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Repairing Switching Power Supply

Modern power supplies are known as "switching regulator power supplies." In most switching supplies,
the 110 volt AC input is first rectified by two diodes and filtered by a pair of capacitors. This creates two
high- voltage sources; one positive and the other negative. A pair of transistors is then used to switch

LED Torch Using MAX660

This is a simple LED torch circuit based on IC MAX660 from MAXIM semiconductors. The MAX 660 is a
CMOS type monolithic type voltage converter IC. The IC can easily drive three extra bright white LEDs.
The LED's are connected in parallel to the output pin 8 of the IC. The circuit has good battery life. The
switch S1 can be a push to ON switch.

Notes:
Assemble the circuit on a general purpose PCB.
The IC must be mounted on a holder.
The circuit can be powered from two torch cells connected in series.
The capacitors C1 and C2 must be Tantalum type.
The diodes D1 to D3 must be of 1N4148.

Water Level Indicator with Alarm

This circuit not only indicates the amount of water present in the overhead tank but also gives an alarm
when the tank is full. The circuit uses the widely available CD4066, bilateral switch CMOS IC to indicate
the water level through LEDs.

When the water is empty the wires in the tank are open circuited and the 180K resistors pulls the switch
low hence opening the switch and LEDs are OFF. As the water starts filling up, first the wire in the tank
connected to S1 and the + supply are shorted by water. This closes the switch S1 and turns the LED1
ON. As the water continues to fill the tank, the LEDs2 , 3 and 4 light up gradually.
The no. of levels of indication can be increased to 8 if 2 CD4066 ICs are used in a similar fashion.
When the water is full, the base of the transistor BC148 is pulled high by the water and this saturates
the transistor, turning the buzzer ON. The SPST switch has to be opened to turn the buzzer OFF.
Remember to turn the switch ON while pumping water otherwise the buzzer will not sound!

Cell Phone Detector

This handy cell phone detector, pocket-size mobile transmission detector or sniffer can sense the
presence of an activated mobile cellphone from a distance of one and-a-half meters. So it can be used
to prevent use of mobile phones in examination halls, confidential rooms, etc. It is also useful for
detecting the use of mobile phone for spying and unauthorized video transmission.

The circuit can detect both the incoming and outgoing calls, SMS and video transmission even if the
mobile phone is kept in the silent mode. The moment the bug detects RF transmission signal from an
activated mobile phone, it starts sounding a beep alarm and the LED blinks. The alarm continues until
the signal transmission ceases.
An ordinary RF detector using tuned LC circuits is not suitable for detecting signals in the GHz frequency
band used in mobile phones. The transmission frequency of mobile phones ranges from 0.9 to 3 GHz
with a wavelength of 3.3 to 10 cm. So a circuit detecting gigahertz signals is required for a mobile bug.
Here the circuit uses a 0.22F disk capacitor (C3) to capture the RF signals from the mobile phone. The
lead length of the capacitor is fixed as 18 mm with a spacing of 8 mm between the leads to get the
desired frequency. The disk capacitor along with the leads acts as a small gigahertz loop antenna to
collect the RF signals from the mobile phone.
Cell phone RF radiation detector Video
Op-amp IC CA3130 (IC1) is used in the circuit as a current-to-voltage converter with capacitor C3
connected between its inverting and non-inverting inputs. It is a CMOS version using gate-protected p-

channel MOSFET transistors in the input to provide very high input impedance, very low input current
and very high speed of performance. The output CMOS transistor is capable of swinging the output
voltage to within 10 mV of either supply voltage terminal.
Capacitor C3 in conjunction with the lead inductance acts as a transmission line that intercepts the
signals from the mobile phone. This capacitor creates a field, stores energy and transfers the stored
energy in the form of minute current to the inputs of IC1. This will upset the balanced input of IC1 and
convert the current into the corresponding output voltage.
Capacitor C4 along with high-value resistor R1 keeps the non-inverting input stable for easy swing of the
output to high state. Resistor R2 provides the discharge path for capacitor C4. Feedback resistor R3
makes the inverting input high when the output becomes high. Capacitor C5 (47pF) is connected across
strobe (pin 8) and null inputs (pin 1) of IC1 for phase compensation and gain control to optimize the
frequency response.
When the cell phone detector signal is detected by C3, the output of IC1 becomes high and low
alternately according to the frequency of the signal as indicated by LED1. This triggers monostable timer
IC2 through capacitor C7. Capacitor C6 maintains the base bias of transistor T1 for fast switching action.
The low-value timing components R6 and C9 produce very short time delay to avoid audio nuisance.
Assemble the cell phone detector circuit on a general purpose PCB as compact as possible and enclose
in a small box like junk mobile case. As mentioned earlier, capacitor C3 should have a lead length of 18
mm with lead spacing of 8 mm. Carefully solder the capacitor in standing position with equal spacing of
the leads. The response can be optimized by trimming the lead length of C3 for the desired frequency.
You may use a short telescopic type antenna.
Use the miniature 12V battery of a remote control and a small buzzer to make the gadget pocket-size.
The unit will give the warning indication if someone uses mobile phone within a radius of 1.5 meters.
Check the related posts for more mobile phone detectors.

Homemade Metal Detector

Nowadays, metal detection has become a hobby of many people. Besides as a funny and interesting
hobby for them, they also wished indeed a treasure that is embedded in the soil when excavated. For
this one hobby, you have to have a tool known as a metal detector. To undergo this hobby is quite
expensive to buy. But for those of you who want to try to make yourself a metal detector, the following
will be presented a simple schematic that relates to metal detection. The operation of metal detector is
based on superheterodying principle, which is generally used in a heterodyne receiver. This circuit uses
two RF oscillators. Both oscillator frequency is fixed at 5.5 MHz. The first RF oscillator comprises
transistor T1 (BF 494) and 5.5 MHz ceramic filter commonly used in TV sound-IF section. The second
oscillator is an oscillator Colpitt realization with the help of the transistor T3 (BF494) and inductor L1
(follow the details of construction) was driven by trimmer capacitor VC1.

These two oscillator frequencies (say Fx and Fy) are mixed in a mixer transistor T2 (another BF 494) and
the difference or the frequency of beats (Fx-Fy) output from the collector of transistor T2 is connected to
phase detector consists of diodes D1 and D2 (both OA79).
The Output is a pulsating DC, which is passed through a low pass filter realized with the help of 10K

resistor R12 and two 15nF capacitors C6 and C10. It is then forwarded to the AF amplifier IC1 (2822M)
via volume control VR1 and the output fed to the speaker 8 ohm/1W.
Inductor L1 can be constructed using 15 turns of wire 25SWG at 10 cm (4-inch) diameter air-core former
and then cementing with insulating varnish. For proper operation of the circuit, it is important that the
frequency of the oscillator is equal to obtain zero beats in the absence of any metal in close to the
circuit.
Adjustment of oscillator 2 (to match the frequency of oscillator 1) can be done with the help of the
trimmer capacitor VC1. When two frequencies are the same, the beat frequency is zero, i.e. beat
frequency = Fx-Fy = 0, and thus there is no sound from the loudspeaker.
When the search coil L1 through the metal, the metal changes its inductance, thus changing the
frequency of the second oscillator. So now Fx-Fy is zero and the loudspeaker voice. So one is able to
detect the presence of metal.

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