go, and is on top of the game since then, resulting in the FIA world championship title for Lucas di Grassi and the team in the last season. Proving once again their advantage and commitment regarding eMobility, Würth will continue to shape success with the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler racing team

AMBER wireless GmbH, a Würth Elektronik eiSos Group company, offers an extremely compact and energy-saving wireless module - the AMB2621 Bluetooth Smart module. A special feature: Besides standard control with UART commands, smartphones or other devices can be connected to form a module by initializing with the “peripheral only” operating mode.

As one of the oldest editors at Elektor I have witnessed with horror the decline of knowledge about, and precise expressivity about, passive electronics parts, in favour of just about anything that’s programmable and having more than 8 pins. However I am not frustrated at my failed attempts, even in the Elektor Labs, to help designers develop fingerspitzengefühl for the Holy Trinity of Passives, R-C-L, and lure them away from compiler errors, ISP connectors and other microcontroller woes.

Many electronics engineers have been in the situation where they need to design a switched-mode power supply. It’s not too much of a problem these days because there are plenty of ICs around from different IC manufacturers that can do all the hard work. There are usually online design tools and simulators to assist you with the design. When it comes to the Inductive components in the design however there are many factors to take into account to optimize the design and often little help available. Now there is a new online tool called REDEXPERT from Würth Elektronik eiSos, the specialist for inductive components...