Most recent update anywhere in this site other than notes of progress in linked sites - 1/2/2012. NOTE - This site is now at donklipstein.com
Most recent noted new link or update on linked sites elsewhere noted here to have come into existence 8/19/2011. Linked sites are likely to get updates before I next note them.
Look here for helpful hints and ideas for electronic hobbyists, as well as some lighting related info that you might find useful or at least interesting.
You may want to come back here every few months. This site is always under construction!
The most efficient LEDs and where to get them!
(updated 8/11/2011)
I have an LED Main Page. (updated 8/11/2011, some external links noted as updated 11/30/2011.)
Don's Lighting Info Center, go here to see lots of
information about many forms of lighting.
Here you can find basic and advanced theory, other stuff including
troubleshooting and repair hints. Lots of info on incandescent, halogen,
fluorescent, compact fluorescent, HID lamps such as mercury, metal halide,
high pressure sodium, and short arc lamps!
Also info on neon, low pressure sodium, oddballs such as green neon lamps.
Even a bit on UV lamps, night lights, lightbulbs lasting a century, electronic
ballasts, and carbon arcs. Also better "poop" on lamps for growing plants.
Added 2/15/2010 - s/p ratios of many light sources!
(updated 1/2/2012.)
Don's Laser Top Page.
Ways to hack some cheap laser pointers to obtain boosted power (anywhere
from 7 to 30-plus mW) that makes them dangerous and illegal to use as
toys! Links to where to get dangerous 15 to 190 milliwatt green laser
pointers as visible as 60-800 mW red lasers would be! NEW -
orangish-yellow laser pointers, blue ones, violet ones!
Also stuff on He-Ne lasers and more.
(most recent update unrelated to Sam's laser FAQ 9/14/2010, links to V.
10.00 of Sam's Laser FAQ and Craig Johnson's laser stuff 9/15/2010)
For links to unmodified official versions of Sam Goldwasser's Laser FAQ,
some of them leading to V. 9.80 (current as of 9/14/2010) and none older
than V. 9.10 (current as of 3/23/2009), as well as the V.9.10 .zip version,
go to my above Laser Page.
(25-plus meg of good stuff, plus over 350 GIFs and JPEGs as of V. 9.10!)
Don's Tesla Coil page!
Includes some nice stuff on Tesla coils in general and on solid state Tesla
coils. Submitted to the Tesla Coil Web Ring 10/17/99 (though I have recently
incurred a failure to be in that "webring" - which I may soon fix). New page
added 8/27/2001 and this section had a major update on 9/22/2008 (first in
2 years)! Progress continues slowly on one of a few previously noted largish
solid state Tesla coils. Links added to other sites with working coils and
working schematics 7/5/2005!
Don's Xenon Flash and Strobe Page!
Lots of schematics, helpful hints, precautions, xenon flash basics, parts
sources, mad ideas, etc. Large strobe stuff, inverter schematics, a
blacklight strobe idea (tested), xenon arc lamp stuff, more! Many files
linked from here!
(Updated slightly 12/3/2011, not much since 2000.)
Some people ask all kinds of questions trying to get infrared filters.
Check out the Infrared Filter Page for a bit
of info. Now you can make your flashlight or floodlight visible to security
cameras and not easily seen by the guilty nor the innocent!
(Last minor
update 3/18/2007, last update before that 11/3/1996.)
Check out my High Voltage Generator Page for a few
circuits to get thousands of volts from low voltage DC.
(Latest update a minor one 3/22/2011.)
Even more things now, like Jacobs ladders, plasma spheres, neon lamp oscillators, etc. To find out how these work and how to make these, go here! (Latest update a minor one 9/23/2008)
Spectra online! Visible line spectra of various elements and a few common light sources. (Still under construction. 15 spectra plus a wavelength scale as of 7/4/99, link added to another site 7/4/2005.)
Now lighting and color as far as stars are concerned is here. Although for
now concentrating on Gliese 581, and specifically
theoretically on that red dwarf's discovered-in-2007 "earthlike" planet.
Updated 1/2/2011.
NEW! Hints to make your PC run faster.
Includes Dan Barclay's patch to blazingly improve math coprocessor usage
by Quick Basic 4.5 and other Microsoft programming languages. Also how
to get higher math speed by compromising the math coprocessor precision in
some C compilers! Also simple stuff like better hard drives and more
memory.
(updated slightly 10/16/2005, this is now older stuff)
Download Dan Barclay's math coprocessor patch from here to greatly speed math coprocessor usage by some Microsoft programming languages, especially Basics (such as Quick Basic 4.5 and Basic 7 / QBX and possibly some versions of Quick C and maybe Visual Basic and maybe possibly some other C and C++ products) and executables produced by these programming languages. This is a zip file with the patch, and lots of usage instructions and hints by the patch author and also by me. Math speed is usually doubled to tripled even when slowdown factors such as EMM386.EXE and Windows are not running. EMM386.EXE and Windows slowdowns are 99.5 percent eliminated in addition, so math coprocessor speed with EMM386.EXE and/or Windows running can be improved by a factor of 10-20.
There is now loudspeaker stuff here. Already here:
Plans to get big sound from a cheap 5-inch fullrange, and amazing lower
bass from a Radio Shack 10 inch woofer at home or in a car with a trunk.
Also: Plans for really cost-effective bass bins, also how to make piezo
tweeters sound more natural. Just added: Mad ideas based on the unimportance
of frequencies below 600-800 Hz to the intelligibility of the human voice. Get
more apparent voice PA power with 70 percent less amplifier power!
(Slight update 6/19/2011 but progress here is low since before 2008)
Fellow Electronics Experimenters and Mad Scientists - MAD SCIENTIST CENTRAL - this page is new 8/20/2001, updated 1/26/2009. Links to fellow mad hobbyists (especially electrical) with homepages. Many web resources good for adventurous tinkerers.
Don's Downloadable Software!
Freeware is here now, and as of 1/2/2011 it's all freeware!
As of now, DOS executables are available for all programs available here and BASIC source code is posted for all freeware available here. Requirements are usually a version of DOS absolutely minimum of no more than 2.3, preferably 3.0 or higher, normally available under Microsoft Windows 3.anything, 95 and 98. Windows XP "Command Prompt" at least generally works with these. Some programs require VGA or compatible display (the usual nowadays since 1994 or so).
Number of programs available as of 1/2/2011: 3 freeware. Two deal with blackbody radiators, especially for lighting. The 3rd is a highly improved loudspeaker enclosure one using Thiel-Small parameters and enclosure parameters to predict on-axis frequency response, after many real-world factors.
Sam Goldwasser's site at repairfaq.org!
The laser, strobe, and fluorescent lamp documents that are mainly of his
authorship can be found there as well as here. Also tons of other
electronics repair and electronics stuff!
Filip G.'s site, http://www.repairfaq.org/~filipg has lots of stuff including Sam's stuff - but with fancier HTML while maintaining high compatibility with the best and worst of web browsers.
Techlib.com's circuit library, supersedes Wenzel, including some interesting ones for hobbyists. Circuits are in PDF format. Link updated 1/28/2008.
A mad gift that I gave one of my brothers for Christmas 2004... (New file added late 12/26/2004)
Willem-Jan Markerink's extensive and nicely technical photography site! Includes extensive IR photography info.