Electronics and technology blog    /    Materials for September 2018 year

Many of my readers know how much I enjoy writing power supply reviews. It’s probably my favorite topic. But today’s review will be a little different from my usual ones—and for good reason, it’ll be short. So, if you’re interested in switching power supplies, come on in.

This story began quite a while ago. First, about four and a half years ago, I bought several LED lights that had worked pretty well all this time. Then one of them finally failed. Since I didn't want to replace them all, the obvious decision was to repair it and, while I was at it, put together a "repair kit" for the others, which were still working.

About six months ago, I reviewed a Mecool TV box with voice control. Today, I’ll show you a very similar, though different, TV box from the same company with roughly the same features. As always, the review will include an inspection, teardown, tests, and a summary table.

Not long ago, I posted a review of a somewhat unusual electronic cigarette from Wismec, and mentioned that I’d ordered some atomizers for it. I liked a particular type of heating element, and I also found out that they’re hard to find in local stores, so I decided to order a few as spares from AliExpress. Anyway, here’s a short review with plenty of photos.

For some reason, there are very few reviews of power supplies like this. That’s understandable: buyers are usually more interested in high-power models than in little units rated at just 3 W. But compact models are sometimes exactly what you need for various low-power devices, especially when they’re highly reliable. Today I’m taking a look at just such a power supply, made by Hi-Link.

I already reviewed a small voltmeter about three years ago, and now another similar little gadget has landed in my hands. The previous one was more expensive, but it had a separate measurement input and could measure up to 99.9 V. This one is much simpler, but I figured these little meters might still be useful to someone.

For a few reasons, I needed an mSATA SSD. I first looked at local stores, then at stores on AliExpress. I came across various brands, but noticed that many sellers offered drives from a brand I hadn't heard of before: Zheino. There were quite a lot of them, and the prices were pretty reasonable. I found a seller with a large number of sales, bought one, received it, and decided to share it with everyone. An inspection, some tests, and a few conclusions.

I've already seen many reviews of this company's measuring instruments, so mine will be more of an addendum and another look at Sndway's products. I haven't come across a review of this particular model, though, and it has a few distinctive features. As usual, I'll take a look at the device, take it apart, run a few tests, compare it with another instrument, and share my conclusions.

Today on my workbench I have an adjustable voltage converter with an output voltage of up to 50 V and a current of up to 20 A. As far as I know, this is the most powerful converter in RuiDeng's product lineup. What's more, its specifications are very similar to those of the ZXY-6020, which I reviewed earlier and will be comparing it with today. While I'm at it, I'd like to say a big thank-you to one of my regular readers, without whom this review probably wouldn't have happened.

Not long ago, I was asked to buy a number of batteries for some radios. It was a pretty straightforward job: I found a suitable listing on AliExpress, placed an order, and a while later picked them up at the post office. But is everything really as good as it seems? Today’s review is a “micro” one; I’ll try to keep it short and stick to the facts.

Some time ago, a manager from the vapesourcing store contacted me and offered to try out their new product and, of course, write a review. Since I smoke, I decided to give it a try rather than turn it down, especially as the device itself is somewhat unusual, and I hadn't come across any reviews of one like it. To be fair, I should say right away that the last time I tried vaping was about 3–3.5 years ago, but it didn't really grab me, so this review will be more of a "beginner's" perspective than that of an experienced vaper.

I've built lots of different kits: amplifiers, an oscilloscope, a signal generator, all sorts of measuring instruments and power supplies. Now it's time to try something new for me: building a DAC. In this case, we're talking about an audio DAC (digital-to-analog converter). As usual, in this review I'll show you the kit itself, the assembly process and some tests. But I'll also try to fit the whole thing into a case afterward :)

It wasn't that long ago that computers with Gemini Lake core (SoC) processors started appearing on the market (I already covered one), and other manufacturers soon began releasing their own models. Today I'll be taking a look at one of them. Its key differences are 6 GB of RAM and an SSD instead of eMMC flash storage, along with a few other minor details. As always, I'll take a look inside, take it apart, run some tests and share my conclusions.

Following on from my discussion of amplifiers, which began with a review of an LM3886 chip-based kit, I want to show you an option that’s its complete opposite: no chips at all. It’s a clone—or, more precisely, one of several clones—of a fairly well-known amplifier by Dartzeel. And it also runs warm in the literal sense, but more on that in the review :)

Today I’m reviewing a computer with a “industrial” form factor that’s rather unusual for most users. But that’s not all: it also has at least two COM ports and a relatively powerful i5-7200U processor.

Today I'm reviewing a somewhat unusual device. To be honest, I'm not even sure what the right title for this review would be, since this device isn't just a voltmeter, though that's probably the main thing I'm interested in here. This won't be a very long review, partly because the device is rather specialized and partly because there isn't all that much to say about it.

To be honest, I ordered this kit mostly to fill out the package, but it turned out to be quite useful, especially for beginner electronics hobbyists. A while ago, I reviewed a simple adjustable power supply, and as it turned out, it was useful. Now imagine something similar, but: With a higher output voltage With more current With transformer winding switching With fan control Interested? Then I don't think you'll regret it.

I originally planned to publish this review much later, in the “first come, first served” order, but as they say, good news should be shared quickly and bad news even faster, so I decided to publish it sooner. So today’s review covers five types of capacitors from well-known manufacturers, or— Have you stepped on a rake? We keep walking right into them!