Velleman sells a kit that you can build, advertised to be a sound indicator.  “…simple sound-to-light unit for music, the hard of hearing:  can be used to indicate the telephone, doorbell, barking dog.  Adjustable sensitivity with potentiometer…“  We built the MK103 kit and made a video showing a product test and review.

The construction took an hour with the only tool being a soldering iron.  An additional half hour was required to trouble-shoot the board since it didn’t work the first time.

I found a couple components were shorted together on the bottom side due to poor soldering by me.  Another tool that would be helpful for this project is a pair of diagonal cutters, but I don’t have any, so I couldn’t cut the wires to the proper length on the bottom of the board.  I also couldn’t mount the unit to the battery pack since the wires stick out too far.  Some day I’ll buy some diagonal cutters and trim the wires down.

Once the unit was finished, it worked.

Click image above for video.

A few observations:

A fresh battery made the circuit more sensitive and responsive than an older battery.  When I put a fresh battery in the unit, the LEDs lit up more at lower volume sounds.

The microphone was not very sensitive, even with a fresh battery.  (Turning the potentiometer all the way to one side basically turned it off.  Turning the potentiometer all the way to the opposite side led to the results shown in the video above.)  After making this video, I gently tapped on the mic with my finger and then the LED’s lit up for even soft sounds.  Some how, tapping on the mic made the circuit more responsive.  But that only lasted a minute and then the circuit went back to behaving as before, requiring loud sounds to light up the LEDs.

When I put the circuit next to our phone and made the phone ring, the LEDs did not turn on.  Our phone was not loud enough to trigger the LEDs.  However, my kids enjoyed yelling at the circuit and watching the lights turn on.

The kit was rated “beginner” level.  Since this kit requires a soldering iron, the beginner should be old enough to respect the heat of an iron so as to not get burned.  My son enjoyed watching the entire build process, helped place the components into the board, and learned about electronics along the way.

I use my media player, a Creative Zen Vision W, to listen to podcasts and occasionally I’ll watch a video on it or let my kids watch videos on it. The other day the battery was dead and I decided to use my small solar circuit to charge it up.

This solar system completely charged the Zen media player. Here’s how it is connected.

Two small panels are outside in the sun, with the cable leading into the house.

The cable connects to a charge controller. The charge controller safely feeds the solar power into a 12V deep cycle battery.

The power from the battery goes to a DC-AC inverter, producing 120V AC. The AC inverter is connected to my multimeter so I can see how much current the Zen is pulling during charging. You can see that the Zen AND inverter together are pulling 0.88A.

You can see in the above image that the white AC adapter is plugged into an AC inverter, taking 120V AC to the media player to charge it up.

Media players are one of many small devices that can be powered or charged using modest solar panels.

My two kids were interested in the experiment, so for fun, we tried making our own volcano with Mentos and Diet Pepsi. It works!

We put a little bit of isopropyl alcohol inside an empty 2 Liter Pepsi bottle. I drilled a few holes on the bottom end of the Pepsi bottle to help oxygen get inside for the vapor to burn.

I am documenting the construction of my first wind turbine. I am not an expert, just learning as I go. I am not building a turbine from scratch, but instead trying to first succeed in mounting one to a tower and wiring it up to power small devices inside my house. I want to document the process so that it would be easier for me to duplicate this a second time, as I would like to build more than one turbine. Also, if the instructions are of any benefit to others doing a similar construction, I would be happy to know that. Let me know if you have tips to share or would like to show off your own DIY wind turbine.

Buy Wind Turbine

After I raise my first turbine, I would like to attempt building the turbine itself from scratch. But for my introduction and education, I decided to buy a pre-made wind turbine I found on eBay. I found a small turbine from eBay seller blairusa.  Butch (the eBay seller) builds turbines and sells them on eBay. The particular turbine I bought is small and according to Butch has the following spec’s:

• 12V
• 140 Watts
• Starts spinning in winds of around 4 MPH
• Can withstand winds over 40 MPH but not recommended
• weighs about 22lbs
• Made of aluminum and steel
• Prop is 36 inches diameter
  
• Length of generator is 42inches

I paid $305 total (including shipping).

Dig hole

I don’t have the windiest location but want to give this a try anyhow.

