Is it my imagination or did a lot of the entries in the Soft Circuit take a ratings drop.  Since most ratings are at 4 or above the majority of those entered into the contest are below 4, and I think this happened over night.  I was looking at someones entry this morning an was surprised at how low the rating was. When I looked at  other contest entries they all seemed unusually low. Also mine had dropped from 4.17 to 3.67 overnight.  Is this a bug? 

I'm designing a circuit for a very high precision installation, and I need to regulate a 6VDC supply to 5VDC. I have looked at various regulators, but most seem to require at least 2v above the output. It also needs to be very precise, available in a 500mA package, and have a very low current draw. The less external components required, the better. Voltage dividers won't work as the battery will vary in voltage from full to empty.

When useing true bypass a considerable volume drop occurs. no poping or distortion engaged or nonengaged (effect ) is present.

Killerjackolope happened to drop this phrase into an otherwise unrelated thread:Oh by the way I'm going to be speaking in westminster abbey...Aside from the lack of capitalisation, we must ask ourselves... why? and to whom?Do tell, KJL...

I have a 12v led bulb, I need to connect the led bulb to 12V rechargeable battery  and connect bulb for  long distance from battery and i connect the bulb i won't  work, i think the voltage drop would be the  answer and how can i solve that????

Hello Guys, Not been on this website in around 2 years or so, seen a few emails and thought I would call in and see what innovation + time has brought to k'nex, and I must say I've seen quite a few bits I like. It definitely got my very creative mind turning, sadly I just don't have the time to build anything, but I thought you may want a little catch up on what I've been doing and simply I've secured a position in a line of engineering which I really do enjoy as it gets my creative mind flowing, I also have a computer 'hobby' as you could say, building custom computers etc... and I have a hobby in carpentry making furniture of useful items. I think its safe to say I haven't lost the creative spirit and as long as you stick with your skills you will be able to do similar things all your life. I would like to also add on the end anyone who is looking to purchase some k'nex let me know I still have around 5-6 thousand pieces remaining which I would like to get rid of... so anyways ill leave this story here and hope to talk to some of you again. :)

Is there any way to calculate the voltage drop of a resistor value? For example, if I had a 47 ohm resistor, would its voltage drop equal -30V, -857358V, or -0.5V?

Ok, so I was using the Water Drop Paint effect iBle, but when I was done, I realized my plan had a big downfall - it's almost dark.Is there a good way to evaporate the water drops without using wind, which would blow the drops around (i.e., blow dryer)?Thanks!

how many of you have been on a drop zone or a ride like the tower of terror but open? i will be making it out of knex and posting it here

I accidentally entered 4 contest with 1 instructable, how can i leave one, or dropout of one 

I have severed my sciatic nerve and have a permanent toe drop. I need a splint like device to keep my ankle at a 90 degree angle. I would like it to fit inside my sneakers. If somebody has an idea please share because my wrists aren't going to be able to handle my cane much longer. 

As the title suggest, I am dropping out of the tournament. There are several reasons why.1. People don't like the founder of the contest being in it.2. I want to judge this last round personally so people probably won't like me judging my own entry.3. I already started taking apart my unfinished entry.For all those wondering, this was going to be my entry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6ekJEyP_FE

I want to limit two 9V battieries, in serial to 12v. I want to run a cold cathode off em, if the strain is too much, I'll join two parralell sets of two 9v batteries in the circuit. Anyway, how do I do it? I can't find any 12V regulators at all, and I don't know what sort of resistor I'd need, is there one that would limit it to 12V, with the standard 9V battery ampage? How could I archive this? Thanks.

I spin yarn from wool roving, how do i make a drop spindle to do this?

The goal is to reduce speed of my Egg drop contraption but still spinning to keep it accurate.? Basicly its this. 8 blades on a octagon frame then String and then my shock absorbing egg carrier. What way would I want to set my Blades so that it doesn't speed through the air?

