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 SPOTTHE MISTAKES!
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		There is only one thing I regret with Talking Electronics website.It should have been in the form of an encyclopaedia.
 I have produced so may "pearls of wisdom" and answers to circuit 
		problems that the website is one of the largest on the net.
 And it is different to any other website or text book.
 It answers all those questions left unanswered after a lecture or after 
		reading a text book.
 So may times I have read a text book and said " I don't 
		know what he is trying to say!"
 Everything could be made clearer by including two or three circuits or photo's. But in many cases the author has never 
		built the circuit and tested it.
 The biggest mistake a beginner can make is thinking a text book will answer 
		his questions, solve his problems or teach him electronics, or a course will enable him to become a technician.
 A current Masters of Electronics course in Australia runs for 4 years 
		and in the first three years the students have done little or no 
		soldering, and only worked on a very poorly produced PC board for an AM 
		radio.
 Their final project is to produce a robot that finds and picks up pucks.
 I don't know how many pre-made modules are allowed or if a 
		whole Robot can be bought off-the-shelf, but how is a student going to design and 
		produce a robot with steering, detecting a puck, picking it up, two-way 
		remote control, camera-detection and  programming a microcontroller, in 6 months.
 No-one with less than 2 years ROBOT ENGINEERING and hundreds of projects 
		under his belt, could come up with a project like this.
 It just shows the absurdities of University teaching.
 They think you can come out of the course with all the capability of designing a robot 
		for the Moon Lander, after a single project; while in reality the student can barely desolder a 40 pin 
		IC.
   After helping 4 electronics forums for the past 3 years, I can say the 
		actual basic understanding of electronics of those who have been in the 
		industry for up to 40 years, is quite lacking.
 Yes, many of them have carried out research, repaired thousands of 
		pieces of equipment or worked in electronics at the hobbyist level, but 
		some of the replies and answers to readers questions contain 
		fundamental, glaring, errors.
 I don't know everything about electronics but I have certainly covered a 
		lot of the basics and explained things that have never been covered 
		before.
 And it's only when you cover a circuit in minute detail that you can 
		explain its operation.
 It's only when you can "SEE A CIRCUIT WORKING" that electronics comes 
		alive and you can actually work on the circuit to improve its 
		performance or alter its characteristics.
 The next stage in the development of the web will be to produce 
		interactive discussions with circuits that "move" and show the capacitor 
		charging and the transistors turning ON and the IC's carrying out a 
		function.
 This can come with short videos showing the circuit working and include 
		the sound.
 Some of the simulation software already shows "electrons" moving around 
		the circuit but none actually show the resistor limiting the current or 
		the capacitor charging or the transistor turning ON.
 
  
		The one thing I liked about Radio Shack (Tandy) was the "Lifetime 
		Guarantee" they provided for their products.I don't know what a Lifetime Guarantee means but the concept infers that 
		any problem will be addressed and fixed.
 The stores were a very poor example of an electronics component supplier 
		and they lurched from one decade to the other with a few successful 
		products such as stereo amplifiers, CB radios, loud hailers, 200 
		electronics experiments kits, Gold Detectors, computers and then 
		everything died.
 But the concept of a guarantee still stays in my head and for anyone who 
		has bought a kit from Talking Electronics and not been able to get it to 
		work, the policy exists to be able to send it in for checking and repair 
		at no cost.
 Some readers have bought $200 worth of kits and are not heard-of again. To get 
		all the kits working will require a lot of skill and since many were 
		beginners, they should have contacts us for assistance.
 It's no good giving up and letting anything rest as you only begin to 
		learn electronics when you have found and fixed a fault.
 I have fixed over 26,000 black and white TV's and if I gave up after a few 
		minutes, almost none of the sets would have been fixed.
 Sometime it takes hours to locate a fault and something it is just 
		replacing a cracked valve.
 But dogged determination is the only attribute you need to see your way 
		through a design . . . to eventual completion.
 It would be wonderful if everything was easy and straight-forward.
 But that means the product and idea would already be on the market.
 New ideas take skills that have not yet been tested and and since 
		everyone's brain has an endless capacity for invention, new ideas and 
		products will come on the market all the time.
 It's just your aim to make that new product  . . . yours !!
 
			 
		
		
		PLANT WATERERAnother circuit 
	
		from 
	
		Professor Mohankumar.  The probes are placed in the soil of an 
		indoor pot-plant and the LED comes ON when the soil dries out.
 
		 
		The circuit 
		above is the original design.  It works but it is very complex and 
		the op-amp takes current all the time. 
		 
The circuit can be simplified to two transistors and 3 resistors. It takes less 
than 9 microamps when "sitting around."When ever you design a circuit, look on the web to see how it has already been 
designed and ask yourself if any of the components can removed and if the 
circuit can be simplified.
 
 
 		 
	
		Spot the Mistakes pages  
 		allows me to talk about things that 
 		can't be
	
		added to any of the other sections. No text book and NO project in a magazine has ever included a section "
 And how wrong they are.
 There are so many variables to making a circuit.
 Many projects are just on the verge of not working and by using a 
		different transistor or a different component or even a different 
		layout, the circuit fails to work.
 I have already given examples of poorly deigned multivibrator circuits 
		that I could not get to operate and others that stopped working as soon 
		as the voltage dropped a few volts.
 That's why I consider these pages one of the most important additions to 
		the website.
 You can learn 10 times faster from other people's mistakes than dragging 
		yourself through the theory of the circuit.
 I have proved this with 2 apprentices who came "off the street" and were 
		fixing black and white TV's after 2 - 4 weeks of watching what to do.
 Of course you can go the "theoretical route" but this route will have 
		much more significance if you have already experimented with the 
		circuits and seen what effect is produced when components are changed.
 And you have a much better "grass roots" understanding.
 
 
  
	
		AUTO BATTERY CHARGER  
	
		 
	
		This is not a faulty circuit but the simplest Automatic Battery 
		Charger circuit you can get.It is so simple, that no one believes it will work.
 It is mainly designed to keep a battery topped up in a car, motorcycle, 
		snow-plough, etc stored in a garage for a number of months.
 A battery loses energy at the rate of 10mA to 100mA, depending on the 
		battery and the temperature and the age of the battery and you need to 
		keep adding this energy to keep it charged.
 This circuit will not overcharge the battery because the charging current 
		is less than 500mA and the current is turned off when the battery 
		voltage reaches 13.7v.
 Read the full article:  Automatic 
		Battery Charger and you will see how the circuit works. It is quite 
		complex.
 
 
  
	
		
	
		HUMHum is the background noise you hear in an amplifier when the 
		volume is turned down.
 It comes from the power supply where the diodes charge a set of 
		electrolytics from the alternating current (AC) from the "Mains."  
		The Mains is called the "AC."
 If the Mains has a frequency of 50Hz, the power supply produces 100Hz 
		hum and if it is 60Hz, the frequency  is 120Hz. This is because the 
		bridge delivers the waveform from the 0v axis to the peak of the 
		waveform to the output and at the same time it inverts the wave (from 
		the 0v axis to the negative peak) and places it between each of the 
		positive portions of the wave and this effectively doubles the 
		frequency.
 
 Hum is the ripple at the top of the voltage coming from the power 
		supply:
 
	
		 
	
		Suppose the hum is the voltage between 13v and 15v. If we use the 
		voltage up to 13v, we will not get any hum. Here are 3 circuits and we will explain how well they perform.
 
	
		 This circuit will deliver all the hum to the load. If the load is an 
		amplifier, the background will hum.
 It delivers the full voltage from the power supply, including the HUM 
		component.
 
 
	
		 This circuit will deliver some of the hum to the load.
 The voltage is delivered (including the hum component) and
 the hum component is reduced slightly by a process called SMOOTHING.
 The output voltage is reduced by a process called ATTENUATION.
 But the hum is not REMOVED.
 
