ANALOG ORIENTED HOMEBREW HARDWARE
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Designers and do-it-yourself-ers, WELCOME !
- Do you beleive that it is always possible to enjoy by designing analog circuits ?
- Do you leave in a place where to find up to date components is a serious challenge ?
- When you are using a microcontroller, are you interested into other things existing beetween the I/O register and the outside of the board ?
- Don't you mind reading some english language mistakes from a french guy ?
If you'd reply YES to all, this site is made for you !
Why I put this site online
The idea for creating this site is the result of some old memories. In the past I've seen beginners full of ideas which were restricted to kit mounting activities because of the lack of information available around them. I saw they were quickly discouraged by trying to make a simple circuit work while none is able to give some simple advice (such as information about problems like ground common impedance, capacitive coupling, line inductance and power source impedance considerations, which are 90% of the "mysterious failure" causes into a homebrew board, even for LF and AF circuits). Hopefully the Internet helped a lot for people experienced enough for selecting good information. I'd even say that sometimes homebrew designers have a better knowledge than professional people. This is the case in France (where I live) where some professional people become having some doubt about the biasing of a transistor, and I suppose it is the case in many other countries. The educational system now provides two types of electronicians: Simple executing people now called "technicians" (receiving less and less high level education nowadays) and managers called "engineers". When you are a "homebrew guy", you remain among those which are interested in electronics design. To get information a lot of websites contain high quality projects and explanations (and others not !). A lot of websites are dedicated to homebrew hardware. I don't pretend providing something better but only to add my small contribution by describing particular designs which are often less described, and providing some quite original tricks.
Some probably say (I already heard in my life) that analog or discrete designs are always the same since the 60's. They state that they have already passed through this step while they were young. I think that somebody who's saying that did not even design some digital hardware and believes that no analog experience is necessary for that...
The projects on this site will propose circuits which won't be especially difficult to build or to understand (although the site is not recommended to absolute beginners). It is always interesting to see how others are doing and to get new ideas, but that does not put back into question that anyone who really wants to get interest in building something will have to put its personal touch, otherwise he will really be bored by electronics after one or two years of ''practice''. It is true that a lot of people say (typical french expression): ''It is useless to re-invent the wheel''. This is often taken as a reason for applying all-done solutions, pretending that it will prevent having troubles. In fact, frequently the opposite effect occurs: that does not work and you don't know why. And that is the best way to be disgusted for ever... In that case I think the best solution is to buy a finished product, so that you do not ''re-invent the wheel'' ;-).
You had the courage to read all this grandfather's fashion text until here. You desserve the following list:
(Drawings quality is poor, but when I draw them I had not yet planned this website...)
* Before starting - Some "Tips and Tricks" to build the proposed gears without troubles
* Progressive audio dubber for VTR (mixes pre-recorded audio with new recorded sound) -> Click here
* Audio pre-amplifier with true limiter (60 dB dynamic AGC) -> Click here
* Geiger counter with simple galvanometer display and digital data output -> Click here
* DC-DC downconverter using one of the most common IC's in the world -> Click here
* Smart capacitive sensor (touch and approach) using no custom nor rare IC -> Click here
* Contactless and batteryless remote sensors -> Click here
* Tiny console for PC computer (use a PC as a stand alone device without monitor nor big keyboard) -> Click here
* Primary alcaline battery charger (You've read well, there is no mistake) -> Click here
* 7W AM transmitter for MW band (excluding the optional PLL/VFO) -> Click here
* Volumetric detector based on ultrasounds -> Click here
* Standalone logic analyzer by reusing an old CRT color TV -> Click here
* Let's have fun with a "mad scientist toy" based on an EEG acquisition device
(A big part of this project is based on PC software. This is why the link leads to a zipped folder hosted by sourceforge.net)
