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Last time I showed the lead-acid battery that “couldn’t cut it.” I said there would be a second part, so today I’ll tell you what I ended up having to do to get something that works.

Some time ago, one of my readers asked me to help modify an uninterruptible power supply from Meanwell. This company's power supplies are very good, as I've shown more than once, but this UPS managed to surprise me—and I wouldn't say pleasantly. More on that in the review.

A while ago, I posted a preview of my solar power station build on Instagram. Well, not only is it now installed, it’s also been generating power for three weeks. I’ve finally got around to writing up how I built it.

A friend of mine had a manual sprayer, and we got the idea of converting it to battery power. Read this mini-review to see how it turned out.

Some time ago, I reviewed a basic soldering station controller and shared a few ideas for how to use it. But after playing around with it for a while, I realized it wasn’t quite right for what I had in mind. Then I got my hands on a controller board that turned out to be just what I needed for my project.

The LCR meter board has been sitting around for probably two years now. Everything would be fine, but it’s not very convenient to use in its half-finished state, so I decided to finish the case and rework the power supply while I was at it.

As the “repair” project gradually winds down, I’m slowly finding time to get back to my other projects. I’ve started with the multichannel tester for lithium battery packs, which I first wrote about last year. There will be several stages, but the first is the most challenging one: the power module.

I’d posted two reviews of SANMIM power supplies and was about to start on a third when I remembered that my main electronic load can handle only 60 W, while the power supply is rated for at least 70 W. So I decided to make a few upgrades to the electronic load while I was at it.

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.

I came across some small protection boards for packs made from two lithium batteries, so I decided to put together a little review—or a big photo dump, whichever you prefer :)

Last time, I explained how to properly convert a battery pack for a cordless power tool. I also mentioned that I’d cover the specifics of charging, and this time I’ll be reviewing a DC-DC converter board. If you’re interested, come on in.

Since I’ve reviewed quite a few batteries and also mentioned rebuilding cordless power tools, I often get private messages asking about various details of these conversions. People ask all sorts of questions, and they’re often much the same, so I decided to put together a short overview and answer some common questions about choosing components and rebuilding batteries.

A few months ago, I published a review of a small engraving machine. In that review, I pointed out the design flaws and mentioned that I planned to fix them. In this review, I’ll cover the parts for the machine, add a little theory, and show the upgrade process.

In my 3D printer review, I mentioned small milling machines, which for some reason are more often marketed as engravers. Since this is a pretty interesting topic, and readers later asked me about this kind of device, I decided to review one. So, once again we're putting together a puzzle-like kit, and there's a chance we'll end up with something interesting.

I think some readers still remember my review of a kit for building a linear bench power supply. Despite a few shortcomings, the board turned out to be quite interesting. When a friend sent me a link to the kit reviewed here, my first thought was, “That’s the same board.” But in reality, things turned out a little differently. Anyway, if you’re interested in this kind of thing and want to find out how to build a small bench power supply, read on.

This review continues my experiments with step-down voltage converters. Along the way, I’ll also explain a little about what a synchronous rectifier converter is.

About a year and a half ago, I reviewed a project using the smaller DC-DC converter board from the ZXY60xxS family. The power supply is in good shape and works perfectly well. But after using it for a while, I realized I wanted something different. So about a year ago, I started designing a more practical power supply (at least for my needs). Anyway, if you're curious what I cobbled together in the end, read on. Warning: lots of traffic, lots of photos.

This review continues the previous one, but since doing two reviews in a row about the same product would be somewhat illogical and inappropriate, at least the opening will focus on one of the interesting parts I bought for the future power supply.