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PIC SUDOKU
Hand-held puzzle generator/player
PLUS Puzzle Solving Software
Vol 35 No 7 $5.95 US $7.99 CAN
JULY 2006 PRINTED IN THE UK
DIRT CHEAP 17A/13
1
5V
POWER SUPPLY
Copyright
2006, Wimborne Publishing Ltd
(408 Wimborne Road East, Ferndown, Dorset, BH22 9ND, UK)
and TechBites Interactive Inc.,
(PO Box 857, Madison, Alabama 35758, USA)
All rights reserved.
WARNING!
The materials and works contained within
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Because of possible variances in the quality and condition of materials and
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EPE Onlin
e, its publishers and agents disclaim
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ISSN 0262 3617
PROJECTS . . . THEORY . . .
NEWS . . . COMMENT . . .
POPULAR FEATURES . . .
INCORPORATING ELECTRONICS TODAY INTERNATIONAL
www.epemag.co.uk
EPEOnline: www.epemag.com
VOL. 35. No. 7 JULY 2006
Projects and Circuits
PIC SUDOKU UNIT
by John Becker
Projects and Circuits
10
Hand-held game player and PC puzzle solving software
PC POWER MONITOR
by Jim Rowe
22
Monitors the main DC power rails in your PC
A DIRT CHEAP HIGH CURRENT BENCH SUPPLY
by Col Hodgson, VK2ZCO
31
Modify that old PC PSU to give 13·5V at up to 17A
INGENUITY UNLIMITED – Sharing your ideas with others
40
Magic Bulb
DIGITAL INSTRUMENT DISPLAY FOR CARS PART 2
by John Clark
54
Calibration and connection of the unit
Series and Features
TECHNO TALK
by Mark Nelson
18
Terahertz: The Anti-Terrorism Solution
PIC N’ MIX
by Mike Hibbett
20
Multiplexing – A Trick or Two
PRACTICALLY SPEAKING
by Robert Penfold
28
Basic project building and soldering problems
TEACH-IN 2006
by Mike Tooley BA
42
Find out how circuits work and what really goes on inside them
Part 9: Bistable Investigation: Microprocessors and Microcontrollers
CIRCUIT SURGERY
By Ian Bell
61
Schmitt Trigger Circuits
NET WORK – THE INTERNET PAGE
surfed by Alan Winstanley
68
The Phone Age?
Regulars and Services
EDITORIAL
Regulars and Services
7
NEWS –
Barry Fox highlights technology’s leading edge
8
Plus everyday news from the world of electronics
CD-ROMS FOR ELECTRONICS
51
A wide range of CD-ROMs for hobbyists, students and engineers
SUBSCRIBE TO EPE
and save money
60
READOUT
John Becker addresses general points arising
64
ELECTRONICS MANUALS
67
The Modern Electronics Manual and Electronics Service Manual on CD-ROM
DIRECT BOOK SERVICE
71
A wide range of tehnical books available by mail order, plus more CD-ROMs
BACK ISSUES
76
Did you miss these?
EPE PCB SERVICE
© Wimborne Publishing Ltd 2006. Copyright in all
drawings, photographs and articles published in
EVERYDAY PRACTICAL ELECTRONICS is fully
protected, and reproduction or imitations in whole or
in part are expressly forbidden.
78
PCBs for EPEprojects
ADVERTISERS INDEX
80
Readers Services
•
Editorial and Advertisement Departments
7
Our August 2006 issue will be published on Thursday,
13 July 2006.See page 80 for details
Everyday Practical Electronics, July 2006
1
Editorial Offices:
EVERYDAY PRACTICAL ELECTRONICS EDITORIAL
Wimborne Publishing Ltd., 408 Wimborne Road East, Ferndown,
Dorset BH22 9ND
Phone: (01202) 873872. Fax: (01202) 874562.
Email:
enquiries@epemag.wimborne.co.uk
Web Site:
www.epemag.co.uk
EPEOnline
(downloadable version of EPE)
:
www.epemag.com
EPE Online Shop:
www.epemag.wimborne.co.uk/shopdoor.htm
See notes on
Readers’ Technical Enquiries
below – we regret
technical enquiries cannot be answered over the telephone.