I picked a location in my backyard. My primary consideration for picking this spot was that it will be out of view for most of my neighbors. I don’t want to make enemies. The turbine will make a little noise when spinning which might bother my neighbors if I put it right on the property line. Some people, for whatever reason, do not like the way wind turbines look. I haven’t talked with all of my neighbors about it, so to be safe, I’m keeping this one tucked away to eliminate any trouble with the neighbors. Also, the location I chose is fairly close to the house, meaning the wiring will be fairly short, making it easier for me to run wiring to get the power into the house.

The turbine will be mounted to a steel pipe. The pipe will be secured in the ground with concrete and guy wires.

At the target site, I dug a hole 1 ft wide and 2 ft deep.

I used a pick and mattock with a shovel to dig the hole.

I had to get on my hands and knees to dig the last several inches using trowels and the shovel.

Assemble steel pipes

Assemble the steel pipes into a mount that can support the wind turbine.  Make a hinge joint so that the wind turbine can be lowered and raised from the ground whenever maintenance is needed.  Most of the pieces for my tower came from my local Sutherlands store.

Note that the tee above is a bigger diameter than the rest of the pieces, so that the threads are unused on the tee, allowing the tee to function as a hinge joint.  Most of the pipe pieces have a diameter of 1 ¼”.   The tee above is bigger, though, with a diameter of 1 ½”.

A tee was chosen above to allow the electrical cables to exit from the pipe.  Later, you will see how the wires come out of this hole.

Concrete

Insert the pipe into the hole.

Mix concrete and pour into the hole.  Used about (4) 60-pound bags of mix.  The mix itself then was about 240 pounds but water was added as well, adding to the weight of the base of this mount.

Dig a second hole and place a stationary pipe in it.  The second pipe has an arm that latches onto the first pipe.  The arm can be detached at any time.  I’m hoping that this arm can help hold onto the pole while the wind turbine is attached.  I also plan on using (4) guy wires to stabilize the turbine mount.

Apply Plumber’s Grease

I want to be able to detach the steel pipes at any time for maintenance, re-wiring, or other future modifications.  Since the steel pipes are outside and exposed to rain, condensation, and humidity, the pipe threads will rust and fuse the pipes together.  Already in the short time I have had them outside, they have already developed rust.  I picked up some Plumber’s Grease from Sutherlands.

I used an old toothbrush to apply the grease to all the pipe threads.

I put most of the pieces together, minus the turbine itself, to see how it fit together.

With the setup above, the wind turbine blades will be 16 feet above the ground.

Attach guy wires

Attach (4) guy wires to secure the pole and prevent it from falling down in high winds.

The Video above shows how to drill and tap a steel pipe coupling.  Eye bolts are attached to the steel pipe.  They guy wires will connect to the eye bolts.

will be continued…

Next steps:

Attach guy wires to pole.
Run wire through the pipe and connect powerpole connectors.

Added Sep-2-2008

Added Aug-19-2008

Added Aug-01-2008

how can you restore it to an older saved state?

Added Jul-02-2008

This article might help you find your saved games in Vista’s Virtualstore. Read

Edited Jul-30-2008

When I ordered a Drobo unit from BuyDig.com, I was encouraged by a $50 cash rebate. But is the rebate a real deal?
Drobo rebate.

Some router configuration tips: D-Link DI-LB604 Dual-WAN Load Balancing router

Updated Jun-18-2008

Want to know how to set up your router for surfing secure websites and sending SMTP email? Tips

How to save audio in audacity for use in Hammer (the Half Life 2 map editor)

Added Feb-26-2008

This tutorial is for map designers, using Hammer. I show the simple, but necessary step to convert audio to work in speakers, using Audacity, a free audio editing tool. Tutorial.

How to reinstall Juice Podcast Receiver

Added Feb-21-2008

Getting an error with your Juice Podcast Receiver like the one below?

It might be time for a reinstall. Here’s how I did it without losing my settings. Tutorial

Nvu Tutorials

Online videos showing how to do a few things in Nvu, like how to resize tables.

Has your doctor been good to you?

Visit DoctorScorecard.com and share the experiences you have had with doctors, good or bad. Does your doctor meet your medical needs? Give your doctor a score! See what other people have said about their doctors.

DoctorScorecard

What’s the best-tasting tomato? Some people say it’s the Cherokee Purple.