House Circuit
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 WESTING HOUSE AB DE ION CIRCUIT BREAKER 225 AMP 2 POLE K FRAME STYLE 1310846  US $27.62
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 Lot of 25 house circuit breakers 15 Amps to 50 Amps US $24.99
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Inventors - Build Your Own Printed Circuit Boards Online
I remember as a kid going to Radio Shack and buying circuit board etching kits, with copper clad boards and acid for etching etc. In those days the circuits were simple and the boards a real pain. Then along came a wide variety of prototyping systems for building circuits, wire wrapping, vector boards, and plug-in Proto-Boards. I’ve used them all and more.
The last time I needed a circuit built for possible commercial production it was quite expensive. I needed to have a designer design the board, creating gerber files to send to the circuit board house that then made the boards. I don’t remember all the details, but to get just a few boards for debugging cost several thousand dollars. Prohibitive cost wise for a lot of us part time electronic engineers. (Read inventors).
Imagine my excitement when I found that you can now design your circuit boards with online tools, push a button, enter your credit card number (of course) and have circuit boards in 3 days for under $100.00. The cost depends upon a number of factors, including the number of square inches of board and how many layers etc. Your boards can have up to 4 layers; have ground planes, and all sorts of other fancy details.
I’ve been using a service called ExpressPCB. The service is excellent and the PCB design software is very easy to learn and use.
To get started you register at one of the online board houses such as ExpressPCB and download the software they provide for you at no cost. The software includes a program for creating the schematic diagrams and another program for designing the board itself. The software is very easy to learn and use. Most of the components you will probably need to use are already in the programs. Things like pots, resistors, capacitors, transistors, IC chips including the latest microcontroller chips are included. You just copy and paste the components to the schematic and or board programs. If there is a component that they do not already have in their program, you can easily build custom components.
Once you’ve finished your schematic diagram you link it to the board design program, and when you click on a pin of a component the pins that are to be connected to that pin are all lit up in blue so you can easily draw the traces in. The traces on the top and bottom of the board are different colors making it easy to differentiate between the traces. The manufacturer includes all those useful little details about what size traces to use with different current requirements and what spacing you need between traces etc. Some board houses will even stuff the boards for you…but it costs.
After completing your board you can get an instant quote with either a 3 day turnaround or a 10 day turnaround. The 10 day turnaround is less expensive of course.
I’ve found this service to be a godsend. If I need a quick circuit prototyped, I just get on the computer and whip up the design, send my file off via the internet, and three days later I have my finished professional looking printed circuit board. What a world we live in!
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How do you hook a tank circuit to your panel in the house?
i heard from a friend something about creating a tank circuit using a Industrial motor with the main panel and basically recycling the electricity in the house so that the electricity bill is only a few bucks a month does any one know anything about this or even heard of it?
You friend is exaggerating. Things with motors (like your refrigerator) provide an inductive load to the power system. Putting the right size capacitor across the motor can improve the power factor and reduce your apparent power consumption, but not by enough to reduce your bill as much as your friend indicates.
By the way, that capacitor must be right across the motor or it could cause your electricity bill to go up, not down. Also, it needs to be the right size. I can not go into the method of determining the right size as it would just confuse you if you had to ask the question you did.
House Circuit Music 2011 #2
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