Author name: john

Power Supplies

3A adjustable regulator using LM350

Description. This is the circuit diagram of a 3A adjustable power supply using IC LM350K.. LM350K is a very rugged voltage regulator IC with features like thermal regulation, short circuit protection etc. This circuit is designed as per the application notes in the data sheet and was found to be working very fine.This circuit has […]

Switching Circuits

Simple electronic fuse.

Description. This is perhaps one of the simplest electronic fuse circuit one can make. The circuit uses only one transistor, one SCR, one push button switch and two resistors. The working of the circuit is very simple. Initially the load current flows through SCR and resistor R1.The value of R1 is so selected that, the

Battery Circuits

Ni-Cd battery charger circuit

Description. This circuit can be primarily used for charging 12V Ni-Cd battery packs. Any way 6V and 9V battery packs can be also charged by using this circuit a little compromise on power efficiency. The built in automatic current regulator regulates the charging current to somewhat 4 amperes. When the charging current reaches 4A, the

Telephone Related

Telephone in use indicator.

Description. Here is a simple circuit that can be used as a telephone status indicator. When the telephone is in use (off hook) the transistor Q1 switches ON making the red LED D2 glow. When the telephone is not in use (on hook) the Q1 turns OFF and Q2 turns ON. This makes the red

Power Supplies

40V dual power supply

Description. This 40V dual power supply circuit was designed in response to a request made by Michael from Philippines. His application is to power the 150 Watt amplifier circuit published here. I think this power supply design is adequate for the purpose. The transformer T1 steps down the mains voltage, bridge D1 performs the rectification,

Test & Measurement Circuits

Wind meter

Description. Here is a very simple wind meter (anemometer) circuit. I can’t guarantee much on the accuracy of this circuit but it circuit works quite fine. You can measure wind speeds up to 75m/s using this circuit. The transistors Q1 and Q2 are used for sensing the wind. The relationship between thermal impedance of the

Test & Measurement Circuits

Zener diode tester

Description. Here is a very simple circuit that can be used for testing Zener diodes. The IC1 NE555 is wired as an astable multivibrator and the output of the IC is stepped up to a high voltage AC using the transformer T1.The unloaded AC voltage will be around 120V. The AC voltage is rectified by

Testing Components

Testing a UJT

UJT (Uni junction transistor) can be easily tested by using a digital multimeter.The three steps for testing the health of a UJT are as follows. 1. Measuring the resistance between B1 and B2 terminals. Set your digital multimeter in resistance mode.Connect the positive lead of multimeter to the B1 terminal and negative lead to the

Tone generator circuits

Police siren

Description. The circuit given here produces an alarm similar to the police siren. When you press the push button switch S2 capacitor C1 will charge and this will make the transistor Q1 to ON slowly. When the switch S1 is released the C1 will discharge and the transistor Q1 will become OFF slowly. When the

Light Related, Lighting Circuits

Photocell based night light

Description. Many automatic night light circuits had been published here. This one uses a photocell for detecting the light intensity. At full light the resistance of the photocell will be few ten ohms and at darkness it will rise to several hundred ohms. The IC1 uA741 is wired as a comparator here. At darkness the

Electronic Keys & Locks

Digital code lock

Description. This is a simple but effective code lock circuit that has an automatic reset facility. The circuit is made around the dual flip-flop IC CD4013.Two CD 4013 ICs are used here. Push button switches are used for entering the code number. One side of all the push button switches are connected to +12V DC.

Power Controller Circuits

Temperature controlled fan regulator

How cool will it be to have an intelligent ceiling fan that will auto-adjust its speed to your comfort! That’s what we are trying to achieve here. Fans help to reduce room temperature by circulating air. This circulation mixes hot and cool air in the room, and in effect reduces the temperature to an average

Audio Circuits, Power Supplies

Simple 10W audio amplifier

Description. The circuit given below is of a simple audio amplifier that can deliver 12W to an 8 Ohm speaker. Op amp IC TL081 is used as the preamplifier here. Actually any opamp with matching power supply ratings can be used instead of TL081.Transistors Q1 and Q2 (TIP125 and TIP120) comprises the power amplifier stage.

