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  • Tesla Coil Fights Combines Electricity and Choreography [Video]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    We’ve seen quite a few Tesla-coil tricks over the years but never choreographed fighting between two guys balanced on Tesla coils. This definitely falls deeply into the don’t try this at home category–two guys in special suits are standing atop Tesla coils and directing the blasts of electricity at each other in a type of stylized combat. While their suits are clearly acting as Faraday cages to protect them from the electricity, we prefer our Faraday cages to be beefier and not attached directly to our skin. [via Obvious Winner] HTG Explains: Why It’s Good That Your Computer’s RAM Is Full 10 Awesome Improvements For Desktop Users in Windows 8 How To Play DVDs on Windows 8

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  • Electricity in VAIO laptop ports while plugged in

    - by SRbH
    I have VAIO E series (SVE) laptop. While charger plugged in, touching VGA/HDMI/USB port metal casing gives me burning sensation. So, i checked it with voltmeter and i found that while plugged in there is presences of DC +1.0 V. Same case with my friend's VAIO E Series (VPCEH). Service center says this is normal. But i do not believe them as it is not the case with Dell Inspiron. Please let me know if you are facing same problem with VAIO and is it hazardous to devices which i connect to these ports (like HDD, LED, etc)?

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  • How to discharge static electricity before opening a computer?

    - by Pekka
    Before opening a computer, I often hear advice to touch something that is "grounded" - a computer case for example, or a heating element - to avoid damaging the sensitive electronic equipment through static discharge. What exactly is true here, and what are the do's and don'ts. Touching what objects will actually work, and what won't? If I touch a computer case, does it matter what it stands on, and whether it is connected to an outlet? What other ways are there to protect the equipment from a static discharge than touching something grounded? Are there common pieces of clothing that I shouldn't be wearing when working inside a computer, for example a woollen pullover? There is a lot on Google, but there seem to be many contradictions and misconceptions out there, so I think this is a question worth having here.

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  • Which static electricity prevention tools do actually work?

    - by Boris_yo
    I need a device that would discharge static electricity from my body in order to safely work with electronics. I have looked and found some that interested me, but I don't know whether they work: Anti-Static Wrist Strap Anti-Static Release Discharger Keychain Anti-Dissipative Wrist Strap Anti-Static Rubber Finger Stalls Which of above mentioned actually do something? Do I also need and anti-static screw box? It has holes that screws get put in. Will I need magnetic screwdriver to pull screws out?

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  • Getting more from an electricity monitor

    - by beakersoft
    Hi, I've recently got a free smart power electric energy monitor from my electric provider (npower, in the UK). While it is quite good i would like to pull the information from the monitor onto my home server, so i can get more detailed information and maybe graph it using mrtg or similar. Has anyone every tinkered about with them, how do the monitor and the display talk to each other (bluetooth/wifi) and any other info people might have. cheers Luke

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  • Are some DSL modems cheaper to operate than others? (power usage question)

    - by SetJmp
    I recently have started using a Motorola 2210 in conjunction with AT&T's DSL service in the Silicon Valley area. That gadget runs hot to the touch! Which means... I assume it is gobbling lots of electricity even when I am not using it. Has anyone studied this subject in a rigorous way? Which leads to the question... if the 2210 is very energy inefficient are some DSL modem models cheaper to operate than others? -SetJmp

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  • Ungrounded laptop (Macbook Pro) buzzes in headphones, weird feeling when fingers brush lightly

    - by donut
    I've got a nearly 3-year-old MacBook Pro 15" 2.16GHz (MacBookPro2,2). When I have am not using the extended, grounded adapter for the power supply, just using the simple, two-prong plug I can hear a buzzing when I use very sensitive earbuds. This goes away if I touch a metal part of the laptop. Also, I can feel a weird, fuzzy feeling when I brush the metal parts of the laptop lightly with my fingers/skin. Somewhat similar to feeling of a touching hair or a balloon that's charged with static electricity. But I'm not getting sparks or anything. And if I'm touching a metal part of my laptop solidly (not just brushing it) and then I touch someone else's skin I can feel the same effect and so can my victim. I've noticed similar effects with an ungrounded electric blanket. But with that the buzzing can be easily heard without headphones. Is this a defect, normal, or something else? And what exactly is happening?