Advertisement Offices:
EVERYDAY PRACTICAL ELECTRONICS ADVERTISEMENTS
408 Wimborne Road East, Ferndown, Dorset BH22 9ND
Phone: 01202 873872 Fax: 01202 874562
Email:
stewart.kearn@wimborne.co.uk
THE UK’s No.1 MAGAZINE FOR ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY & COMPUTER PROJECTS
VOL. 35 No. 7 JULY 2006
Editor:
MIKE KENWARD
Consulting Editors:
DAVID BARRINGTON
JOHN BECKER
Business Manager:
DAVID J. LEAVER
Subscriptions:
MARILYN GOLDBERG
General Manager:
FAY KEARN
Editorial/Admin:
(01202) 873872
Advertising Manager:
STEWART KEARN (01202) 873872
On-Line Editor:
ALAN WINSTANLEY
EPE Online
(Internet version)
Editors:
CLIVE (MAX) MAXFIELD and ALVIN BROWN
How Do They Do It?
A DVD player for less than the cost of the latest films on DVD. An automatic cordless
kettle for less than the price of a jar of coffee. It seems the world of technology is beat-
ing everything else on price hands down. These products are made in China and shipped
half way around the world, then a wholesaler and a retailer add their mark-up before we
pay for them. Whilst this is obviously good for the consumer in the short term, is it
really sensible to be selling products at such low prices? Presumably the cost of the raw
materials is a major part of the total, there can be very little for the manufacturer or the
worker and few retailers can survive on ever falling profits, even if the percentage profit
per item remains the same.
We have seen it in the hobby electronics area – where there were a large number of
component suppliers, say 20 years ago, few now survive as it is difficult to make a prof-
it selling a handful of very inexpensive parts by mail order or over the shop counter. By
the time you have sorted and stored them, picked and packed them, banked the payment
and done the accounts, VAT etc., where is the profit to pay staff when all the components
for a hobbyist project may only cost a few pounds.
READERS’ TECHNICAL ENQUIRIES
E-mail:
techdept@epemag.wimborne.co.uk
We are unable to offer any advice on the use,
purchase, repair or modification of commercial
equipment or the incorporation or modification
of designs published in the magazine. We
regret that we cannot provide data or answer
queries on articles or projects that are more
than five years old. Letters requiring a personal
reply must be accompanied by a
stamped
self-addressed envelope or a self-
addressed envelope and international reply
coupons. We are not able to answer techni-
cal queries on the phone.
Problems
I fear that this dramatic reduction in the cost of many household electrical and elec-
tronic items may significantly add to the problems of the local economy. What it might
do for the Chinese economy is also questionable.
I’m not a politician and don’t want to get into the politics of this – protectionism etc.,
besides that we have just purchased a new office kettle from a major supermarket for a
fiver! It’s automatic and cordless too, looks smart and works a treat. I wonder how many
they have to ship at once to get the carriage price right, and how much of our £5 is for
raw materials and manufacturing?
Most kettles don’t last too long in our office, where they are in very regular use, so it
will be interesting to see how this one shapes up – I guess for a fiver if it lasts a year then
it is a bargain, but it will add to the local waste: But that is another story.
PROJECTS AND CIRCUITS
All reasonable precautions are taken to ensure
that the advice and data given to readers is reli-
able. We cannot, however, guarantee it and we
cannot accept legal responsibility for it.
A number of projects and circuits published in
EPE employ voltages than can be lethal.
Yo u
should not build, test, modify or renovate
any item of mains powered equipment
unless you fully understand the safety
aspects involved and you use an RCD adap-
tor.
COMPONENT SUPPLIES
We do not supply electronic components or
kits
for building the projects featured, these
can be supplied by advertisers.
We advise readers to check that all parts are
still available before commencing any pro-
ject in a back-dated issue.
ADVERTISEMENTS
Although the proprietors and staff of
EVERYDAY PRACTICAL ELECTRONICS take
reasonable precautions to protect the interests
of readers by ensuring as far as practicable that
advertisements are bona fide, the magazine
and its Publishers cannot give any undertak-
ings in respect of statements or claims made
by advertisers, whether these advertisements
are printed as part of the magazine, or in
inserts.
The Publishers regret that under no circum-
stances will the magazine accept liability for
non-receipt of goods ordered, or for late
delivery, or for faults in manufacture.
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Cheques or bank drafts (in
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Everyday Practical Electronics and sent to EPE Subs.
Dept., Wimborne Publishing Ltd. 408 Wimborne Road
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Fax: 01202 874562.
Email:
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AVAILABILITY
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TRANSMITTERS/BUGS/TELEPHONE
EQUIPMENT
We advise readers that certain items of radio
transmitting and telephone equipment which
may be advertised in our pages cannot be
legally used in the UK. Readers should check
the law before buying any transmitting or
telephone equipment as a fine, confiscation of
equipment and/or imprisonment can result
from illegal use or ownership. The laws vary
from country to country; readers should check
local laws.
Everyday Practical Electronics, July 2006
7
News . . .
