Recent content by poguy

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    Multi-meter Recommendation??

    Fluke is like the Apple of meters. Lots of fanboys. Lots of biased nonsense. In terms of measurement the cheap meters are good enough. I have a more expensive meter but don't use it. What you really get for more $$$ is ruggedness and other non-measure-related stuff. EL' CHEAPO DVOMs CAN...
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    Multi-meter Recommendation??

    I have had good luck with the really cheap ones from Harbor Freight. Sometimes free with coupon. No, it's not a Fluke. But they last forever. Accuracy is good enough.
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    Holy grail replaceable battery power bank/phone/laptop charger ?

    That's a good find. Get a cheap 16-24 volt power supply with 5.5*2.1-2.5mm plug to charge it and you're ready to go mobile. Good thing with these is you can use decent quality 18650's. Some power banks have tiny batteries in them. And keep an eye out for DIY power banks like this that just...
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    Red LED's - what's the current latest/greatest

    You're right, not much new/exciting. It makes sense, a niche market with low ROI compared to white LED's.
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    Red LED's - what's the current latest/greatest

    I'm looking to bump up my DIY bicycle taillight. The 3-watt generic LED's are several years old. What's the current highest lumens/watt and total output LED's? Cree has some interesting stuff, anything really better than all the others? Thanks!
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    Increasing runtime on an electric handwarmer

    Is it a single cell or multiple cells in series? For a single cell, yes you can put them in parallel. Multiple cells in series is a bit more complicated.
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    How long do 18650s last if always charged at 4.20v?

    A few years ago I saw a reference to (IIRC) Lenovo, who claimed that charging to 95% capacity greatly increased overall battery life. The article mentioned an option to charge to 95%. Don't have more details, it's been a while. I have seen lots of laptops used as desktops (always plugged in)...
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    Waterproof 5 volt 8 to 12 watt Solar Panel

    amazon.com has a nice search feature. Or use your favorite non-Google internet search engine. Lots of them out there.
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    1W Christmas LED to be powered by 18650

    You need to see if the LED light has its own constant current regulator. If it does you just hook up the battery and it works. Cheap lights use a series resistor and that reduces efficiency, not a big factor with an AC supply. And the LED's may not draw a whole watt. The power supply is...
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    USB Chargers With Multiple Ports Help

    And make sure you get a good USB cable. With a very short (10") cable charge current on my tablet is close to 1 amp. With cheap cables it's 300-400 ma depending on the cable. I found a decent 1.5 meter USB cable that charges at 700 ma. It was labeled '2.1 amp cable' but it's good enough...
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    Is an LDO Voltage Regulator sufficient protection to drive an LED?

    LED's need a constant current driver. As they warm up the resistance gets lower leading to more current and that leads to more heat... Kaidomain, DX and many others carry LED drivers (constant current) and they are usually cheap. Don't know if they are rugged enough to handle that kind of...
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    Bike lights and RFI suppression

    Found a spot for a tantalum cap and it helped a bit. Tantalum's aren't the best for higher frequencies. Next will be a ceramic chip cap. Perhaps also on output to the LED's.
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    Bike lights and RFI suppression

    Tried a ferrite bead, didn't work. RF probably getting out through power cord. I have some DC coax connectors on order. Next step is making an inline filter with a male connector on one end and a female on the other.
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    Raypal USB chargable tail light - anybody else try it

    I've been using one of these for a couple years: https://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10008540/1765400-raypal-rpl-2261-16-led-100lm-3-mode-red-bicycle It's bright and charges using standard mini-USB cable. Why haven't I seen it mentioned here? Great little light.
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    help finding battery pack

    That's 18 watts, so 1.5 amp current draw at 12 volts and more as voltage goes lower. That's 3 LiPo's in series. A couple things: First, to get 4-6 hour runtime you need a bunch of these in parallel. High current draw means you get much less output than the stated capacity. I would start...
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