electronics

I'm gonna start by admitting that the title is hyperbole, because I paid $11.63 and the price is now $15.74, but if you are trying to get a better view of stuff I can heartily recommend buying a

I am working on designing a mobile solar system for our RV conversion. I finally have most of the parts and pieces either here or on the way, so it's time to start thinking hard about what this is actually going to look like. The system is based around four 12V, 100Ah LiFePo4 batteries and a 3.6kW hybrid inverter/charger. This contains an inverter, charger, and solar controller, and also functions as a transfer switch. It's quite a bit smarter than just a transfer switch, and can control where power from the solar panels goes based on AC input and AC load.

I finally managed to find time to assemble my Maker Shed Brain Machine Kit, and knocked it out today in spite of not having instructions until I finished. Since it is based on the Lady Ada MiniPOV3, this is a less difficult task than it sounds.

In the world of computers there are innumerable small devices which cost practically nothing to make and which typically cost a ton of cash when you buy them retail, especially adapters and cables. The internet has driven down the price of such devices by making them more readily available, and you can get widgets to adapt all kinds of signals into all kinds of other signals. Still, there are low prices, and there are really low prices, and there are really low prices with no shipping charges, which brought me to DealExtreme. The story, unfortunately, is not entirely a happy one.