A roundup of the latest Everyday
News from the world of
electronics
BIG BROTHER’S BROTHER’S COMING
Barry Fox gives a stark warning to all drivers
D
RIVERS could soon face a completely
goes. Engine speed and turbo speed in
rotations per minute are detected from the
pulsing sound of the pistons firing and the
fuel-pumping turbo vanes.
Loaded Weight
To measure the loaded weight of a vehi-
cle the microphones are put on a slope with
known incline, so that the engine sound is
recorded as it starts to climb and use more
power. Correlating the simultaneous
changes in road speed, engine speed and
turbo speed as the vehicle starts labouring
up the known slope angle gives a good esti-
mation of its weight. Comparing the sound
signature of the engine with a reference
store of known signatures, makes the cor-
relation more accurate.
To prove the system concept, Battelle
made 64 recordings and used a Windows
PC (with LabVIEW software from
National Instruments) to estimate truck
speed successfully for 32 out of 33 experi-
ments. “This result”, says Battelle's patent,
"is very encouraging".
Undetectable
The microphones are easily hidden in
street signs, adds the patent, so drivers do
not get any advance warning. “An obvious
application”, the patent says, “is as a new,
undetectable vehicle speed gun used by
law enforcement agencies”. It can be the
core of a new device. “The person driving
the vehicle being monitored is unaware
that the speed of their vehicle is being
measured”.
Battelle claims that as well as telling the
speed of the vehicle, engine, and tur-
bocharger, the acoustic signature can also
tell what type of vehicle it is e.g. tractor-
trailer, dump truck, cement truck. This,
says the patent, is good for homeland secu-
rity; it could also trap big trucks which
speed through little villages.
Battelle’s patent tells that the basic sys-
tem can be extended to spy on “other vehi-
cles”, which suggests ongoing research
into ways of using audio to trap cars by
acoustic signature and Doppler. The
research institute was clearly none too
pleased that publication of the patent has
spilled the beans. Calls for comment were
initially ignored, then stalled.
Controversial
Finally, Curtis Ayers, one of the three
inventors of the system, made a comment
which suggests that Battelle and the US
government are well aware that news of the
system could prove very controversial:
“There is some ongoing work, still under
development and sensitive, that is using
aspects of this technology – vehicle speed
and engine characterisation, but we are not
free to describe that work as of yet”
new kind of Big Brother on the roads,
which detects vehicle speed, and even
loaded weight, using sound. The new sys-
tem, being developed by the University of
Tennessee’s Battelle Institute in Oak Ridge
USA, is purely passive. Drivers who current-
ly rely on radar or laser detectors to sense
tell-tale radiation coming from any speed
traps ahead will find their early warning
equipment useless against the new system.
Details of Battelle's research into audio
trapping are revealed by recently filed
patents. The patents also tell that the work
is being undertaken for the US Department
of Energy, and the funding contract has
bought the US government the right to use
the technology (Ref Contract No. DE-
AC05-00OR22725).
Mic Monitored
Microphones hidden by the roadside
capture the sound of a passing vehicle and
record it as a PC WAV file. Digital filtering
removes background noise to leave the
sound of the engine and any turbocharger
used to increase power by forcing extra
fuel into the cylinders. The Doppler shift
which makes the pitch of this sound rise
and fall as it approaches and passes the
microphones gives an instant tell-tale of
road speed – just as the sound of a car siren
or clanking bell changes as it comes and
Easy Battery Tester
Discharging batteries to check their performance is an expen-
sive and time consuming business and in many situations, sim-
ply cannot be done economically in the time available. The new
BZT1 fast battery tester from battery testing specialists Astratec
Electronics provides a solution to this problem!
In just 10 seconds, the easy to use BZT1 estimates the per-
formance of the sealed lead-acid batteries that are found in
a wide range of popular applications, including security
alarms, fire alarms, golf trollies, electric scooters, mobility
aids, electric wheelchairs, standby lighting and many more.
The BZT1 uses a unique form of voltage and battery
impedance analysis to estimate battery performance. The
last 40 tests are automatically saved and can be easily down-
loaded to a printer or PC spreadsheet making this a really
useful field service tool. An internal date and time marker
records on the test report, the date and time of each test.
Self-adhesive test result labels can also be printed at the
end of each test and attached to the battery, providing a
permanent record of the test date and results.
The standard BZT1 works with both 12V and 24V batter-
ies, other voltages including 6V versions are available.
Every unit carries a full 12 month warranty and comes com-
plete with a soft protective carry case.
For more information browse
www.astratec.co.uk
, tel
+44 (0) 1327 705936 or email sales@astratec.co.uk.
8
Everyday Practical Electronics, July 2006
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