Benefits of using multiturn potentiometers

Potentiometers are common electronics components that convert rotary or linear motion in to change of resistance. They can be found anywhere where some adjustments are needed, volume control, and joysticks. You can dive into the long theory about potentiometers, how they are made, what materials are used, and what output characteristics they have regarding rotation angle. As an electronics hobbyist and probably pro, you usually deal with two common types of potentiometers – standard pots with knobs and trim potentiometers. The first group of potentiometers is used where the user has to access the potentiometer when he needs to change one or another parameter like sound volume or screen brightness. They usually are more prominent in size and can be mounted vertically or horizontally to board. Also, they have a panel mount with the nut. This type of potentiometers needs to be mechanically stronger and resistive material more durable due to frequent use.

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Cheap Arduino compatible boards are same as original

Probably you have noticed that Arduino is spread worldwide. It would be ridiculous to see one manufacturer producing them. The Arduino group produces an original board that is named Arduino. This is their trademark. But being an open-source product, Arduino has become popular in almost all workshops, so demand is enormous. Since building plans are public, other electronics manufacturers started building Arduino-compatible boards. These are the same Arduino boards but with Arduino’s name and logo removed. It is 100% compatible with standard Arduino that works with software tools, extensions, and modules.

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How to Take Good ID Card Photographs

It’s no surprise that most people are reluctant to get their ID photos taken; the lack of creativity you can portray in your photos and the strict guidelines that you are required to adhere to can definitely make this a not-so-pleasant experience. However, getting our ID photos taken is something that we have to do, and so we might as well look good and get the best quality photo possible. There are numerous tips, tricks, and steps that you can implement to increase your photos’ quality and still ensure that you adhere to the strict guidelines. We’ll take a look at some of these below.

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Building Your Own Computer

While buying a factory-built computer is quick and easy, there are many advantages to building your machine. For one thing, you are sure to get precisely the components, software, and functionality you need, versus what the manufacturer wants to give you. Another issue is that pre-made computers often have proprietary parts and cases, making them difficult to alter and upgrade; homemade machines are more flexible in that area. Finally, homemade computers can be significantly less expensive. Be sure to work in an area that’s free of dust and on a non-conductive surface, like a wooden table. You should also avoid working on carpeting, which can generate static electricity, and ground yourself by touching the computer case’s metal part before touching the components. You can also wear an antistatic wrist strap to prevent static electricity. Step 1: Set up the Motherboard ·  Remove the motherboard from its packaging and set it on a steady surface. Do not sit it on top of the antistatic bag that it came in. Fit the processor into the designated slot or socket on the motherboard. If it has a heat sink, it should come with a thermal adhesive for you to attach to the processor.…

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Pushing prototyping with STM32F4Discovery to new level

STM32F4Discovery board is already quite powerful and stacked with many handy features. You can find a three-axis accelerometer, MEMS microphone, DAC with D class amplifier that can output sound through the built-in audio jack on a single board. Also, there are a couple of LEDs and a button for fast access. Of course, this board’s core is the STM32F407VGT6 ARM Cortex-M4 microcontroller that packs a series of great features, including DSP instructions and a floating-point unit. But eventually, with such power, you will miss several other handy features that could be used in your project. Think of LCD, Ethernet, RS232 interface, and even camera. You could start making your extension boards that include additional features, but why bother since several extension boards are available for it. Let us go through them and see the features you could get without a heating soldering iron.

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The Benefits of LED Lighting

Throughout the world, we can see many renowned lighting experts endorsing the use of LED lighting. In fact, this advanced solid-state lighting technology has acquired a significant market share in such a short time that the world cites it as the next big thing in the lighting industry. But have you ever wondered what makes LED lighting such an attractive option? The truth is that advanced LED lights available to us today are particularly designed to maximize users’ comfort. The solid-state technology, which forms the basis of these lights, and the components used in their manufacturing are all designed to ensure that the user gets maximum benefit. As stated by the Infographic by Designerleds.com, “10 Benefits of switching to LED lighting”, LED lights are heralding brighter dawn for lighting solutions, with several benefits stemming from their energy efficiency and clean, eco-friendly design. This prudent designing and manufacturing of these lights make them stand out from the crowd by offering unmatched perks, which were never offered by any other lighting technology in the past. Let’s take a look at a few benefits of LED lighting:

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Agile Web Development with Ruby on Rails

Ruby on Rails (also known as RoR or simply Rails) is an object-oriented, multi-level, full-stack framework running via Ruby’s programming language. Many web developers choose to work in Ruby on Rails due to its numerous advantages. Why do developers love RoR? The best-known advantage of Ruby on Rails web development is the speed. A variety of handy instruments and Ruby’s support on the Rails community increase development speed by about 30-40%. With Ruby on Rails, you get excellent built-in testing, caching, localization, validation, and deployment tools. And that’s not it. You also get an opportunity to customize the routing and titles of the website sections so that your projects always have simple and beautiful URLs. The database migration process is perfect in Rails. The database structure always stays in the repository, and every change in structure gets instantly documented.

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Amplifying Mobile Phone Signals

Mobile phones have become a necessity to us in this era because of the way they help us stay connected and to stay connected we must ensure that certain relevant things are present, one of those things is having good reception and signals, so there aren’t any disruptions in our connectivity and the service carriers ensure this by providing high amounts of coverage, so there isn’t necessarily any need to amplify mobile phone signals. Still, certain cases in which the reception is outright horrible due to interference or any number of external factors. This would cause you to look for ways on how to fix that issue by looking for a way to boost the number of signals you’re getting, you can do that using a few different methods, but one of the most common ways is through the use of a mobile phone signal booster which is an easy to use utility and gets rid of any signal/reception issues that you happen to be facing. The mobile phone signal booster basically does what the name implies. It takes the existing signals you have no matter how scarce they may be and then begins to amplify those signals so that…

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Building simple constant current power LED driver

Usually, when we need to drive low power LEDs, we don’t care much about power losses. What we do we add a current limiting resistor, and that’s enough. For instance, for 20mA LED, we choose between 300Ω-1kΩ resistor when powering from 5V. But a different situation is with power LEDs. The currents are much more prominent here, like 1A and more. Adding a resistor to limit the current isn’t an option because power losses become significant. Here you need a constant current driver to drive it safely without wasting energy. It happens that I have Cree XR-E Q5 XLAPM-7090 LED lying around. It requires a 3.7V driving voltage and can take up to 1A current. There are several light intensities given at specific currents:

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The Benefits of Learning to Code for Different Professionals

A job market focused on practical skills has changed how companies hire employees. Tight budgets and intense competition leave little time for employee development. Applicants who immediately add value have an edge in the hiring process. The value of a skill is often driven by scarcity. A drastic shortage of programmers is fueling a boom in computer coding schools. Various professionals with different backgrounds learn coding in an intense format, which spans 8 to 12 weeks. The perception is that these students are career changers from dying industries. However, coding has career benefits for current programmers and web development teams, as well. That outside of IT can also enhance their careers with coding skills. Here’s an overview of how learning to code can benefit you:

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