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Today I'd like to talk about the characteristics of different types of batteries, focusing on their use in UPSs and, more generally, for long-term off-grid power. I'll try to explain the differences between the various battery types, what situations they're suited to, and some charging-related details.

A common question is which power supply to choose for powering an amplifier, LED lighting, an adjustable converter, and other equally useful devices. Choosing a power supply is an important task, so let's take a look at how they differ and how to choose “the one.”

Last time, we looked at relatively compact devices for storing electricity that can help you charge your phone, laptop, or tablet. But I can already hear the obvious question: what do you do when you need to power something more demanding, or something that requires AC? So yes, today I’ll talk about uninterruptible power supplies and the finer points of using them.

Lately, I’ve been asked several times about the same thing: how to keep various devices and appliances running when the power goes out. Today I wanted to talk a little about it so I don’t have to repeat my answers in private messages and can save myself some time while giving you a more complete answer.

Today, I'm actually going to talk about a single power supply. The idea for this article came to me spontaneously while I was sorting through a pile of junk at home and came across one of the power supplies.

A few words about what's happening with the blog.

DIY battery pack assembly has become increasingly popular lately, and many beginners run into the question of how best to arrange the cells in a pack to get the maximum capacity. Today, I’ll introduce a handy calculator for working this out.

We decided to take a vacation this year, but it turned out that it’s not as simple as it seems, so I decided to ask the readers.

The Unit UT181A multimeter has a rather useful feature: a built-in real-time clock. But it turns out there’s a glitch—or, more precisely, a glitch with my particular unit. Someone else may run into the same problem, so today I’ll explain one way to fix it.

I came across a faulty power supply and decided to jot down a note about repairing it, and while I was at it, answer a few questions people ask me, using a real example, so to speak.

I've often come across comments along the lines of “Chinese batteries die quickly.” I generally agree, but the question caught my interest, so I decided to look into it more closely—in particular, by testing how many cycles the battery can handle. More details in the article.

Since I started posting reviews of various useful things I bought on the Chinese marketplace TaoBao, people have been asking me more and more often: “Kirich, explain how to buy things there!” About a year or a year and a half ago, I posted a review that included some information about shopping on TaoBao. That was my first experience, though. Since then, I’ve made more purchases and learned even more of the ins and outs, so today I’ll try to tell you about them.

I’ve mentioned before a circuit that indicates when the load current exceeds a certain threshold. Today I’ll show how to use this circuit to modify a basic voltage converter and turn it into a current regulator.

Some time ago, I published a review of a kit for building a simple oscilloscope. It would have been fine, except that its bandwidth was very limited. I wouldn't say the little device I'm reviewing is much better, but it's rated for a bandwidth of up to 4 MHz. Let's see what it is and how it works :)

For quite some time now, I’ve been using a homemade meter for measuring capacitor capacitance and ESR, built from a circuit designed by GO, a member of the ProRadio forum. I also use another, equally popular meter, the FCL from the cqham website. Today’s review is of a device that claims higher accuracy and, in practice, combines the two meters mentioned above. Warning: lots of photos, little text. This may be an issue for users on expensive data plans.

The resistor is probably the most common electronic component. I’d venture to say it’s also the oldest component still in use. So I’ll start my detailed look at different electronic components with resistors.

A short video that could easily go in the “notes from the field” category.

With this article, I’d like to start a series about various electronic components: diodes, capacitors, resistors, varistors, and so on. There are so many different components, and I can’t shake the feeling that by the time I finish writing about them, something new will already have come out :) I’ll start with X-type capacitors, especially since this article is a follow-up to my previous article about Y capacitors.