 
	
		The 10R and 2u2 will have a small effect on reducing the hum and the 
		emitter will deliver the improved waveform to a 68R and 220u filter. But 
		the voltage at the join of these two components will drop when a load is 
		applied and this is not a good design for a power supply.There are two faults with this circuit.
 The transistor increases the effectiveness of the 2u2 by 100 times, so 
		why not make the 2u2 larger.
 if it is 220u, it will effectively be equal to 22,000u and provide very 
		good hum reduction.
 The 10R should be increased to 220R to improve the effectiveness of the 
		220R/220u combination.
 The 68R will lower the output voltage and at 100mA current, the output 
		will drop 6.8 volts !!
 Obviously, this is not a very good circuit.
 
	
		The third circuit combines the first two circuits and adds a zener diode 
		to deliver only the voltage below the ripple. The voltage below the 
		ripple is perfectly smooth. The zener and 220u creates a very stable 12v6 and this is fed to the 
		transistor. We could use this stable 12.6v and feed it directly to the 
		load but as soon as we require more than 100mA, we will be taking all 
		the current from the zener and the output voltage will drop.
 At the moment the supply voltage is about 18v from the bridge rectifier, 
		and this creates 5v across the 47R. The current through the 47R is about 
		100mA and this current flows through the zener.
 This is the maximum current we can use and if we take say 120mA, the 
		zener DROPS OUT OF REGULATION and the voltage across it drops to a lower 
		value. So, we can NEVER take more than 100mA from the 
		stabilization-section of the circuit  - the zener diode.
 The transistor has a gain of about 100 and theoretically we can take 100 
		times 100mA (=10Amp) but the power supply will not deliver this high 
		current so with a current up to 1, 2 or 3 amps, the output voltage will 
		be fully stable.  (The bridge and transistor are 3 amp 
		devices.)
 
	
		  The final circuit using a zener and transistor to
 provide a stable 
		output voltage, with the hum removed.
 
 
  
	
		
		AMPLIFIERAnother useless circuit 
	
		from 
	
		Professor Mohankumar.
 
	
		 
	
		The circuit has no supply rail. 
 
	
		 
	
		The diode does nothing and been removed. The supply rail has been added. 
		The circuit is absolutely USELESS.
 The only time when the circuit acts as an amplifier is when the input 
		voltage is between 8.2v and 8.4v.
 At all other times the amplifier is turned OFF or fully saturated.
 Where can you get a signal containing audio information between 8.2v and 
		8.4v ???
 Another untried, untested, useless circuit from an Indian "Professor."
 
 
  
 
	
		
		IR DETECTORAnother useless circuit 
	
		from 
	
		Professor Mohankumar.
 
	
		 
	
		 
	
		Look at the block diagram. When the output transistor is OFF, pin 3 is HIGH and the BC557 
		transistor is not turned on.  The LED does not illuminate.
 When the output transistor is ON, the voltage on pin 3 is about 0.3v and 
		the base of the BC557 transistor will be 0.3v above the 0v rail.
 The emitter of the BC557 will be 1v above the 0v rail and the collector 
		will be 0.8v above the 0v rail.
 The LED will not be turned on.
 The LED will NEVER be turned ON  !!!
 Another untried, untested, useless circuit from
	
		Professor Mohankumar.
 Where does he get this rubbish from????
 
	
		 
		 
	
		
		PHONE CHARGERAnother useless circuit 
	
		from 
	
		Professor Mohankumar.
 
	
		 
	
		I don't know what this circuit is supposed to do but it will not work.
		The output of the circuit is 3.8v as 0.7v is lost across the 
		base-emitter junction of the transistor.
 A mobile phone needs 5v because it has a protection circuit and also a 
		current limiting (called the charging circuit) between the input and the 
		battery.
 The battery is 3.6v and if the input voltage is 3.8v, NO CHARGING WILL 
		OCCUR.
 This circuit simply WILL NOT WORK.
 
 
  
	
		
		CRO PROBLEM 
	
		A reader is testing a power supply with a dual-trace CRO and placing the 
		probes as shown: 
	
		 
	
		When the power supply is turned ON, one of the diodes is damaged. 
 
	
		  
	
		 
	
		The earth lead on the probe for Channel 1 is connected to the earth lead 
		on Channel 2 and the purple line on the diagram above shows this. 
	
		 
	
		The diagram above shows the "short circuit" on the power supply due to 
		the two probes. 
	
		  
	
		The diagram above shows the "short circuit" puts a singe diode across 
		the incoming 12v AC and the diode presents a "short circuit" 
		when the voltage is emerging in one direction and will be 
		damaged. When the voltage is emerging in the other direction, the diode 
		is reverse-biased and nothing happens, but when the voltage reverses 
		again, a very heavy current flows.    
	
		This is just one of the dangers of connecting two probes to a 
		circuit. 
In the circuit above, the voltage emerging from the transformer is 
		classified as "above earth" (this can also mean "below earth") and means 
		the voltage is not an "EARTH POINT."
 The other point is not strictly an EARTH POINT but we have made it an 
		earth point by connecting the earth probe.
 In all circuits and PC boards that have an "earth plane" or "ground 
		plane," this trace or track or plane is not necessarily "earth" as it 
		may have no connection to the earth pipe of your house via any wiring.
 But as soon as you connect the earth probe of a test probe to the track, 
		it becomes EARTH via the CRO.
 This is now your reference point for all other voltages.
 This is very important to remember when you have hum problems with an 
		amplifier, especially when you are designing an amplifier and connecting 
		it to a power supply.
 
	
		 
		 
	
		
		COUNTERHere is a counter circuit with a number of mistakes.
 
	
		 
	
		If the 100k pot is turned fully clockwise, the pot and the transistor 
		will blow up. The circuit has no debounce and the count may increment by an unknown 
		number if the LDR receives varying light intensity.
 The display will dim on the figure 8 due to the 100R in the "common" 
		line. As more segments are lit up, the voltage across the 100R increases 
		and each segment will pass less current.
 
  
	
		
		TRANSISTOR TESTERHere is another INDIAN website for beginners. It is filled 
		with mistakes:
 http://www.circuitsgallery.com/2013/12/transistor-tester-circuit.html
 
	
		Look at this PNP circuit: 
	
		 
	
		The transistor is connected AROUND THE WRONG WAY !!!!
 
  
	
		
		HOME ALARM Here is another circuit from the INDIAN website:
 
	
		 
	
		The circuit contains a fundamental mistake. The transistor effectively reduces 150k  by a factor of 100 or 200 
		as this is the gain of the transistor.
 The 150k becomes 1k5 or 750 ohms in series with the 6v buzzer.
 This means the circuit will pass between 4mA and 8mA.
 The buzzer will not be very loud.
 
	
		 
		 
	
		OVER VOLTAGE CUT-OUT Here is another circuit from the same INDIAN website:
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		The 6v2 zener is not needed. Here's why:The circuit is detecting the voltage on the power rail and when it rises 
		too much, Q1 is turned ON and Q2, Q3 are turned OFF.
 The rise in voltage on the power rail is passed to the base of the first 
		transistor via a voltage divider made up of R1 and R2 and through a 6v2 
		zener.
 The pick-off voltage from the 10k will be about mid-rail voltage and 
		this means for every 2mV rise in the supply voltage, the pick-off 
		voltage will rise 1mV.
 The voltage drop across the zener is not fixed. When the current is very 
		small the voltage across the zener is less than 6v2 but it an unknown 
		value and it will rise slightly as the current increases.
 This means it will take a few mV rise on the power rail for each mV 
		increase on the base.
 If we remove the zener, the pick-off voltage will be about 0.7v and this 
		means it will take about 20mV rise on the supply rail for each mV rise 
		on the base.
 However the circuit does not need to detect very small rises and it will 
		be quite acceptable without the 6v2 zener.
 It's only when you need a very close detection of the rise on the power 
		rail that the zener has an advantage.
 I have mentioned a lot of "ratios" (detection voltage compared to rail 
		voltage rise) and you need to understand how and why this information is 
		important. Email Colin Mitchell 
		and I will write an article on it.
 BC187 is a PNP transistor !!
 Always use BC547 for a standard NPN transistor as this indicates the 
		cheapest, lowest-voltage, lowest-current transistor can be used.
 If you want a higher current, specify BC338. This makes the circuit easy 
		to interpret.
 The 1N4007 diode is not needed as the output transistor turns ON and OFF 
		so slowly that the relay does not produce any back EMF.
 These are points that show the author of the circuit does not know much 
		about electronics.
 