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  • Home networking problem between power line communication and Ethernet

    - by pixeline
    My network runs through the electrical wiring of the house and is organised as such: Groundfloor: an ADSL+network switch, using DHCP (address : 172.19.3.1) (Mac) PCs connected via an electrical adapter (model: D-Link DHP-200) (1 per PC) First Floor: 1 switch (8 ports) connected via an electrical adapter (model: D-Link DHP-200) (address unknown) 2 Mac PCs connected (via RJ45 network wires) to that router using DHCP The Problem On the first floor, file tranfers between PCs are fast and perfect. But if I try to transfer files from or to a computer on the ground floor, the speed is slow and eventually the transfer dies out. The Question So I suspect the 1st floor switch is creating some kind of barrier (firewall?) preventing external PCs from accessing the PCs it is connected to? Am I right and if so, how could I disable that barrier?

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  • Sound card / microphone impedance mismatch

    - by axk
    First of all I'm not completely sure this is impedance mismatch, but from what I found on the Internet I believe it is. It seems to be a common problem. The question is not as much about solving the problem as about why it is happening (if I'm right about the cause of the problem, of course). I had this quiet microphone problem with several built in cards and microphones and now with a Creative Audigy SE. There's a microphone boost option which introduces a lot of noise with volume increase, but even this doesn't seem to give loud enough sound in some cases. The mic on my current headphones is very quiet with Audigy SE without the boost but is very loud and low noise with an external Sound Blaster Connect. So the question is have I just been unlucky with my sound cards and microphones or is it a common problem? And if it is a common problem why is it so difficult for the vendors to standardize on the sound card / microphone impedance? Edit: the OS is Windows (XP/7), but I don't believe it is OS-specific.

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  • What type of Multimeter is safe to use on computers?

    - by Ssvarc
    In "Upgrading and Repairing PC's - 18th edition" by Scott Mueller on pg. 1278 he discusses multimeters. "You should only use a DMM (digital multimeter) instead of the older needle-type multimeters because the older meters work by injecting 9V into the circuit when measuring resistance, which damages most computer circuits. A DMM uses a much smaller voltage (usually 1.5V) when making resistance measurements, which is safe for electronic equipment." Most DMM's that I've looked at have 9V batteries. Are they internally stepping down the voltage used when making these measurements? Wouldn't the concern of injecting 9V be true when measuring continuity as well? A little off topic, there is a fascinating way to test for laptop screen inverter failure, (http://www.fonerbooks.com/test.htm), is anyone aware of a safe DMM that is capable of this as well?

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  • Can a usb cable carry 12v?

    - by zm15
    Here's what i'm wanting to do. I have a Acer Iconia A500 tablet. I want to plug it in, in the car, but it has a barrel plug and I don't want to buy an inverter. The car adapters are expensive for what they do. I already have a 2.1 amp usb car charger meant for the iPad: http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-K33497US-PowerBolt-Charger-Compatible/dp/tech-data/B003PU01M4/ref=de_a_smtd And i want to use this usb cable from the 2.1 amp port to plug into the A500: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00304DZ7I/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=A1HPBDJJIXKXS7 Here are the specs on the original wall charger if that helps: http://www.phihong.com/assets/pdf/PSA18R.pdf The usb cable says it's 5v, but the original charger says it outputs 12v. But since it's just a cable... wasn't sure if that really made a whole lot of difference since it's only 1.5 amps from the wall charger. Is it possible to use that usb cable through the powerbolt car charger, to charge the A500?

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  • UPS and power strip interactions?

    - by chaos
    Sometimes I hear that you shouldn't plug (UPS brand X / any UPS) into (power strip brand X / any power strip) because of some interaction leading to poorly conditioned power, reduced battery life, massive explosions spattering the room with battery acid, and so on. Sometimes I hear that it's the power strip that you shouldn't plug into the UPS. What I haven't gotten is a clear idea of how reliable these recommendations are or how generally/specifically they apply. Can anyone speak precisely and non-urban-legendfully on these UPS and power strip interactions, if there are in fact ones worth thinking about?

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  • Laptop battery: is voltage really important to respect?

    - by Marc-Andre R.
    I got an Acer Aspire 5100 and I just bought a new battery (after the stock battery just died yesterday). But I saw something after buying and I'm wondering whether it's really important or not. My stock battery was a 6-cell 4000mah 11.1v and the new battery is an 8-cell 4800mah 14.8v . I know that 8-cell and 4800mah is okay, but what about the 14.8v instead of 11.1v? The battery description says it's compatible with my laptop model (AS5100, model BL51), but the voltage difference makes me wonder. Will the laptop only take what it needs? Or will it be getting 14.8v straight in the brain? I know that my wall plug claims to output 19v, so logically I'm thinking a higher voltage battery shouldn't be a problem. Am I correct in thinking this? Thanks in advance for your answers!

