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Developing Perspectives

Clean Power

by Bryan Bergeron, Editor
November 2008

While clean power is frequently equated with green power, it can also refer to AC power free from spikes, dips, surges, audio, and RF noise. The US power grid may be 99.9% reliable; that 0.1% can wreak havoc on computers and other sensitive electronics. Moreover, I recently learned the hard way that one of the precautions commonly taken to assure uninterrupted, clean power can take down your computer and potentially devastate your entire workshop.
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Recent posts from the Nuts and Volts Blog:

1V-Boost Driver for Power LEDs

The new PR4404 from PREMA Semiconductor is a LED driver providing more than 150mA out of one battery cell and up to 300mA from two batteries for one to three power LEDs. A hold input allows controlling the LED brightness via a PWM signal or switching the LED from a microcontroller.
...
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Probo is No Toy

Probo may look like a simple cuddly toy, but this little piece of green artificial intelligence is no toy.

Several years in the making and a huge investment by the Brussels region, the project of the Robotics and Multibody Research Group at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Brussels Free University) is a fully-functioning robot with the ability to read your emotions and respond in kind. Called Probo, the 60-centimetre tall “huggable robot” will debut at the end of this year in the children’s ward of the university hospital....
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Build A Precision Stereo Headphone Amplifier

For about $30 in parts for the core amplifier and a weekend of soldering, you can enjoy premium audiophile sound through your MP3 player or iPod. Subscribers can read this article in Nuts & Volts online!...
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Other recent posts in our Blog:

Nuts and Volts: Fuel Cell Powered Airplane
Posted 04/03/08 05:12pm
Confessions of a Near Space Cadet: Near Space, 22 March 2008
Posted 03/23/08 05:47am
Confessions of a Near Space Cadet: Near Space 21 Mar 2008 part 2
Posted 03/22/08 03:53am
Confessions of a Near Space Cadet: Near Space 21 March 2008
Posted 03/21/08 01:06pm
Nuts and Volts: Marble Adding Machine
Posted 03/19/08 11:46pm
Nuts and Volts: Science Project – Contest Anyone?
Posted 03/19/08 10:51pm
Nuts and Volts: Boston Dynamics Big Dog
Posted 03/17/08 11:02pm
Nuts and Volts: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
Posted 03/06/08 10:19pm
Confessions of a Near Space Cadet: Near Space 5 Match 2008
Posted 03/05/08 10:05pm
PICAXE Primed: PICAXE PrimeD 2008.02.25
Posted 02/25/08 08:25pm

Featured Articles

Build an Electronic Metronome

By Paul Florian

If you are a beginning musician, it is often desirable to have a metronome to help keep cadence while playing. This circuit describes a variable rate metronome constructed with easy to find components.

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