 
  
	
		HIGH WATER AND LOW WATER 
		ALARM   Here is another circuit from the same INDIAN website. The 
		alarm sounds if the water is low or overflowing.
 
	
		 
	
		The circuit can be simplified and the OR 
		gate can be removed.There are lots of ways of including an OR gate without using a digital 
		gate. You can use transistors, diodes or resistors.
 The following circuit uses resistors so the output transistor can be 
		driven from two different transistors:
 
	
		 
	
		The 
		skill in designing a circuit is to make it as simple as possible, and 
		work out if each component is needed. You don't "add an OR 
		gate" just because the circuit needs a gate. See if you can design 
		around the need for a gate and try diodes or resistors to provide the OR 
		function.  
 
	
		 
		 
	
		BATTERY CHARGER   Here is another circuit from the same INDIAN website.
 
	
		 
	
		Another, untried, untested faulty design. The main component of this auto battery charger 
		circuit is a 555 timer which compares the voltage in the battery. It 
		turns ON the charger if the battery voltage is below the variable preset 
		voltage (12 volt chosen here) and turns OFF the charger if the voltage 
		reaches 13.8 volt. The battery charging voltage of the charger can be 
		varied by adjusting the variable resistor.
 
 
 Pin 5 and 6 are effectively at 
		the same potential via components inside the 555 if nothing is connected 
		to pin 5.
 Let's state this a little more accurately.
 Pin 5 is at 66% of rail voltage via three 5k resistors inside the chip. 
		If pin 6 rises slightly above this voltage by a few millivolts, the chip 
		effectively "turns OFF."  Output pin 3 goes LOW.
 Pin 6 can be designed to detect any voltage by "injecting" a particular 
		voltage into pin 5.
 The circuit show a 5v1 zener on pin 5, but if this zener is 13v (plus an 
		ordinary diode of 0.7v) the detection voltage for pin 6 can be set at 
		13.7v.
 The 10k pot on pin 6 can then be adjusted to 12v for the lower value to 
		turn the 555 ON.
 
 The maximum voltage from the bridge will be about 20v.
 The battery voltage will be about 13v.   The difference is 7v. 
		As soon as 1.4amps flows through the 10R / 10R the voltage drop will be 
		7v and it is pointless having a 5 amp transformer and bridge.
 This is another circuit that has never been tested.
 
 Hashem Pakdel  
		hashempakdel@gmail.com  pointed out the fact that the maximum 
		voltage for the 555 is about 16v to 18v.  It will 
		BLOW UP in 
		this circuit      
		DO NOT TRY THIS CIRCUIT.
 
	
		 
	
		ooooo00000ooooo 
	
		Here is another battery charger circuit that 
		has never been tested. The 100R feeding the battery will only allow about 50mA of 
		charge-current. At 50mA, the voltage across the 100R will be 5v and Q1 
		will already be fully turned ON to reduce the current, so in effect the 
		charge currentt will be less than 50mA !!!!
 The 11v zener activates Q1 at about 13.5v and at 50mA the battery only 
		has to rise to 8.5v and the charging current drops below 50mA.
 
	
		 
 
	
		470u in the power supply is going to produce 
		5v ripple. This means the charger is going to provide pulses to the 
		battery, but that is not a problem. Replace the 100R with 2R2 or 3R3 and the circuit will charge the 
		battery.
 
 
  
	
		EMERGENCY LAMP   Here is a circuit from an INDIAN website.
 
	
		 
	
		There are so many mistakes with this circuit that it will not work AT 
		ALL. The two lamps are 2.5v torch globes and each will take about 100mA to 
		250mA.
 The current through the 33R will be 2.5/33 = 75mA MAX.
 The circuit is half-wave so the average current will be 75/2 = 38mA (or 
		something near this value as the 470u stores some energy that will 
		increase the average value).
 The transistor is turned ON all the time and the globes will take 
		between 200mA and 500mA.
 The charging current is 38mA so you can work out how long the 2Ahr 
		battery will last.
 The test switch just turns OFF the lamps !!!
 D2 is not needed as the battery will not discharge via the secondary 
		winding when the power fail due to the presence of D1.
 Why is D1 a 400v diode and D2 a 50v diode ??
 2SB242 is a GERMANIUM PNP transistor.  Where are you going to get 
		this transistor ??????
 
 
 I don't know what the author is trying to do but it is obvious the 
		circuit has never been built or tested.
 The circuit was taken from Alok Kumar website:
		
		https://plus.google.com/+alokkumar-NSIT/posts
 
	
		 
	
		POWER SUPPLY  
		 Here is another circuit from Alok Kumar.
 
	
		 
	
		The 225 capacitor will deliver 150mA and the 100R's 
		will dissipate 0.15 x 0.15 x 100 = 2.25 watts. The 1watt resistors will BURN OUT !!!!
 The output will deliver 5v1 and maintain this voltage as long as the 
		current is less than 140mA.
 The 1,000u is in the wrong place to have the best effect. It should 
		be after the second 100R, across the 5v1.
 The 100R and zener create a REGULATED 5v1 POWER SUPPLY capable of 
		delivering up to 140mA and the voltage will be very smooth with the 
		1000u across the zener.
 The 1,000u WILL have an effect before the 100R, but its effect will be 100 times 
		greater when it is placed across the zener.
 
  
	
		
		
		LED STROBE LIGHTHere's a circuit 
	
		from 
	
		Professor Mohankumar. He does not know how to produce a simple AND Gate:
 
	
		 
	
		 
	
		The second circuit shows how to produce a simple AND Gate with a 
		resistor and diode. The transistor only conducts when BOTH lines are 
		HIGH. It uses only half the components and saves a transistor. 
 
	
		 
		 
	
		BATTERY CHARGER Here is another circuit from Alok Kumar.
 
	
		 
	
		Here is his article.  Can you see his mistake?
 Components Required:
 1. One rectifier diode IN5402, or IN5408.
 2. One incandescent bulb, having nearly exact voltage rating as the 
		battery but current rating of the bulb should be 1/10 of the value of 
		battery AH (AmpereHour).
 3 One transformer having double the voltage rating of the battery. For 
		12 v battery we need 24v Ac transformer, and current rating of 1/10 of 
		the AH of the battery. For 7AmpHr battery we need 7/10 = 0.7A or 700mA 
		current from transformer.
 
 When we switch on the power, the diode from the transformer will produce 
		half wave 24vdc at output.
 The incandescent bulb after the diode acts as a "voltage shocker" or a 
		peak voltage remover. The bulb absorbs the peak voltages and provides an 
		output voltage to the battery.
 
 His BIG mistake is FASTEST BATTERY CHARGER CIRCUIT.
 He has used a very small transformer and is using half-wave. It will 
		take at least 14 hours to charge a battery. In 10 minutes the battery 
		will receive very little charge.
 The output of the transformer will be over 24 + 12 = 36v and the current 
		delivered to the battery will be fairly high. But this is for each half 
		cycle so the average will be about 700mA. It depends on how the globe 
		reacts to the voltage and current flowing in the circuit.
 
	
		 
		 
	
		
		
		CAR ADAPTERAnother circuit 
	
		from 
	
		Professor Mohankumar:
 
	
		 
	
		The circuit does work if you change a few values.But the main point of this discussion is to ask: "What is purpose of 
		each component?"
 A car battery is very stable as far as ripple is concerned and the 470u 
		will have no effect on filtering any ripple that does enter the project.
 Secondly, the Darlington transistor will have an enormous effect on 
		filtering any ripple and will reduce ripple by a factor of more than 
		1,000.
 But the biggest mistake is the 4v7 zener.
 The output from the Darlington transistor will be 4.7v -0.7v - 0.7v = 
		3.3v
 This will be further reduce by the last diode to 2.6v   !!!!
 What is the purpose of D1  ???
 D1 is a 1 amp diode but the fuse is 4 amp.   The diode will 
		burn out first  !!
 The 470R and zener produce a regulated supply with up to 17mA of current 
		flowing through the zener.
 Suppose we allow up to 10mA into the base of the transistor and the 
		Darlington has a gain of 1,000, this represents up to 10 amps output.
 This means the 1000u electrolytic is not needed.
 The 4v7 zener can be 400mW and 470R can be 250mW.
 The 0.1 on the output is not needed as the transistor does not 
		"self-oscillate" like many regulators.
 Thus you can see, nearly every component is incorrectly labeled on the 
		diagram.
 It shows how little the Professor knows about electronics.
 
