04Mar09 -- Dimmer/Motor Drive Schematics  (Schematics updated 05Mar09)

Here is the schematic of the Cooper Wiring Devices Model #600 lamp dimmer I used in my prototypes and which unfortunately failed after 15-30 minutes of cumulative operation.  Some checking showed that the potentiometer failed and the excessive resistance reading of 12K ohms with ( Read more... )

Mad Science -- 11Feb09 -- Cleaning the Stove:   
Toxic Chemicals!  Discovering new lifeforms and destroying emergent species before they can mutate and devour the human race!  Trying to guess what "The Brown Thing" used to be!  Scraping away the residue of countless perilously failed culinary experiments performed by my Mother-In-Law (The Dingbat) ( Read more... )

I've had a few motorcycle ignition coils sitting around for a couple of years and the need to perform load testing on them resulted in the construction of a Jacob's Ladder.  Four of six of these coils appeared acceptable in testing with normal bench instruments (VOM, L/C tester) but there was no way to verify their behavior under load except on the ( Read more... )