Its chinese

Hi all, I recently gave away a table that was too large and, in return, got a smaller one. It is 36" exactly across. It's smaller, but still not small enough for my liking. Does anyone have any ideas on how to convert it to have two of the sides hinged, drop-leaf style? That part is easy enough, I suppose, but my real question is how to make those drop leafs functional if I need more space. I know the picture is terrible; I haven't actually picked the table up yet, this is what I was sent. Any ideas?

The new drop-down menu, pretty though it is, does not work fully on touch screens (Android tablet and phone). The main menu works fine, but the sub-menu that pops out from shortcuts (circled in image) does not stay visible long enough to actually use - it disappears in a fraction of a second. Not a debilitating bug, but mildly annoying.

Ok, so this one has been bothering me for a while. I hook my camera up via USB to my computer, and drag the pictures I took to folders on my hard drive. I liked this method because I didn't have to name pictures, and it was a helluva lot faster. But, for a while now, I haven't been able to drag and drop pictures to folders. I don't know why. Right now, I'm forced to use Windows Picture Wizard, which I detest. I've checked, and it seems to be my camera, because I can drag and drop from folder to folder on my computer. I'm running XP, it's a Canon Powershot S3 IS, and I'm working on a fairly big iBle. Please, don't say it's because I have a Canon (W-Burg)! Thanks for any help!

Hello, I own a Brunton Solaris 6 solar panel with the power rating of 12v 6W and short circuit voltage of 19v. We were living together just fine until I got a Yaesu Vx-8dr Radio. It charges on 12v 0.5A AC adapter. I decided to charge it with my PV but when I connect the panel voltage drops under 12v to 9v and Radio doesn't charge showing a External DC tag which indicates the lower voltage. The only time I get a charge with this setup is when the panel oriented to the sun perfectly in high solar conditions which is too perfect to sustain. I tried to wire it with 80 Ohm resister to limit the current but didn't help. How can I stabilize the voltage and also carry the solution in my backpack? Thank you for your attention and help.

I need to know how much it weights because it looks heavy

Hello all! I am seeking some suggestions on creating a mechanism for dropping a 20-25lb. New Year's eve ball. We used this Instructable to make our Godzilla sparkleball as an NYE ball, and it's pretty rockin' (thanks vwluvrs). We dropped the ball from my friend's attic last year, lowering it by hand. Manual lowering is SO last year, and we're looking to improve the drop by automating the process. Oh, and we'd like to keep this at $20 or lower :) Any ideas? Thanks for any input! I will be happy to post a vid of the drop, even if we end up lowering by hand.

I want to make one automatic water drop down instrument , and i need help. i need it for water surface angle determining

In the Editor, when I'm trying to drag and drop text, it doesn't work. In place of dropping the text, the Editor thinks that I want to drop a picture and opens the Upload window frame. The bug occurs if I drag and drop from the editor to the editor or from external program to the editor. Solution : Dropping text should be allowed when the focus is on the text box. PC : Windows XP. Browser : Mozilla Firefox 27.0.1

Hello everybody I think you might find this exercise fun and at the same time original ideas are needed! Thanks In advance!! I'm studying design and this exercise has become a classic at my school. Since 10 years ago students have tried to reach the objective but also to develop an original and creative solution. The exercise is to develop a kind of device in order to be able to drop an egg from a window in the first floor and land it safely on the ground at a distance that has to be less than 3 cm from it. Plain Parachutes and slides are forbidden as they are too obvious unless they have a distinctive aspect and also you can`t wrap the egg in something soft (like a pillow) and drop it. Important things to take notice are: -The person has to loose all contact with the egg (You can´t hold a fishing rod with an egg on the end of the line and slowly get it down). -It must be a raw chicken egg Thanks!!

If you don't know what a dead drop is, it is a USB device mounted in a wall, in a public space where anyone can access it. Anyways, I have heard there is one at the the Instructables HQ in San Francisco. Is it still there, and does anyone know what's on it? Next time I am in San Francisco I will have to check it out!  