  
	
		BATTERY CHARGER  Another circuit 
	
		from 
	
		Professor Mohankumar:
 
	
		 
	
		The biggest HIDDEN danger with this type of circuit is this:YOU CANNOT USE AN ORDINARY TRANSFORMER TO CHARGE A BATTERY.
 The transformer has to specially made and labelled battery charging 
		transformer.
 
 The reason is very technical. It boils down to the fact that the output 
		voltage has to be EXACT for the current you will be delivering to the 
		battery.
 I am not going into the technical details but the winding has to be 
		accurate to HALF A TURN !!!!
 If an ammeter is included in the circuit, you need to add half-a-turn 
		!!!
 A 14v transformer actually produces 14v AC and when this is rectified, 
		the voltage is 14 x1.4 = 19.6v.
 About 1v is lost across the top diode and 18.6v is too high for a 12v 
		car battery.
 We do not know anything about the quality of the transformer and if it 
		delivers more than 3 amp when the battery is fully charged, you will 
		have to turn the charger off.
 If it delivers more than 3 amp during the charging process, the 
		transformer may burn out.
 There is no current-limiting resistor and that's why the circuit must be 
		used with caution.
 The 470u has no purpose as most battery chargers use the pulsating DC to 
		remove the sulphate deposits.
 Sulphate deposits are high resistance and the peak voltage can sometimes 
		penetrate them and remove them or convert them.
 
  
	
		THE ZENER DIODE 
	
		
		   Do NOT use  "+"and 
		"-"  
		to identify a zener.      ONLY use the letter 
		"k"
 
	
		
		 
	
		Do not label a zener diode with "+"and 
		"-"   
		because it is very confusing and totally inaccurate and incorrect.  Only use the 
		letter "k" for cathode. I know some readers think that one end is more positive than the other 
		when the diode is placed in a rectifying situation, but that reasoning 
		certainly does not apply in this circuit.
 As you can see in the circuit above, the zener does not see "+" 
		on the lower lead, so  "+"and 
		"-"  
		is not helpful - it is just CONFUSING !!!!!!!
 
 
  
	
		98MHz OSCILLATOR This discussion has been taken from an electronics forum 
		where a student has asked for component values for the following 98MHz 
		FM oscillator.
 
	
		 
	
		My first comment was this:You really need a cap across the coil to make a reliable osc.
 
 The answer I got from a technician was:
 The effective capacitor across the coil is the one from collector to 
		emitter.
 
 And another answer:
 Of course, there is a cap in parallel to the inductor.
 As a consequence, we have a tuned circuit, which determines the 
		oscillator frequency.
 
	
		And a third reply:The two capacitors are across the inductor with the battery in 
		series.
 
 I made some comments about turning the transistor ON and OFF and get 
		this reply:
 I think, it is not appropriate for this circuit to think in "ON" and 
		"OFF" terms. The circuit produces a sinusoidal output!
 
 Then we have another comment:
 The tuned circuit will have a Q value of maybe 100, in other words, the 
		circulating current will be much higher than the input current, this 
		will be built up over several cycles.
 
	
		Let's look at these comments and see how incorrect they are.
 Firstly we need to look at the circuit and see if it oscillates.
 
	
		  
	
		The circuit above oscillates. It has a coil and capacitor connected in 
		parallel to make a circuit called a TUNED CIRCUIT. This type of circuit produces a sinewave when connected to a power 
		supply and then instantly removed.
 It does not need any other components and it does not need a transistor 
		to produce this effect.
 So, what do all the surrounding components do?
 They connect the TUNED CIRCUIT to the supply and quickly remove it.
 It must be quickly removed, otherwise the voltage produced by the TANK 
		CIRCUIT will be reduced. In other words the surrounding circuitry will 
		put a load on the TANK CIRCUIT.
 That means the transistor must be turned on and then turned OFF very 
		quickly.
 This clears up the faulty thinking of one the replies above.
 Now we come to the amplitude of the waveform produced by the TANK 
		CIRCUIT.
 We are going to remove all the surrounding components and talk about the 
		TANK CIRCUIT.
 For a correctly designed tank circuit, the energy stored in the coil is 
		equal to the energy stored in the capacitor.
 This is necessary because the TANK CIRCUIT produces a waveform 
		consisting of half a cycle that is below the power rail and half a cycle 
		that is higher than the power rail.
 For both these half-cycles to be identical, the component values must 
		match.
 The full amplitude (called the peak-to-peak value) will be the addition 
		of these two values.
 Q-values have nothing to do with current.  They are a 
		voltage-determined value.
 You can now see the first circuit does not have a capacitor across the 
		coil and even though some of the cycle may be produced by the 
		surrounding components, the equal parts of the waveform cannot be 
		produced.
 We have not described how the TANK CIRCUIT produces a waveform above AND 
		below the power rail.
 The easiest way is to remove all the surrounding components and tap the 
		TANK CIRCUIT across the battery.
 This will put energy into the uncharged capacitor and it will be charged 
		to 3v. During this time the voltage will appear across the coil and it 
		will produce a small amount of flux that will oppose the voltage and 
		thus very little current will flow into the coil.
 We are delivering energy to the circuit for a very short period of time 
		and this is too short for the coil.
 Now the supply is removed and the energy from the capacitor is slowly 
		fed to the coil and it produces magnetic flux. The coil does not accept 
		energy any faster than a certain rate because the "applied voltage" - 
		the voltage on the capacitor, produces magnetic flux called EXPANDING 
		FLUX and this cuts the turns of the coil to produce a voltage in the 
		opposite direction to OPPOSE the incoming voltage and that's why the 
		capacitor discharges slowly.
 So far we are producing the lower part of the waveform because the 
		bottom plate of the capacitor is at 0v and the capacitor is gradually 
		discharging.
 The capacitor continues to deliver current until a point is reached 
		where the coil is producing a "back voltage" equal to the capacitor and 
		suddenly the capacitor cannot deliver any current.
 The magnetic flux in the air surrounding the coil cannot be maintained 
		and it collapses. This produces a voltage in the turns of the coil that 
		is in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION.
 We not have a situation where the voltage produced by the coil is 
		OPPOSITE to the previous voltage and as the magnetic flux collapses it 
		delivers a voltage to charge the capacitor in the opposite direction.
 Since the two components are equally matched in "energy storage" 
		capability, the capacitor is charged to a voltage EQUAL to the original 
		voltage (but in the opposite direction).
 Now you can see how the waveform rises to the voltage of the supply rail 
		when the capacitor has no charge and then rises ABOVE rail voltage as 
		the capacitor charges in the opposite direction.
 This exchange could continue FOREVER but there are some losses with the 
		magnetic flux and each cycle becomes smaller and smaller.
 If we have a transistor that delivers a small amount of energy at 
		exactly the right time during each cycle, the full waveform will be 
		maintained. That is what the transistor and surrounding components do.
 For a 3v supply, the peak-to-peak value of the waveform will be 6v.
 The "Q" of the circuit is 2.  Not 100.
 
