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News - New Product Friday: Will … | about 5 days ago

ON the “Spark Gap Igniter”, I’ve used something similar to drive HeNe laser tubes, 5VDC in and about 1.5Kv out at about 1 – 5 mA. They tickle a little if you grab the wrong leads, ;-P

News - According to Pete - Febru… | about 4 months ago

Hey Pete,

Your vids and tutorials are awesome, I enjoy watching them, it’s kinda nostalgic for me. I have a question, correct me if I’m wrong; since electrons are negatively charged, and they are “sourced” from the cathode, wouldn’t an IO in low state source current and a HIGH IO sink current?

News - Free Day 2012 is Under Wa… | about 5 months ago

Here is my 2 cents; this is not complaint in no way, I was curious. I live in Midwest NC . I took into consideration the delay from my laptop to the Spark Fun’s server, Internet communication is in no way instantaneous. While watching the timer on the homepage, I waited till it was at 2 seconds, I hit F5, I got a 502 Bad Gateway error, which is what I expected from the sudden flood of traffic, after a few more F5’s, the home page popped up saying free day was over, what’s up with that?

Product TOL-11060 | about 5 months ago

When I worked as a repair tech, I often had a pcb for repair that had an excess of 50 micro relays on board, each needed to be tested and replaced if defective. I used something similar to these tweezers for my bench meter and power supply so i could power each relay individually with one have and probe the contacts with the other, these are absolutely a much have for the home bench, they will come in handy!

(The sets I used were about $50 a pair though, with interchangeable tips)

News - It's Never Too Early To S… | about a year ago

Had my oldest son at the bench when he was 5, while I was working at a repair facility de-soldering caps for me, until the owners wife felt “He might get burned”; none the less several techs I worked with said he did a much better job of not burning a hole through the board, or searing off traces like some of the “Experienced techs”.
Great job Charlie! Keep it up kid, you will enjoy years of fun with moving electrons around!

News - The FT232R Revealed! | about 2 years ago

The FT232 has user configurable pins, FTDI offers utilities for configuration. Used this products for some time now, also the FT245R is a parallel/FIFO to USB interface. Here is the link to the utilities:
http://www.ftdichip.com/Resources/Utilities.htm

News - SparkFun Gets a Cease and… | about 3 years ago

This is only a bunch of lawyer crap. This is a threatening letter just trying to pick a fight. I hate to say it but it is all going to come down to who argues the best and who bribes the judge, ;–). I have read quite a few of these letters from lawyers for one reason or another. And they all say basically the same BS. Keep you head HIGH, study the law yourself, hire a lawyer and NEVER back down.
Also seems that the law firm just want to pad their pockets a little bit with bogus suites(picking on the little guy for a buck). Been there and seen that too. I always come here first. Whatever we can do to help, let us know. We’re with you!!

News - Power Supply Protection | about 3 years ago

Thanks I needed a laugh today, Sorry for the misspelled words;
Rum + keyboard = BAD SPELLING !
germanium

News - Power Supply Protection | about 3 years ago

This is FYI for all, I have been a bench repair tech for several years now, and have rarely seen a common 1n4001 with .7 v drop across the junction. Typically it is anywhere from .3 to .6. The .7 v drop is simply a generic basis taught in school. I have even seen geraniums with less than .1v . For a little background, I have tested and repaired Industrial monitors, AC / DC motor drives, Microwave frequency generators and amplifiers, even cell phone linear amplifiers 900Mhz – 1100 Mhz, etc…. Not trying to be an A$$, just sharing what I have learned through the years, Thank all of you for the insight and interesting ideas.

News - Power Supply Protection | about 3 years ago

Yes philba,
You are right, I was not implying there was no need for regulation, but for the average hobbyist, mosfets are above and beyond. Now don’t get me wrong, mosfets are very cool and everyone should learn about them. My post merely is a simple and quick solution for circuit protection.