Hi, i have to build a toy car or something like it, powered by rubber bands so its no problem, the thing is that it has to travel 31ft on a straight line, and then stop at 31ft and drop an egg. the egg must survive the fall from the car... Any ideas??? I'd consider using some type of braking mechanism. A string wrapped from a front axle to a rear axle would make a great brake. It would work kind of like a cassette tape; winding from one side to the other, and stopping when it's completely transferred form one to the other.

In this answer that I've edited 3 times it keeps dropping spaces between words and running them together. I'm using Firefox.

I found this and it looks pretty sweet, but not really wanting to pay the $25 plus whatever shipping, I thought is there any way to make your own?Well? Is there?I don't know but I'm asking every one out there.Thanks.

Recently my wireless mouse stop working, so I open it to inspect around, and I found out that at the connecting terminal between the battery holder and the mouse PCB, the voltage is only 1V (unplugged from the mouse itself) , but when I take the battery out to measure, each of the battery got 1.5V. And when I measure on the 2 metal ends (of the holder), my multimeter read 1.7V. So, what's wrong with it? Can anyone help me with this? It's really the first time I have a situation like this

I need a very simple way to see if power is ever lost to load.  I am trying to run a long term test of at least 60 days.  I have a UPS that is powering a load and I need to be able to determine if the 12 - 15 V dc that the UPS is providing is ever lost. The UPS has a battery that will supply power if the AC input is lost.  The solution can be very simple and I really don't want the load to be reconnected if the current going to the load is ever lost. I need to know if the load is ever not powered, even for a brief instant.  I was hoping there might be some type of switch that would open if the current stopped flowing through it.  Sorry for the simplicity but I know very little about electronics.  Thanks for any help or advice.

This is anecdotal, since obviously I don't review every single featured Instructable. I just happened to notice two recently that have some nice photos but otherwise seem kind of "incomplete". Absolutely no offense meant to the authors, I'm sure they put a lot of effort into these projects, but the documentation seems lacking and not up to the standards of "someone should be able to reproduce the work": https://www.instructables.com/id/Colorful-LED-Christmas-tree-automaticlly-flashing/ https://www.instructables.com/id/Functional-Nintendo-Controller-Coffee-Table/ The latter especially has nice photos of what is obviously a really nice build, but totally lacks a materials list, wiring diagram, cut instructions for the wood - all information that's essential to actually do the build. There are a couple (nice) comments pointing this out. Just wanted to point this out - not sure if there's someone new on the community team who might be featuring things just because they have nice photos, without checking the text, or if there's been a change in the standards for featuring that I'm unaware of.

Hey all! Long-time lurker, first-time poster. I don't have any instructables up on the site, but I have used many and I do have a biting question....currently, I am trying to create a USB car charger for my MP3 player out of an old CD Car Power Adapter. The MP3 player is a Creative Zen V, so it, of course, usually just charges on my computers with a USB to Mini-USB cable. In the next few months, I am picking up a new stereo for my car with an Aux. input and as I like recycling anything I can, I figured I could just make a charger myself so I could keep my player charged when I'm driving. The old CD Car Power Adapter in question has an output of 6V DC at 500ma. From my research, USB operates on 5V DC at a maximum current of 500ma, so the adapter I have seems almost perfect...? My question is this, how would I lower the voltage of the adapter from 6V to 5V? My second question is, I've read conflicting information on a number of sites....so, IS my information that USB 2,0 operates at a maximum of 500ma correct? If any of you folks would happen to know, and be so kind as to answer, I would be very grateful! I don't want to end up accidentally frying my player!