 
  
 BACK LIGHT CONTROLLER
 Here's another design from: T.K. HAREENDRAN
 
	
		 
	
		T.K. HAREENDRAN keeps emailing me about the mistakes on these 
		pages and hates to be criticised. He claims to be a Professional Circuit Designer and "knows what he is 
		doing."
 Here is a sample of his circuitry from Electronics For You 
		December 2015.
 Look at the 22R resistors.
 If you refer to
		30 LED 
		Projects you will see an article on the importance of providing HEAD 
		ROOM for any string of LEDs.
 Head Room is the voltage dropped (lost) in the current-limiting resistor 
		so that it "matches" the voltage across the LEDs and the supply voltage 
		to allow LEDs with slightly different characteristics to be used.
 Every LED creates a voltage across its leads when it is illuminated. 
		This can be as low as 1.7v or as high as 3.6v, depending on the colour. 
		This is called  CHARACTERISTIC VOLTAGE and varies very little if 
		the LED is small, medium or large. But it can change by as much as 0.4v 
		for white or blue LEDs.
 But when you are connecting any number of LEDs to ANY supply, you need 
		to know the exact voltage that will appear across the LED when it is 
		illuminated.
 This is easy to do. Just add a 100R or 470R and  connect to 6v to 
		12v measure the voltage across the LED.
 In a batch of LEDs, the voltage will vary from 3.4v to 3.6v and if 3 
		LEDs are connected in series, this will make a difference of up to 0.6v 
		for 3 LEDs.
 The voltage for 3 LEDs can be from 10.2v to 10.8v.
 If we have 3 x 3.4v on a 12vsupply, the voltage across the 22R will be 
		1.8v and the current will be 80mA.
 But if the voltage of the LEDs is 3 x 3.6v, the current will be 55mA.
 The author says the circuit can work with 3.4V/80mA, 10mm white LEDs or 
		with 8mm blue LEDs.
 The data sheet states the 10mm white LEDs can be 3v to 3.4v.  If 3 
		x 3v LEDs are used, the current through the 22R will be (12 - 9 = 3v) 
		3/22 = 136mA.
 You can see the current will vary from 55mA to 136mA, depending on the 
		characteristic voltage of the LED and unless you test each LED very 
		accurately before using the circuit, they will be DAMAGED.
 On top of this, the 12v must be an accurate 12v supply as an increase of 
		1v will will also damage the LEDs.
 The idea of the CURRENT LIMIT resistor is to provide safety (prevent 
		over-current) for the complete range of possibilities that may occur - 
		including voltage rise.
 22R only allows a range of 1.8v and this can be swamped by the supply 
		increasing by 1v and selecting a set of low CHARACTERISTIC VOLTAGE LEDs.
 Using 3 LEDs does not allow very much HEAD ROOM and only 2 LEDs should 
		be used, unless you have accurately measured the voltages, and the 
		supply does not rise.
 You can also get 10mm white LEDs that require 25mA max for 20,000mcd, 
		(10 cents each on eBay) so some LEDs are much more efficient than others 
		and much cheaper.
 The other bad feature of the circuit is the rectangle for the LM358. 
		It should be drawn as an op-amp (a triangle) so you can instantly see 
		what is happening in the circuit.
 
  
	
		
	
		DOOR ALARM Here is another junk circuit from Electronics For You 
		magazine August 2015.
 It is a Door Alarm using a HALL EFFECT device.
 
	
		 
 
	
		The circuit DOES NOT WORK. If the output of IC1 goes to 0v, the emitter of T1 will be 0.6v due to 
		the base-emitter voltage of the BC557 transistor. The output transistor 
		will be turned ON all the time.
 I can see this fault instantly. No-one in the technical department of 
		EFY picked up the mistake and published it to their 40,000 readers. 
		Every issue of the magazine has mistakes like this.
 And they told me I could not "spot a mistake" in their magazine !!!
 You don't need a complex circuit like this. Just a reed switch and a 
		magnet !!!
 
	
		 
		 
	
		BATTERY CHARGER Here is another junk circuit from 
		Electronics For You 
		magazine August 2015.
 It is a BATTERY CHARGER.
 
	
		
		 
	
		Why include a 7805 regulator when the 51R resistor will limit the 
		current to (30v - 14v = 16v) 16/51= 300mA or 30mA with the 510R resistor 
		(with the 7805 removed).WHO CARES  ?????The 7805 simply maintains the current at 300mA.
 The 2,200u is not needed and the 7805 is not needed.   
		Another over-designed circuit from 
		Electronics For You, making them look 
		stupid.
 
	
		
		 
	
		FUSIBLE RESISTOR A resistor can be used as a FUSE, but it has one big problem. It creates 
		a voltage-drop across it and this means the supply rail needs extra 
		electrolytics to provide "stability."
 One reader wants to replace an 82 ohm 0.5watt FUSIBLE RESISTOR.
 An 82 ohm resistor will pass a current of 80mA and produce a voltage drop 
		of about 6v6 and stay warm for years, dissipating 0.5 watts of heat.
 The current needs to rise by at least 50% for the resistor to start to 
		fail and in most cases it will fall off the board before it changes 
		resistance or the leads will create a dry joint.
 When the current increases by 50% (120mA) the wattage (heat) generated 
		will be over 1 watt and the resistor will fail.
 However it will go up in smoke if a short-circuit occurs and then you 
		will have to find the shorted component.
 If the resistor is replaced by 82R  0.75watt, it will take about 
		1.5watt to burn out and this will be about 140mA and the voltage across 
		it will be about 10v to 12v.
 A 0.75 watt can create a lot of heat and fire if burning out slowly, so 
		it must be covered with fibre-glass tubing and kept away from the PC 
		board and all other components.
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		MOTOR CONTROLHere is a circuit that can be simplified:
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		  
	
		
		The motor continues to operate about 2 seconds after the switch is 
		opened, until the 10u drops below 33% of rail voltage, as is discharged 
		via the 100k. 
I have mentioned it before. When designing a circuit, see if the design 
		can be simplified, as someone will always come up with a simpler design. 
		That's the skill in designing a circuit. And that's the skill we are 
		showing you in these articles.
 We are beyond any text book or university course. We show you more than 
		just being able to design a circuit. We show you how to simply it and 
		improve it.
 There are lots of businesses that have gone broke when a competitor has 
		brought out a cheaper and simpler design. The Garrard turntable, tape 
		recorder, video recorder, transistor radio, TV and lots of mechanical 
		devices.
 It takes a very clever person to see a device and say: "I can simplify 
		this!"
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		Here's some mistakes from Electronics For You Magazine January 
		2016: 
	
		
		 
	
		
		The FET is in FOLLOWER MODE and this means the Source rises as the FET 
		turns ON.SOLAR LIGHTBut the Gate must be about 2v to 4v HIGHER than the Source for the FET 
		to be fully turned ON.
 This means the Source can only rise to 8v to 10v.
 The reason for using a FET is the very small voltage dropped across the 
		Drain-Source terminals when it is fully turned ON and that's why it is 
		able to pass a high current.
 This is another useless circuit by Bikash Rai that has not been checked 
		or tested by the non-existent technical staff at Electronics For You.
 
 
  
 
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		Why use a 450mA solar panel and then limit the charging to 180mA?Buy a 200mA panel and remove the LM317.
 
 
  
	
		
		RGB Generator 
	
		
		 
	
		
		The problem is the 100R on the tri-coloured LED. When the red LED is turned ON, pin 2 will be HIGH and the voltage across 
		the LED will be 1.7v.
 When the green LED turns ON, it needs 2.1v and only 1.7v is available, 
		so I don't know what will happen.
 And when the blue LED turns on too, it requires 2.3v and I have no idea 
		what will happen.
 The common cathode of the tri-LED should be connected to 0v and 100R's connected 
		between each 
		of the anodes and the outputs of the chip.
 This will allow each colour to be driven correctly.
 In other words, the tri-coloured LEDs are around the wrong way !!!
 
 Here is a comment from Andrew:
 Have a look at the switches and resistors (R4-R7) on Port 1 pins. Since 
		the AT89c2051 has (approx) 50kohm internal pull-ups on Ports 1 and 3, 
		the Indian 'designer' didn't actually need to add these extra four 1k 
		resistors. However, having done so, he tied them all to ground! If they 
		had been connected to Vcc, the switches could have been read. The way 
		the circuit shows, the resistors are not effective. The port pins are 
		tied to ground via the 1k resistors and the switches connect to ground 
		when pressed. What a mess !!!
 
