Message:

6:25am 02-22-2008
vinit sahasrabudhe
wow it looks cool man!!!!!! really appreciate it
Replied on: 6:59pm 02-28-2008

Thanks Vinit.

5:28pm 02-16-2008
Ethan
w00t!!! this is awesome!
Replied on: 6:55pm 02-28-2008

Glad you enjoyed the site.

4:02am 01-26-2008
tomahawktim
Well done, Alan!.
We care for our cats just as you do for yours.
Nice kitty. purrrr..
Replied on: 8:03am 01-30-2008

Thanks.

11:00pm 01-25-2008
Stop HGadget Spam
Your site keeps spamming... fix your mail server!!!
Replied on: 12:19am 01-26-2008

Could you please forward me one of those emails. I am sure someone is simply using the domain name in the return email address since it's just spam... By looking at the originating mail server I can ensure that it didn't come from our servers.

11:24pm 01-07-2008
Colin
Hi Alan,
Quick correction, Transistors are 4403, not 4401, sry bout that.
Colin
11:14pm 01-07-2008
Colin
Hey Alan
My new Neighbour saw the Stair Lights i installed at my house. It seems they have made quite an impression. He is renovating his basement and wants me to install a set for him. However, he has exactly 10 steps from top to bottom, but he also has a small landing at the base of the stairs which he would like to illuminate with the last step. As per your instructions, you can only have 2 leds, per output. My question. Can you use a higher rated transister on the last output, and have more then 2 leds connected. Or can you hook multiple 4401's to the same IC output and have them power more Leds, and operate in sync.
(in Short, i want to add more lights to the last output)

IN addition, I think i will order the premade board from your store, just to save me some time. As you are from Winnipeg, i was wondering if it would be possible to pick up the board, rather then have it shipped. (Im in the Transcona Area)

Appreciate all your help
Hope to see some more projects soon!!!
Colin Young
Replied on: 2:43am 01-08-2008

Hi Colin,

As designed the outputs only allow enough current to power up to 2 LEDs. This limitation is not due to the transistor limit but the biasing of the transistor to prevent output short circuit damage. A small circuit change would allow for additional lights to be driven, but it would also remove the short circuit protection. We are only mail order but we may be able to work something out. A new project is in the works.

Regards,

Alan

7:29am 01-03-2008
Barry
Hi Alan

I was given a solar panel charger as a gift at Xmas (with the intention of being able to charge my Nokia phone and my Video iPod). Phone no problem, but it didn't come with an adaptor for iPod/USB. Now, seeing your Hacked Gadget making an adapter from barrel adapter to USB, I'm planning to do the same. The only thing that concerns me is that the solar charger's output is specced as "4.5-7V" output. Seeing as the standard USB voltage is 5V (I think), would I cook my iPod connecting this directly? And if so, how can I sort this out?

PS: Brilliant and entertaining site!
Replied on: 2:36am 01-08-2008

You should be fine. Just double check the input rating of the devices and make sure they can accept that voltage range (should be in the manual). One thing you could do is setup a simple zener diode circuit to prevent over voltage if you thought it may be a problem.

http://www.reuk.co.uk/What-is-a-Zener-Diode.htm

8:12pm 01-01-2008
fsj
The rotatint LED Display is a perfet idea !
Replied on: 2:32am 01-08-2008

Thanks.

3:55pm 12-25-2007
Jim Kenny
Like the web site very much, but would like the info for the Laser Image Projector, shown on hacked gadgets. The link does not work, any chance of some info please.
Replied on: 2:31am 01-08-2008

Hi Jim,

The link seems to work now.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Laser-Image-Projector/

Alan

10:40am 12-13-2007
Roger
Alan,
Great web site! I'm building the hard drive clock. I noticed that the drive won't keep running for more than 25 seconds or so if I disconnect the read/write arm. Is there a fix for that? I'd like to just get the arm and mechanism out of the way.
Replied on: 6:16pm 12-13-2007

That seems to be a common problem with some of the newer Hard Drives, they have much more fault detection circuitry. You may not be able to get around that.

