OpenCircuits:Community portal

Welcome to Open Circuits. This is a good place to talk about Open Circuits, as a whole.

Anti-Vandalism Bot

It is my opinion that this should be the top goal for this site to accomplish.

We recently updated the $wgSpamRegex ( http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:%24wgSpamRegex ). It should block nearly all of the kinds of spam we've been seeing in the past. (Use Meta:Sandbox for testing). --DavidCary 08:46, 6 June 2007 (PDT)

electrical mailing lists

Yahoo claims they have 1,831 electrical engineering mailing lists. What would be a good way of letting the people on those lists know about the Open Circuits wiki, without spamming them? --DavidCary 13:30, 31 May 2006 (PDT)

about Open Circuits

So, is there any connection between http://OpenCircuits.org/ , http://OpenCircuits.net/ , and this http://OpenCircuits.com/ wiki? --DavidCary 23:47, 13 June 2006 (PDT)

No. There is no connection between any of http://opencircuits.com and the other websites listed. Chazegh 02:55, 18 June 2006 (PDT)

web rings

Document an original microcontroller project and join a PIC webring, or AVR webring. 20 June 2006

audio electronics

Is there some other wiki for people to talk about audio electronics? Or is this Open Circuits the best wiki for talking about things like "Analog Devices AN-221: The Alexander current-feedback audio power amplifier" by Mark Alexander ?

I think I would prefer to offload all the audio electronics controversies to some other wiki (but which one?). Still, it would be nice to have some "tips for high-power electronics" here. I imagine that tips page would list the various quirks of high-power MOSFETs, BJTs, TRIACs, and IGBTs, and (given a particular motor or speaker or other load) how to select one over the others, and various ways of working around those quirks. --65.70.89.241 07:17, 10 August 2006 (PDT)

I just joined Open Circuits. I have been servicing and designing audio equipment for several years (Recording consoles a specialty) I hope you will have a section for audio electronics. I also work with video projection systems and theatrical lighting (stage struck at an early age) I play electric rock-blues guitar, so I also am interested in tube guitar amps (Marshall and Boogie). And there is a big difference in what a guitar player thinks an amp should do, and what a recording engineer wants an amp for. I think these are valid points for discussion. I've also got an interest in power supplies (my experience is mostly with linear, but I've started learning about switching designs). In fact that brings me to my question, I have some regulator designs based on the 723 that I'd like to share. How do I go about doing that? I built a replacement for a console /- 18V @6A supply when I couldn't find the original regulator devices. I used 723s with external series pass devices. The unit has been working for close to 10 years now, so I think the design is worth sharing. Is anyone interested?

I also research discrete op amps like the Jensen 990. I've been working (on and off for years) on a clone of that using more modern, easily available parts and devices. Anyone else? Finally, in response to the first entry in this section, I too read that application note in Analog Devices Audio/Video Reference Manual. My copy is dated 1992. I've repaired a lot of amplifiers, but haven't built any. If anyone else is hip to this amp I'd like to hear about it. It is a very unique design. I also like the A75 amp design from Nelson Pass and Norman Thagard, and the Leach Amp by Marshall Leach. The last two are pretty normal as far as design goes, not as adventurous as the Alexander with its current-feedback approach. Aloha, RAF--66.8.194.185 14:04, 18 May 2007 (PDT)

inviting bloggers to open circuits

how to connect a JTAG probe to a Nokia phone

I'd like to invite bloggers such as GyrosGeier to edit OpenCircuits. Rather than just spamming him, I think he would be more inclined to help out if we answered one of his questions first -- such as "If you have information on how to connect a JTAG probe to a Nokia phone, please let me know." Maybe I should start a page on JTAG... --DavidCary 09:37, 22 September 2006 (PDT)

The Hacked Gadgets blog also has a bunch of cool electronics. --DavidCary 11:58, 5 January 2007 (PST)

red links

The default skin at OpenCircuits currently has "red links" = page exists, "dark red links" = page does not exist.

I find that confusing. (But not as bad as the wiki that has some links black-on-white, indistinguishable from normal text).

work-around: Register (it's free, and you don't have to give any personal information), then choose the "preferences" link in the far upper-right corner and then pick any other skin.

The other skins have coloring that you may be more used to from other wiki: "blue links" = page exists, "red links" = page does not exist.

--DavidCary 08:58, 18 December 2006 (PST)

inviting people from other forums to open circuits

Lots of people talk about circuits for LED lighting at http://candlepowerforums.com/ . Perhaps we can talk some of them into contributing here -- perhaps using a page or two of Open Circuits as a FAQ for LEDs and drive circuits.

tool lists

Should we have an entire page on "tools", and mention it on the main page? That risks listing *every* tool anyone has ever heard about, like the page at http://massmind.org/techref/tools.htm . Yes, I'm responsible for uglier bits on that page; I think the wide variety of oscilloscopes are particularly confusing. How could we cut through the confusion?

I see the "techniques" page already has a list of software tools. Perhaps it would be nifty to have a short list of all the tools necessary for each technique? Then a beginner would have a better idea of what tools he really needs to get (rather than looking at a huge list of every tool, and wondering for each one, "Am I going to regret buying it when I see it gathering dust? Or am I going to regret not buying it when I need it during a midnight debug session?").

--DavidCary 08:37, 24 January 2007 (PST)

Requests For Help

Is there any way to ask for wise persons to write an article? I want to know about microphones for my Cannon Elura 100, (9V 3mm stereo jack? Where does the 9V come from?) and XLR mics and circuts. How can I make a mixer and a USB interface? Can we get an alert system to notify a requestor when the request is filled?

Negatron 18:00, 20 February 2007 (PST)

Yes, it's easy to start a rough draft of a new article.

There are at least 2 "alert systems" built into MediaWiki.

Alas, it takes time to convert that rough draft into a useful page of information.

Near the bottom of page http://www.communitywiki.org/en/DavidCary , I whine about how difficult it is to force really smart people to talk about what *I* want them to talk about. :-/

We are all volunteers here.

Would you mind writing a little more about your "Cannon Elura 100"? Perhaps you could snap a "zoomed out" photo of the whole thing, and a "zoomed in" detail photo of its jacks and connectors. Then upload those photos?

I'm a little confused at exactly what you want.

Do you want a USB interface to your digital video camcorder?

So you can ... what? plug in a USB mouse?

If you make a rough draft of an outline of the article you want, with lots of "..." gaps to show the gaps in your knowledge you want to fill, it's a lot easier for people to fill in the "..." gaps.

Do any of these XLR microphone circuits work for you?

• "Powering microphones" by Tomi Engdahl 2000
• recording in-flight bird calls: "Microphone design and building instructions"
• "Microphone Adapters for consumer camcorders"

--DavidCary 11:01, 6 March 2007 (PST)