 
  
	
		
		PIR MOTION SENSOR 
	
		
		  
	
		
		Here is another project from T.K. HAREENDRAN.Here are 4 points to improve this circuit:
 1. The PIR module works on 5v to 20v. A separate 5v supply is not needed. 
		The PIR can be connected to the 12v rail.
 2. A 1N4007 diode is not needed as the module only consumes 3mA !! Use a 
		signal diode 1N4148.
 3. BS 170 costs 70 cents.  A BC547 transistor can be used (cost: 10 
		cents)
 4. R1 is not needed.
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		FIRE SENSOR 
	
		
		 
	
		
		Here's another poor design from D. MOHAN KUMAR.  All his 
		circuits are filled with mistakes. He has no idea how to design a 
		circuit. The CD 4060 IC can deliver about 10mA from each of the outputs.  If 
		you try to take more than 10mA, the output does not go fully HIGH but 
		drops to an unknown value while delivering about 10mA (or slightly 
		more).
 This puts added strain on the output and shows the author of the circuit 
		is not a good engineer.
 In the circuit above, the 100R resistors on the output will try to take 
		80mA, and this shows the incompetency of the person designing the 
		circuit. A LED only needs 10mA and a transistor only needs a few 
		milliamp.
 The output will only deliver about 10mA, but the output voltage will 
		only be a few volts due to the low value of the load resistor.
 If this circuit was presented in any magazine, other than one from 
		India, the author would never be allowed to supply another project.
 It is obvious Electronics For You  has no-one to test or check any 
		of the projects and that's why the magazine is filled with RUBBISH like 
		this.
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		+5v  -5v SUPPLY 
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		Here is a project to produce 5v and -5v from a 9v battery for an op-amp, 
		or any circuit that needs a split supply. The simplest way to do this is to use two 9v batteries (or AA cells to 
		produce 6v).  The circuit below does not need a switch and is not 
		limited to 50mA per output. It is also much cheaper.  This is the art of 
		thinking OUTSIDE THE SQUARE.
 It is easy to produce something
		extravagant and expensive, the skill is to produce something simple and 
		cheap.
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		 
	
		
		3v3 ZENER 
	
		
		 
	
		
		Let's look at the zener diodes and the current they can supply. What happens is this.
 The zener diode passes (loses - wastes) a certain amount of current via 
		the load resistor and when you draw current from a ZENER REGULATOR 
		CIRCUIT you actually take (rob) the current from the zener.
 The first zener regulator circuit consists of a 5v zener and 330R. The 
		voltage across the 330R will be 4v and the current through the resistor 
		will be 12mA.
 You can only take up to 12mA. If you try to take more than 12mA, the 
		"stable" 5v drops to a lower value.
 In other words, the circuit DROPS OUT OF REGULATION.
 The second ZENER REGULATOR CIRCUIT is the 3v3 zener and 100R. The 
		voltage across the 100R will be
 5v - 3v3 = 1.7v.   The current through the 100R will be 17mA.
 But we only have 12mA available !!!!
 This means the 5v zener regulator circuit will DROP OUT OF REGULATION 
		and the 5v will drop below 5v BEFORE the project is connected to the 
		supply !!!!! The voltage will drop EVEN FURTHER when the circuit is 
		added (connected).
 This circuit has obviously NEVER been tested and SOMNATH BERA has 
		no idea how to design a circuit.
 Just another untried, untested circuit from Electronics For You.
 This problem can be detected very quickly by simply looking at the 
		component values. It does not need a University professor to sit down 
		for 30 minutes and work out the values. You can do the calculations "in 
		your head" in 30 seconds and that's what I am getting across in these 
		pages.
 You have to carry out quick calculations for everything you do, so you 
		don't make a fool of yourself.
 Every project in Electronics For You has mistakes.  I have 
		notified "Chopra" for the past 2 years and he has done nothing to 
		correct the situation.
 In fact he has omitted all my corrections in subsequent issues. He only 
		talks about "R1" should be "R2"  and other similar nonsense.
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		CONTROLLER  
	
		
		Here's another mistake from Electronics For You Magazine January 
		2016: 
	
		
		 
	
		
		The load should be in the DRAIN. When the GATE is 4v to 10v higher than 
		the SOURCE, the FET turns ON and is finally FULLY TURNED ON.But since the FET is in FOLLOWER mode, the source rises if the FET turns 
		ON and the voltage on the gate never rises above the voltage on the 
		source.
 The following two diagrams show how the FET should be connected in a 
		circuit:
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		 
	
		
		 
	
		
		METAL DETECTOR  Here is the front end of a metal detector.  The search coil 
		consists of  a loop of 1 turn and is fed into a transformer 
		consisting of 1 turn. The other winding is 75 turns.
 The circuit was designed by non-electronics personnel and we will 
		explain the problem:
 
	
		
		  
	
		
		The search coil consists of one turn and when you are picking up very 
		small magnetic fields, the voltage and current produced in the single 
		turn will be very small.The transformer connected to the loop consists of 1 turn and 75 turns 
		and theoretically the output voltage will be 75 times higher than the 
		voltage generated by the loop.
 But the current will be reduced enormously and we all know a transistor 
		is a current-controlled device, and a considerable current is needed to 
		get it to work, especially when 10k is connected to the base.
 The circuit will be much more sensitive if more turns are added to the 
		"loop" and the output is connected directly to the transistor.
 
 
  
	
		
		VU METER 
	
		
		 
	
		
		Here is another project from Velleman. 
 The supply is 3v and the final LED has a voltage drop of 1.7v across it 
		when illuminated. The drop across each diode is 250mV = 1v and the 
		collector-emitter voltage of the final transistor (T7) is 200mV.
 This makes a total of 2.9v.
 Here is a graph of the voltage when 23mA is flowing:
 
	
		
		 
 
	
		
		The supply is 3v You can see the voltage falls below 3v after a short time and it will be 
		very difficult to illuminate the top 3 LEDs.
 The circuit is a very bad design as no allowance has been made for the 
		battery voltage to fall (as the battery get older).
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		LED TORCH 
	
		
		 
	
		
		 
	
		
		This is one of the worst kits I have seen from Velleman.It is a LED torch using a 12v lighter battery.  This battery has 8 
		very small cells with a capacity of 55mAHr.
 The blurb claims the battery will last 10 hours but LED1 will take 38mA 
		when the battery is fresh.  Firstly, this is too much for a LED and 
		the battery will last less than 1 hour.
 When the battery voltage drops below 8.5v, the two white LEDs and red 
		indictor LED are illuminated. I don't know why this has been done but it 
		makes the LEDs illuminate very dull when the battery is low.
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		MOSQUITO REPELLER 
	
		
		 
	
		
		This is a timing circuit from Mohan Kumar.   None of his 
		circuit are designed correctly and this circuit has a BIG MISTAKE. The 474 capacitor on the input will deliver 30mA and the main load in 
		the circuit is the 1k and green LED. This means the supply voltage will 
		be about 30v.  This voltage is too high for the chip and it will be 
		damaged.
 In actual fact we don't know what the supply voltage will be as the chip 
		will start to draw current and the supply will drop but we don't know 
		the final voltage.
 A 6v 100R relay draws 60mA at 6v, but we only have 30mA available, so we 
		don't know what will happen when the transistor turns ON.
 It's just a stupid circuit with no known operation conditions.
 You cannot drive this type of circuit from a capacitor-fed power supply.
 