5:37am 12-12-2007
riaan
Hi Alan,
Came across your site wilst looking for an old LED Chaser circuit (Knight Rider's car had these light in the front grille) that we used to build when I was still an apprentice in telecommunications. I have been out of electronics for almost 20 years and wanted to try my hand at this to try and get my little boy interested in electronics. I was totally surprised when I came upon your Staircase light circuit.

Will all these parts be readily available in South Africa?
Can you build the circuit with 2 LED's per stair on a 20 step staircase?
Can the buzzer be set to a different time then the stair lights?

I live in a duplex townhouse and only realized, when I saw your lights in action, how annoying it is when kids wake up in the middle of the night and wakes up the whole house to turn the staicase light on.

Thanking you in advance and hope to hear from you soon
Riaan
Replied on: 10:52pm 12-12-2007

Hi Riaan,

There are 10 separate outputs and each one can power 2 LEDs. So the simple answer is no, it can't power 40 stair lights with no modifications. Sorry, I'm not sure how easy it is to get these parts in South Africa. What many people that have many stair levels do is install two kits, one for each individual stairwell.

The buzzer output comes on with the lights, you could change that in code but that is the default operation.

You can see more information here:
http://alan-parekh.vstore.ca/index.php/cPath/1_2

4:52pm 12-04-2007
Len
Hey Alan,

I am in the process of building your design for the Hard Drive Clock. I seem to have a problem. The LEDs never find a solid state, continuing to check for a stable speed. The hard drive I am using is a 7200rpm drive, does that matter? The reason I am thinking its the speed of the drive is because on power off of the hard drive (homemade circuit board still powered) the clock actually shows, but is sped up, the leds slow to a flicker, and then turn off when the drive stops. could it also be the Optical Sensor? (taken out of a 5 1/2 floppy drive)

Thank you for your help.
Len
Replied on: 10:47pm 12-12-2007

Hi Len,

To work with a 7200 RPM drive you will have to adjust some of the variables in the code to allow the hands to display faster and smaller.

7:36am 12-04-2007
ram
Dear Alan,

I get into your website, when i was searching something regading IR. I am subcribed in electronics weekly. Nice effort. I got amazed of your HDD clock. Let me try. I am an electronics design engineer working on Digital circuit designs.
Your website is very informative.
Good efforts and thanks for the projects
Ram
Replied on: 10:46pm 12-12-2007

Hi Ram,

Thanks for the kind words!

11:59pm 11-26-2007
Colin
Dear, Alan,
I have finally got your HDD clock to work!!!! its been soo long since i started lol. Turns out i was programming the ic under the wrong part number. Stupid mistake. after diggin it out of my pile i decided to have one more go at it and still couldnt figure out what was up. i figured i reprogram the pic with my new software and it pops up and says i selected the incorrect ic..
any who.. had one last question for you on the subject.. when i built mine i decided to not buid within the constraints of the hdd casing and am only using the platters on a regular 12v moter.. im not sure exactly why as the ir switch is working but the hands although visable seem to jump around on the clock alot.. im thinking that maybe the speed of the moter is either to fast or slow compared to the hdd motor.. what are your thoughts?

After i get it completly working i am going to go to the machine shop and mill out a fancy housing for the whole thing and have the leds encased so all you can see are the hands. I am also thinking of machining out som pattern into the platter itself, rather then using a simple slot it will be an eagles head or somthing..

Thanx for all the great projects..
Colin
Replied on: 10:44pm 12-12-2007

Hi Colin,

That is very possible. If the speed is different you will have to adjust some of the variables in the code to adjust where the hands are displayed.

8:33am 11-19-2007
nailson
hello alan i am very interesting in you design of electronic,they are so cool
my blog is http://hi.baidu.com/nailson
Replied on: 12:09am 11-20-2007

Glad you enjoyed it!
Your site looks interesting (the pictures anyway)

Messages: 211 until 225 of 389.
Number of pages: 26
Newer12 13 14 [15] 16 17 18Older