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  • There's a stray current flowing from my monitor through the VGA cable to the PC. Is this safe?

    - by EApubs
    I have two monitors in my machine. One is an old LCS samsung monitor. Recently, I started to hear a small hum in my speakers (subwoofer) and replaced them. The new one also got the issues then I found our that its a grounding issue. I unplugged the PC's power chord. The monitor is still switched on. When I checked, there's current in the earth pin (ground pin). When I unplug the monitor, there's no current and the speaker is normal. Now, I have moved that monitor to my dad's machine and took his monitor. My question is, is it a big issues? The house's earthing system is working and its grounding the current. I won't feel it if I touch the machine like in many other cases. But still, is it good to keep that monitor attached to my machine? Can it harm the computer? What should I do?

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  • What is this very short power cable called?

    - by Portman
    I have a couple of networking components in my rack that take giant AC adapters ("power bricks") that don't fit neatly into my rackmount PDU. I have one "thingy" that is shown below, and I need to buy a few more. But I have no idea what I'm searching for because I don't know what the "thingy" is called. Yes, this drawing is terrible. I would ask my 4-year-old to draw it for me because she's a better artist, but she's taking a nap.

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  • Why did my power supply fry itself?

    - by ULTRA_POROV
    I am in europe. There was a switch on my psu that could switch the voltage between 230v and 130v (not 100% sure). In europe we use 230. I switched the psu to 110 and turned it on. Several sparks and a power failiure resulted, the psu was fried. Can someone explain why this happened. I was assuming that because the system was using 230 and the psu only draws 130 it would be safe cause it's less. I guess i was wrong. Can someone explain me the physics behind this.

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  • How to find polarity of a power supply that's lacking the customary markings

    - by Nosredna
    If I have a power supply (not a computer power supply, just a battery-replacing wall wart) and it doesn't have the usual polarity marking, how to I know if the tip is positive or negative? Update: I couldn't find my multimeter. I did find a model number on the power supply and typed it into Google. Some guy selling a bunch of power supplies on eBay had checked it and found that it was tip positive, which is what I needed!

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  • Temporary boot problem after thunder storm - likely causes?

    - by alastairs
    The village where I live was sat under a thunder cloud for most of Friday, and we suffered a few power fluctuations (specifically, what seemed to be split-second outages). When I got back home from work, I found that my PCs had shut down during one of these outages. When I went to boot one of them back up, I couldn't get anything to display on screen, nor did the boot seem to complete correctly. I tried a number of things - unplugging different bits of hardware, swapping graphics adaptors, etc. - to no avail. I thought I was looking at a fried motherboard or CPU. Power seemed to be distributed correctly to the peripherals (the drives all appeared to be working) so I figured it couldn't be the PSU. Eventually I unplugged it from the mains and left it overnight (approx 12hrs unplugged). I tried it again this morning, and it booted up correctly. Woo-hoo! I have all my equipment protected by surge-protected power strips, so I don't think a spike caused these problems. Obviously it has something to do with the power fluctuations, and maybe the PSU in the problem machine got itself confused somehow. The questions are, for future reference and to help people with similar problems: What are the likely causes of the boot failure I experienced? Is a UPS a simple and cost-effective solution, or might other things help prevent this happening in future? What UPS can you recommend (my budget is limited)?

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  • How to calculate power/energy taken by computer and screen

    - by r0ca
    I need to investigate how much power my linux machine uses per week. I can take a look at the PSU but I would like to know how to calculate the average use of power it takes. I also need to know how much power a CRT screen use per week. Do I need to check the PSU Watt unit and Screen Watt usage and just add both to have the results? P.S. My english is not good, sorry about that! P.P.S. My question is not related to: http://superuser.com/questions/9946/how-to-choose-a-ups-calculate-power-for-a-new-pc

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  • Distorted Sound

    - by BCable
    I have my laptop hooked up to my receiver for sound output. I hear a hissing/crackling background sound that is really loud and hard to just ignore (but possible). When my 360 is connected, the sound comes out perfect, so it's just with this laptop. Previously, I thought it was just my laptop and just submissively just let it slide. I just bought a brand new laptop though and it's doing the same thing. I have found out more information now that I know it's not my laptop. I have used this laptop in similar environments where it worked just fine (different speakers). I have bought a new cable to connect to my receiver and it did nothing (headphone jack to RCA). I tried different ports on the receiver (Video 1-3) and it always happens. I have discovered that the sound goes away if I unplug my laptop (so it's running on battery). Because of the last one, I tried plugging my laptop into a different outlet across the room and it's STILL doing it. Doesn't matter if I boot to Linux or Windows, yet my phone (Android G1) doesn't cause this sound using the exact same cable. Any ideas? I'm out of them! Thanks!