  
	
		
		30 AMP POWER SUPPLY 
	
		
		 
	
		
		If you want a 12v power supply at high current, the cheapest way is to use 
		a 12v rechargeable battery with a trickle-charge resistor.  If you want high current for a long period of time, use a larger battery 
		(car battery).
 High current power supplies have enormous problems, mainly due to the heat they 
		generate (waste) and the danger of one transistor short-circuiting and 
		delivering 30v to the equipment you are powering.
 In the circuit above, more than 500 watts will be wasted as heat when 30 
		amps flows and this will be like a small radiator bar.
 You only build a circuit (make a project) when it is economic and 
		reasonable.  If there is a cheaper alternative (such as a ready-made 
		power supply), it is better to get the guaranteed performer.
 Electronic construction only came about 80 years ago, because products (such as radios, CB radios and amateur radios were not available, or were very 
		expensive).
 It's wonderful to learn about electronics, but if the cost of building 
		it yourself is 3 times the cost of a ready-built item, you have to weigh 
		up the economics.
 The output voltage of the 24v transformer is too high as it will deliver 
		30 volts after the bridge and the circuit only needs 18v for it to 
		operate fully. It needs a 16v transformer and these are not readily 
		available.
 That's why a project like this requires a lot of decisions before you 
		commence construction. It also needs an enormous amount of heatsinking, 
		and this is expensive.
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		But here is a question posted by a forum member. He wanted to replace the TIP2955 transistors with MJ11015 Darlington 
		transistors.
 He asked if the 200 watt dissipation  MJ11015 transistors would 
		work better than the 90 watt dissipation TIP2955 transistors.
 There are a couple of points to note, before giving an answer.
 The voltage on the output of the bridge is 30v and the output voltage is 
		12v.  The difference is 18v and the current is 30 amps. This 
		produces 18 x 30 = 540 watts of wasted energy.
 It does not matter if the wastage is though resistors or any type of 
		transistor. The heat being lost is 540 watts.
 Each transistor will dissipate 90 watts and this is the maximum for a 
		TIP2955 transistor.
 But don't forget the MJ11015 transistor is almost identical and to think 
		it will dissipate 200 watts is stretching reality.
 Both transistors will get extremely hot and you will need a heatsink 
		300mm x 300mm to keep them cool.
 Just because the MJ11015 transistor is capable of dissipating 200 watts, 
		does not mean it will be a batter performer.
 Both transistors are likely to short-out under these conditions and I 
		would never run a transistor to its maximum temperature. You are only 
		asking for trouble.
 The only difference between the two devices is the base current.
 The MJ11015 transistor will require only 1% of the base current and the 
		7812 will run much cooler.
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		Vidyasagar Sir’s Perfect Answersfor HSC Board Exam, www.vsagar.org 
 Here is his silly explanations of the 555 pins:
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		Where is pin 6?
 Pin 2 triggers the chip when the voltage is less than 33% of rail 
		voltage. He does not say that.
 Pin 7 discharges the capacitor to the negative rail.   You 
		don't say: "into the pin."
 Pin 8.  The supply is not always a battery.
 
 We don't say  "counting" for a 555 chip. We leave the word  
		COUNTING for chips that COUNT
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		Vidyasagar Sir’s Perfect 
		Answers for HSC Board Exam, 
		www.vsagar.org
 Here is his poor explanation for the LM317 3-terminal regulator:
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		It would be much clearer to say the minimum output voltage of the LM317 
		regulator is 1.25v when pin 1 is connected to 0v . As the resistance of R2 is increased, the output voltage passes down R1 
		and creates a voltage across R2 that "jacks-up" the regulator and the 
		output voltage rises. The output voltage is always 1.25v higher than pin 
		1 and the regulator can be "jacked up" to nearly 35v.  Now I 
		understand what is happening.
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		SERIAL REGULATOR 
	
		
		 
	
		
		The layout of a circuit is very important to prevent it being read 
		incorrectly.You may think the circuit above has a good layout, but when you see the 
		improved layout below, you can see the output of the transistor has been 
		drawn closer to the 0v rail to emphasis the relative voltage levels.
 It might be a small matter but all these things help to make a circuit 
		easy to understand.
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		 
	
		
		NO PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARDS 
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		Going through the last 12 months of Electronics For You  you 
		find ALL the projects have been built on matrix boards and not one 
		project has a photo of the finished item on a Printed Circuit Board.Even though many projects have a PCB layout in the magazine, none of 
		them have had a board created and loaded with components.
 Electronics For You
	
		
		is the largest electronics magazine in India and NONE of the projects 
		have been finalised and proven successful.
 Every other magazine in the world takes a photo of the finished design 
		and offers boards to the constructors who want to build the project. But 
		not Electronics For You.
 
 
 Here's a prototype from Electronics For You April 2016:
 
	
		
   This is the sort of quality presented in the largest electronics 
		magazine in India !!  A junk board with hand-writing on the top of 
		the board. I would not have this sort of junk in my work-room, let alone 
		send it off to a magazine.  Look at the resistor and jumper at 45 
		degrees!!!  Electronics For You is just an embarrassment.
 
  
 
	
		
		MAGNETIC GENERATOR 
	
		
		
		 
	
		
		This is a SCAM. DRIVER CIRCUITIt uses the good name of Tesla in an attempt to pretend he invented a 
		motor-generator type of set-up that produces electricity without any 
		energy entering the system
 This is called OVER-UNITY and so-far no-one has created such a device.
 However they claim over 10,000 investors are already powering their 
		houses with the "device."
 No-on has an open-house to show their apparatus. No-one has a video and 
		no news organisation has interviewed anyone with a demonstration. It's 
		just waste of $49 for the .pdf
 
 Here's the .pdf  
		TESLA'S SECRET   $49.00 !!
 and here's another fraud: 
		RUN 
		YOUR CAR ON WATER  $69.00 !!
 
 
  
 
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		This circuit looks to be suitable but you have to do the "maths" to see 
		how it will perform.To start with, the two 13v zeners will have a "dead spot" of 2v because 
		they add up to 26v for the 24v supply.
 On top of this the base-emitter junctions at the top and bottom will add 
		another 1v.
 This means the input voltage will not have any effect when it is rising 
		and falling by 3v because this is the "gap" between turning on the 
		bottom zener then the voltage falling and turning on the top zener.
 Normally "biasing diodes" are just at the point of turning ON, so the 
		rising or falling signal will pass through the diode, even when it is a 
		few millivolts.
 Any voltage below 3v will not be transferred and a 5v signal will have 
		some attenuation in the 1k as well as the 2u2.  Most 5v signals 
		from a digital source are less than 5v as the output of most chips is 
		4.5v max and 0.5v min. This gives a 4v p-p signal and the other two 
		losses makes this circuit very unreliable.
 On top of this, zeners have a 5% tolerance and another 1v may disappear.
 This circuit is called an AC AMPLIFIER.
 It only amplifies when the signal is rising or falling. When the signal 
		is a minimum, the 2u2 starts to charge via the top 13v zener and the 
		emitter-base junction of the top transistor.
 It charges to 10v. When the signal rises to 5v, the right-side of the 
		capacitor should rise to 15v, but at 13.6v the zener is turned ON and 
		the base-emitter junction is active. This means only 1.4v of the 10v is 
		removed.
 When the input signal goes to zero, only 1.4v is replaced in the 
		capacitor.
 That's the first fault.
 The second fault is the amount of time taken for the capacitor to charge 
		and discharge.
 The charging will be very quick because the charging resistor is 1k.  
		It will take MUCH LESS than one second to charge and discharge.
 When the input signal is 1Hz, the circuit will react in less than 100mS 
		and for the rest of the time the output will be zero.
 Thus the circuit is not designed for low frequencies.
 This is one example of a circuit designed by an "electronics engineer" 
		who did not put enough thought into the design.  Before you publish 
		anything, build the circuit and test it thoroughly. This way you will 
		not release something that dos not work.
 
  
	
		
		 
		PHOTO TRANSISTOR 
 
	
		
		 ORIGINAL CIRCUIT
 
	
		
		This circuit may or may not work. The hobbyist says it does not work.
		Let's see why:
 The circuit is a simple VOLTAGE DIVIDER.
 The voltage at "A" will be 2.5v when the photo transistor has a 
		resistance of 10k.
 The voltage at "A" will be 4.5v when the photo transistor has a 
		resistance of 1k.
 The hobbyist needs a voltage of 3.5v but the photo transistor needs a 
		very bright light to achieve this voltage.
 
	
		
		  
	
		
		 IMPROVED CIRCUIT
 
	
		
		The answer is to change the 10k for 100k. 
 The voltage at "A" will be 2.5v when the photo transistor has a 
		resistance of 100k.
 The voltage at "A" will be 4.5v when the photo transistor has a 
		resistance of 10k.
 
 The photo transistor has a resistance of less than 10k in normal light 
		and the circuit will now work.
 
