These nixie tubes are NL-5440A’s. The banana sockets were replaced with switches to set the hours and minutes. When the rotary switch on the left is set to OP, the clock is off, when it its set to AC, the clock is on (but can’t be set) and when the switch is set to DC, the clock it still on and you can set the time using the push buttons. The ohms adjust dial on the right controls the brightness of the blue up lighting (fully off to quite bright!).
Typical chemical batteries just don’t cut it when a device needs to run for years without fail. Enter the betavoltaics, or tiny nuclear batteries that harvest energy from radioactive sources such as tritium. Now a company called Widetronix has developed new betavoltaics that can run for up to 25 years and perhaps power tiny devices in everything from military hardware to smartphone sensors.
This shoebox-sized powerhouse would make Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor proud. Like cracking a nut with a sledgehammer, the robotic “Better Mousetrap” goes to the extreme to detect and destroy its target. “Many people have been trying to develop a ‘better mousetrap’ for years, so we decided to build one in the literal sense,” says its developer Jake Easton.
The Lux Spectralis is a deluxe RGB (red, green and blue) LED (light emitting diode) blinky that you can build. Soldering is required. You will need a soldering iron, some solder and a pair of wire cutters to assemble the kit. Not shown in the photo is the battery holder that holds 3 AAA cells, not supplied. A small microcontroller (Atmel AVR ATtiny13) is preprogrammed with many different display modes that you can select with a pushbutton.
Mansfield, Texas, USA – December 10, 2009 – Mouser Electronics, Inc., known for the rapid introduction of the newest technologies, today announced the introduction of a new virtual catalog. This advanced catalog will eclipse all other electronic component e-catalogs in features, capabilities, timeliness and speed. For the first time, customers can browse, search, and buy products without ever leaving the e-catalog. Mouser’s e-catalog customers can see product availability, extended prices, detailed specifications, and alternative images - all while in the e-catalog application. The new catalog is available from the top right corner of the Mouser homepage and can also be accessed at www.mouser.com/enhanced_catalog.
Credit: Widetronix