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  • Laptop battery: is voltage really important to respect?

    - by Fox
    I got an Acer Aspire 5100 and I just bought a new battery (after the stock battery just died yesterday). But I saw something after buying and I'm wondering whether it's really important or not. My stock battery was a 6-cell 4000mah 11.1v and the new battery is an 8-cell 4800mah 14.8v . I know that 8-cell and 4800mah is okay, but what about the 14.8v instead of 11.1v? The battery description says it's compatible with my laptop model (AS5100, model BL51), but the voltage difference makes me wonder. Will the laptop only take what it needs? Or will it be getting 14.8v straight in the brain? I know that my wall plug claims to output 19v, so logically I'm thinking a higher voltage battery shouldn't be a problem. Am I correct in thinking this? Thanks in advance for your answers!

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  • Performing mechanical movements using computer

    - by Vi
    How to make a computer (in particular, my laptop) to perform some mechanical movements without buying anything $5, soldering things inside computer or creating big sophisticated circuits? Traditionally CD-ROM tray is used to make computer do some movement IRL by, for example, SSH command, but in laptop tray is one-shot (unless manually reloaded) and also not very comfortable [mis]usage. Some assistance circuits can be in use too, but not complex. For example, there is a little motor that can work on USB power. Devices in my computer: DVD-ROM tray: one-time push. USB power: continuous power to the motor or LEDS or relay that turns on something powerful. Audio card. 3 outputs (modprobe alsa model=test can set Mic and Line-in as additional output). One controllable DC output (microphone) that can power up LED and some electronic (may be even mechanic?) relay. Also with sophisticated additional circuiting can control a lot of devices with a good precision. Both input and output support. Probably the most useful object in computer for radio ham. Modem. Don't know about this much, it doesn't work because of hsfmodem crashes kernel if memory is = 1GB. May be it's "pick up" and "hang up" can turn on and off power taken from USB port? Video card. VGA port? S-Video port? Will them be useful? Backlight. Tunable, but probably unuseful. CardBus (or some) slot. Nothing interesting for the task probably (is it?). AC adapter and battery. Probably nothing programmable here. /* My AC adapter already have additional jacks to connect extra devics */ Keyboard. No use. Touchpad. Good sensor (synclient -m 1), but no output. Various LEDs inside laptop. Probably too weak and requires soldering. Fans inside laptop. Poor control over them, requires soldering and dangerous to tinker. HDD (internal and external) that can be spin down and up (hdparm -Y, cat /dev/ubb). But connecting anything serially with it's power line makes HDD underpowered... And too complex. Is something are missed? Any ideas how to use described components? Any other ideas? May be there are easily available /* in developing countries */ cheap devices like "enhanced multimeters" that are controllable from computer and can provide configurable output and measure current and other things? Things to aid pushing many physical buttons with computer. Isn't this a simple idea and implementation and a lot of use in good hands?

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  • Computer wont POST after power outage

    - by aaron
    I had just turned my computer on and windows was loading when the power in my neighborhood went out. Normally, when I turn my computer on, the video card fan spins up, then slows down, POST and windows boots. Now, after the blackout, the video card fan spins fast and wont stop. Nothing is displayed on the monitor. The monitor does not detect that the video card is sending it signals, it just stays on standby. No POST or beep codes. This is what I have tried so far: My motherboard has 2 PCI express slots and I tried plugging the video card into both of them but that didn't fix anything. I have replaced the power supply, that didn't fix anything. I cleared the CMOS, that didn't fix anything. Does anyone have any idea of what could be wrong? Thanks!

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  • Is surge protection actually needed?

    - by andrew
    Am I am an idiot for not using a surge protected powerboard? Does this mean my computer gets fried in a power outage? Which particular parts of the computer are most vulnerable to damage if I get a 'surge'? Sorry for being a newb.

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