 
  
 PUSH-PULL
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		The main problem with this circuit is the driver stage that turns on the 
		4 parallel 2N3055 transistors.When the 4 transistors turn ON, the collector voltage will drop to a 
		very small value.
 But the collector voltage of the C1061 cannot fall below the emitter 
		voltage, otherwise the transistor will not deliver a current via the 
		emitter.
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		When the input goes HIGH, the base of the C1061 will be 2.1v above the 
		0v rail.When the 3rd transistor turns ON, the collector cannot fall below about 
		2v because the collector of the C1061 must have a voltage above the 
		emitter for current to flow. This means the voltage across the 4 x 2N3055 
		transistors will be at least 2v and they will not be fully turned ON.
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		 
		PCB PATTERN 
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		Look at the outline of the IC. It is creating a short-circuit for all 
		the tracks going to the IC. It has not been removed from the trackwork 
		before publication. Just another sloppy bit of work from Electronics For You. 
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		3-TERMINAL REGULATORS 
	
		
		 
	
		
		There's two faults with this circuit from Electronics For You 
		April 2016.A 3-terminal regulator needs about 2-3 across it for reliable operation. 
		You can get low-dropout regulators to replace the "old-style" regulators 
		and they have a lower dropout (350mV to 1v or so).
 In the circuit above, the 7805 needs 2v across it and if the input 
		voltage falls below 7v, the circuit will not work properly.
 The LM317 needs 1.7v and only 1.6v is available. Use low drop-out 
		regulators for both these regulators for reliable operation.
 
	
		
		 
	
		
		EMITTER-FOLLOWER 
	
		
		 
	
		
		The output of an emitter-follower is 
		in-phase with the input.  The red waveform in the circuit above 
		shows the correct output.
	
		
		 
	
		
		What
		is the use of putting a circuit in a text-book without any values ????  
		It's only the values that will let you know what the circuit is doing 
		and how it is biased.
 
	
		
		Look at this RUBBISH: 
	
		
		 
	
		
		The centre figure is supposed to represent COMMON BASE configuration. If 
		I don't understand the circuit, how is a beginner going to understand it ??? 
	
		
		DIODE CLIPPER 
	
		
		 
	
		
		The output waveform of diagram A is entirely 
		incorrect. See the output of diagram B. The max voltage will be 0.7v as 
		the diode turns ON at this voltage and when the waveform goes negative, 
		the diode is effectively "out-of-circuit."  
	
		
		Here is some of the terrible Engwish from: Introduction to Electronic Engineering   
		By: Valery Vodovozov  
		Here is the book as 
		3.7MB .pdf Feedbacks.  The main toop to improve the frequency 
response or the step response is a feedback.When R2 = 0, the current amplifier is a voltage repeater because the voltage 
gain is equal to unit.
 Besides stabilizing of transresistance, the inverting feedback has the same 
benefits as the non-inverting voltage feedback that is decreasing distortion and 
output offset.
 Conventionally, energy approaches electrical end electronic systems from the 
power generators of different types: hydro, wind, and heat generators, atomic 
stations, etc.
 Summary. A power supplier has to meet the requirements of the energy 
consumer, which needs the
 determined power, voltage, and current values and shape. Voltage sources supply 
fully controlled voltage,
 whereas the current may be unpredictable. Current sources generate adjustable 
current flow, whereas
 the voltage may change during the supply process. In practice, there is neither 
the pure voltage nor the
 exclusively current sources, but one of the features is predominant.
 Passive low-pass filters. A low-pass filter reduces high-frequency 
particles of a signal and passes its
 low-frequency part.
 Nevertheless, in power circuits, they function as the protective devices for the 
load under the shorts.
 
	
		
		FILTER 
 
	
		
		Passive 
		high-pass filters. The circuits above are high-pass filters. The 
		high pass filter is open for high frequencies and attenuates the 
		low-frequency signals. High frequencies pass through the capacitors but 
		the low-frequency signals are attenuated by the capacitors. On the other 
		hand, the low-frequency signals pass through the inductors, whereas the 
		high-frequency signals cannot pass over the coils. WHAT RUBBISH !! 
 High frequency signals pass through a capacitor because the waveform on 
		the left plate rises and falls very rapidly and this makes the waveform 
		on the right plate rise and fall at the same rate and the capacitor does 
		not have time to charge and discharge.
 A high frequency signal appearing on the top of a coil produces an 
		opposing voltage from the coil that prevents the energy in the waveform 
		entering the coil and passing to 0v - because the opposing voltage has 
		the same amplitude and prevents the waveform passing through the coil.
 It is exactly like walking on a swimming pool filled with corn starch.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-wxnID2q4A
 If you 
		run very quickly across the pool you will not sink into the corn starch 
		solution.
 But if you stop, you will sink.
 If the signal is low frequency, the opposing voltage from the coil has a 
		low amplitude and the waveform passes through the coil (because it has a 
		very low resistance).
 
 It is the desire of all designers to achieve accurate and tight 
		regulation of the output voltages for customer
 use. To accomplish this, high gain is required. However, with high gain 
		instability comes. Therefore, the
 gain and the responsiveness of the feedback path must be tailored to the 
		adjusted process. ????????
 
 
 SCHMITT 
		TRIGGER
 
	
		
		  
		 
	
		
		The whole idea of explaining how a Schmitt Trigger works is to show the 
		feedback from the second stage (transistor) to the first transistor. 
		This is shown in red. Normally the first transistor will produce a change on the collector 
		when the input changes by about 0.7v  This is normal transistor 
		action in a common-emitter circuit. This means a small input 
		signal will change the output. In fact a change of as little as 100mV 
		will affect the circuit. But when we have a feedback line as in this 
		circuit, the operation is completely different.
 Suppose the input waveform contains noise of 100mV.  This noise will affect 
		the output in a normal amplifier.
 To prevent it affecting the circuit we increase the distance between 
		the low and high trigger points to say 3v.
 This "gap" is called the HYSTERESIS GAP.
 The circuit below has values to emphasize how the input works.
 Suppose the first transistor is turned ON.  The voltage between the 
		collector-emitter terminals will be less than 700mV (about 300mV) and the second 
		transistor will be OFF. The second transistor sees 300mV between base 
		and emitter and it will be turned OFF.
 The voltage across the 4k will be 8v and the voltage across the 1k will 
		be 2v.
 The voltage on the base of the first transistor will be 2.7v
 To turn the first transistor OFF, the voltage must be reduced.
 When it is reduced by 100mV, the first transistor begins to turn OFF and 
		the voltage on the collector rises. This turns ON the second transistor 
		and the current through the two 1k resistors produces a voltage across 
		the lower 1k. This raises the emitter voltage and although the base 
		voltage DOES NOT RISE at this point in time, the voltage between the base 
		and emitter of the first transistor is REDUCED. This turns OFF the first 
		transistor and this is done without the input voltage changing. It is 
		the SWITCHING ACTION of the two transistors that cause the circuit to 
		change states.
 The two transistors continue this action until the first transistor is 
		completely turned OFF and the second transistor is completely turned ON. 
		This action is called REGENERATIVE ACTION and means the action continues 
		within the circuit without any external influence.
 The circuit finished up with the voltage across the top 1k as 5v and across the lower 1k 
		as 5v.
 The base is still at 2.6v The first transistor is completely OFF and the 
		second transistor is completely ON.
 To turn ON the first transistor the input signal has to rise to 5.7v
 This is a 3.1v rise and we have changed the circuit from 0.7v detection 
		to about 3.1v detection.
 The important fact to remember is the circuit creates the rapid 
		switching action and NOT the input signal and the gap between HIGH and 
		LOW is about 3v.
 The signal shown in red is called a FEEDBACK signal.
 It is a POSITIVE FEEDBACK signal because it assists the input signal in 
		performing its intended task.
 With a feedback signal, you cannot consider a signal that is of the same 
		polarity as being positive.
 The signal is really ASSISTING (helping); or HINDERING (opposing) and 
		can be rising or falling and yet ASSIST the incoming signal.
 
 
	
		
		 
 
	
		
		
		Of course the author of the book has good intentions. But English is his 
		second language, however every page has left me wondering what he is 
		trying to say. Some of the statements don't make any sense AT ALL. 
		That's why I only use very simple English and don't try to show my 
		ability at use large, complex words and long, involved sentences. The 
		first time you use a long sentence, the reader will close the book and 
		put it on the shelf. You have lost him forever. You are not trying to show how clever YOU are.  You are trying to 
		get a complex point across by saying it is really very simple to 
		understand.
 
	
		
		  
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
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