Since the entire country is on Coronavirus lockdown at the moment, I figured it was time to get round to finishing off a couple of small blog posts while waiting for the restrictions to be lifted 😉 This is a small two-stage linear amplifier module available on eBay fairly cheap
Continue readingCovid-19 Lockdown Experiments – eBay 1-1000MHz 3W Wideband Amplifier Power Test
I thought it was time to add a bit of security to the gear I take camping, so this GPS tracker unit was sourced from eBay. This is a Rewire Security 103RS, a slightly customised version of the common Chinese TK103 GPS tracker. The small module has all it’s power
Time for another eBay special: this time it’s an 8-port video distribution amplifier, with BNC connections designed for commercial/industrial equipment. Not much on the front panel above, apart from the power switch & LED. The rear panel has all the connectors, input is on the left, while the outputs are
This is a cheap little eBay reader to replace my ~10 year old multi-reader that very recently died. My original was an 8-in-1 version, but as I never read anything else other than SD cards these days, a little USB dongle version was more convenient. The layout is very minimal,
Here’s an eBay oddity – it’s got the same light & lens mechanism as the cheap “disco light” style bulbs on eBay, but this one is battery powered & has a built in MP3 player. This device simply oozes cheapness. The large 4″ plastic dome lens sits on the top
Continue readingeBay Special – LED Disco Light With Built In MP3 Player
With the installation of the new diesel fired heater we’ve noticed a small problem – since the only heat source in the saloon is the stove, even with the diesel heater fired up the temperature doesn’t really change much, as the heat from the radiators in the both the cabins
Continue readingnb Tanya Louise Heating Upgrades – Saloon Heating
Time for another random teardown, a signal splitter for HDMI. These units are available very cheap these days on eBay. This one splits the incoming signal into two to drive more than one display from the same signal source. The stamped alloy casing comes apart easily with the removal of
To do some upgrades to my NAS, I needed some SATA power adaptors, to split the PSU out to the planned 16 disk drives. eBay has these for very little money, however there’s a good reason for them being cheap. The marking on the wire tells me it’s 18AWG, which
As one of my current projects involves a small petrol engine – a Honda GX35 clone, I figured an hour counter would be very handy to keep an eye on service intervals. (More to come on the engine itself later on). I found a device that would suit my needs
Continue readingInductive Hour Counter / Tachometer – Petrol Engines
Here’s a useful buck-boost DC-DC converter from eBay, this one will do 36v DC at 6A maximum output current. Voltage & current are selected on the push buttons, when the output is enabled either the output voltage or the output current can be displayed in real time. Here’s the display
I have found myself needing some more in the way of High Voltage supplies of late, with the acquisition of the new He-Ne laser tubes, so I went trawling eBay for something that would be suitable to run these tubes. (I currently only have a single He-Ne laser PSU brick,
For the latest big project, replacing the battery bank on the boat with 5 brand new 200Ah Yuasa heavy duty flooded lead acids, I’m going to need to make many short links from heavy battery cable to connect all 5 batteries into a parallel bank. Cutting cable as big in
I recently decided to restock my toolkit, as there are plenty of jobs I need to sort that require the use of crimp terminals, so eBay again came to the rescue. In my experience, cheap tools of any flavour are usually universally shite – I’ve had drill bits made out
Going through eBay recently looking for parts for a couple of CRT-based projects, I came across these DC-DC converters. Apparently rated from 45-390v DC output at 200mA, these should be ideal for driving some of the electrodes (focus, screen, grid) in a CRT. Above is the top of the board,
For my latest project, I needed an easier way to paint without messing about with brushes, and the associated marks they leave in a paint job. eBay provided me with a cheap airbrush & compressor. For less than £30, this kit doens’t look so bad. I’ve never used an airbrush
A while ago I posted about the glowplug screens in Eberspacher heaters, and making some DIY ones, as the OEM parts are hideously expensive for a piece of stainless mesh (£13). Above is the old factory screen that I extracted after only 5 gallons of diesel was run through it,
In my mind, the most dangerous thing onboard any boat is the LPG system, as the gas is heavier than air, any leaks tend to collect in the bilges, just waiting for an ignition source. To mitigate this possibility, we’re fitting a gas monitoring system that will sound an alarm
As I’ve been posting some photos of decapped ICs lately, I thought I’d share the process I use personally for those that might want to give it a go 😉 The usual method for removing the epoxy package from the silicon is to use hot, concentrated Nitric Acid. Besides the
As the CO meter I bought on eBay didn’t register anything whatsoever, I decided I’d hack the sensor itself apart to make sure it wasn’t just an empty steel can. It turns out that it’s not just an empty can, but there are some reasons why the thing doesn’t work
I was looking around eBay for decent deals on a branded CO alarm, and came across these for next to no money, so I thought I’d grab one just to see how bad they could be. Popping the casing open shows the very small circuit board inside, with the CO
The Eberspacher heaters can be controlled with a single switch, but it’s more convenient to have some temperature control & the option of a timer. Above is an ex-BT 701 series controller, with built in 7-day programmer. Being an ex-BT van version though, it’ll only switch the heater on for
I got one of these to test since I’ve been in need of some small DC pumps for fluid transfer use. At £2 I can definitely afford to experiment. On the eBay listing, these pumps are rated at 3-12v DC, (I thought that was a bit wide of an operating
Inkeeping with everything else in my shack being low voltage operated, I had planned from the outset to convert the desoldering station to 12v operation. It turns out this has been the easiest tool to convert in my shack so far. The factory SMPS is a fairly straightforward 18v 12A
On the quest to get things on board replaced that are heavy users of power, the monitor in the main cabin was next. The original CCFL-backlit monitor was very heavy on 12v power, at 5A. This meant falling asleep watching TV would result in severely flattened batteries. Replacement with a
Continue readingViewSonic VA2232W-LED Monitor 12v Conversion
In the past, I’ve used RC type LiPo packs for my mobile power requirements, but these tend to be a bit bulky, since they’re designed for very high discharge current capability – powering large motors in models is a heavy job. I recently came across some Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1