Audio Circuits

Three transistor audio amplifier

Description. This is the circuit diagram of a simple three transistor audio amplifier that can deliver around 100mW power to a 25 Ohm speaker. The diodes D1 and D2 provides a constant bias voltage for the transistors Q1 and Q2.The transistor Q1 works as a preamplifier. Transistors Q2 and Q3 drives the speaker. The type

Television Related, Transmitters

TV transmitter circuit

Description. The TV transmitter circuit given here uses UK standard 1 FM modulation for sound and PAL for video modulation. The audio signal to be modulated is pre-amplified using the transistor Q1 and associated components. The transistor Q2 has two jobs: production of carrier frequency and modulation. The pre-amplified audio signal is fed to the

Fun & Game Circuits, Tone generator circuits

Whistle to beep circuit

Description. This simple circuit produces a beeping sound that lasts for around 3 seconds whenever you make a whistle. The CMOS Hex inverter CD4049 is the heart of this circuit. Out of the six inverters in CD4049, U1a is wired as an audio amplifier which amplifies the signal picked up by the microphone M1.The U1b

Audio Circuits, Automotive Circuits

24W amplifier using TDA1516

Description. Here is the circuit diagram of a simple 24W mono amplifier using IC TDA1516.The TDA1516 is an integrated class B power amplifier in a 13 pin SIL package. The IC has many useful features such as short circuit protection, load dump protection, thermal protection, reverse polarity protection etc. Here the IC is wired in

Motor Related

PWM motor speed controller

Description. This circuit is designed as per a request made by Mr Vinoth from India. His requirement was a 12V/5A DC fan motor controller. I think this circuit is sufficient for this purpose. Quad 2 input Schmitt trigger IC CD4093 is the heart of this circuit. Out of the four Schmitt triggers inside the 4093,

Power Supplies

Regulated dual power supply circuit

Dual Power Supply Circuit Description The circuit given here is of a regulated dual power supply that provides +12V and -12V from the AC mains. A power supply like this is a very essential tool on the work bench of an electronic hobbyist. The transformer T1 steps down the AC mains voltage and diodes D1,

Automotive Circuits, Battery Circuits

Car battery charger

Description. Given below, is a very simple circuit that can be used for charging car batteries. In this circuit there is facility for monitoring the charging current and voltage. The circuit is based on the IC MC78T12ABT from Freescale.The IC is nothing but a 7812 in TO-3 package with 3A capacity. The transformer T1 steps

Lighting Circuits

Simplest lamp flasher circuit.

Description. This is a very simple lamp flasher circuit that uses only three components (a capacitor, relay and one resistor) other than the lamp. The working of the circuit is very straight forward. When the power is switched ON the capacitor C1 charges through the resistor. When the voltage across the capacitor is sufficient, the

Motor Related

Bi-directional motor

Description. This is a simple and easy to construct circuit that can be used to provide a bidirectional drive to a DC motor. The circuit operation is straight forward. Output of an astable mutivibrator based on IC1 (NE555) is used to control the relay RL1 driving the motor. The motor is connected between the two

Test & Measurement Circuits

Transistor tester circuit

This article discusses various circuits that can be used to test a Transistor, both NPN and PNP. We have structured this article into two circuits. If you have any doubts about any section please ask through comments. 1. Transistor Tester built using Transistors 2. Simple Transistor Tester (Contains both Circuit Diagram and PCB Lay Out)

Lighting Circuits

Automatic emergency light

Description. This is a simple automatic emergency light which remains OFF when the mains power is available and switches ON when there is a power failure. When mains power is available, it is stepped down by transformer T1, rectified by diodes D1&D2, filtered by the capacitor C2 and regulated by the 9V regulator IC 7809

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