Dido and the rules are simple the egg must be visible at all times. I was thinking maybe in a bottle filled with water. The egg will be supplied and it should be easy enough to make in 1 or 2 periods of school. Thats about 1-1hour 45min. and I can't be under it to catch it with a sheet. It is a raw egg. No ideas on how to cheat please. answer by friday thanks Miiwii3

Hello guys I have a minor problem, I built a 555 timer circuit and it runs off of 6v. My plan is to use a 9v battery. Will the project be OK or will I need to drop the voltage and how would I go about that? Would I connect a resistor to the positive of the battery then to my project's input? Thanks, 

Recently my computer has decided to stop allowing me to use drag and drop (dragging a file across the desktop, Dragging clips around in Premiere etc) It happens randomly, and there is no obvious cause for it. It can be fixed by relogging, however this solution is rather irritating. I've noticed it affects programs such as Illustrator too, whereby it gets stuck on one tool, and I cannot change it, I'm not sure if this problem is directly related, but it started at the same time. Again, restarting the program fixes this. I've never had this problem before, and I'm totally stumped at what to do to fix it. Any Ideas?

High speed bullet photography is cool - the precision of catching the bullet flying through a carefully-placed target. But how about hitting a moving target?  How about hitting a single drop of water? Dutch photographer Alexander Augusteijn can do it, apparently using normal flashes, but with the timing controlled by computers. Lex Augusteijn Photography via PetaPixel

Is a possible way to super cool a gas (nitrogen or oxygen) to liquid temperatures by using a sub-zero tank of 5000 psi compressed air to blast that gas over a radiator and therefore cool the gas in the radiator to a liquid, then quickly pump it to a chilled high pressure insulated tank.

cant decide what bars to put on my fixed gear, bullhorn, riser, drop, or mustache i just can't decide, any ideas?

So I am going to make a drop riffle sluice box but before I do I thought I would see what people think of them... Are they as good as traditional sluices or should I save the wood and just keep panning?? Thanks

I am building a charger for my apple device, which requires exactly 5V (According to the internet) I am using a voltage booster to get from 3.7V to 5V but the booster outputs about 5.1 - 5.2V. I need a way to drop either 0.1V or 0.2V using a resistor or something. anyone know which one to use? Thanks.

How to drop from 12vdc to 2vdc?  I have some 12volt rocker switches that I have bought for my boat livewell pumps. They have a led light that is supposed to go on when I turn the switch but it doesn't. It says I needs DC 2V 10mA-20mA for LED Light to work. The switch works ok with the pumps, I just would like to have the led on when it operates. How do I drop from 12vdc to 2vdc so I can bring power to the leds? Thanks to all. Lion_Heart

I have laptop charger of 19V 3.42A(65W).i want to step down that 19v to 12v without any decrease in current.i need 12v 3.42+A  what is the simple way? can i use resistors to radius voltage without current drop? can i use LM7812C to get 12v 3.42+A there is ant way to get 12v 5A(65W)

Hi there, I'm working on a circuit which will include a 3v, .7Amp motor and three 20mA LED chips, with a maximum forward voltage of 3.8v. The whole circuit is intended to run off a 6v battery.In calculating resistance for voltage drop, I've figured out that resistance for the motor is 2.1 Ohms and then (by Ohm's Law Resistance = Voltage / Current) the resistance of each LED chip is 190 Ohms. Is this correct? It seems astronomically high.?

Why is that stupid drop down box for Classmate.com in my way when I try to search for anything? I can't make it go away easily; as there is no "x" box in the upper right corner; and it wont go away until- well I'm not sure how i got it to leave anymore. By the time that I got rid of it- I had forgotten my search query. Now, I would never use Classmate.com for anything, Ever!!!

I am looking for a mechanical' 'way of detecting the first raindrops of a shower or worse. This detector then releases a mechanical alarm, which will alert folk who keep their washing on the line as long as possible, to bring it in.The alarm could be sounded by a gravity falling weight (rock) or rewindable spring, driving a rattle, for example.If possible, a windmill action could generate the power to reset the weight.No electronics to be used in this if possible.

That says it all. If I delete my most miserable instructable, I will drop to only 24 published.. Then will the robot change my orange color back to red ?

Hi all  So in one project we have an MDB that with a voltage of L1 : 243 L2 : 245 L3 : 243 , these values are normal in my country but the problem is that in the SDB that is around 100 meters away with around 4.5% voltage drop ( the schools electrician knew what he was doing apparently ) and the voltage at the SDB is L1 : 246 L2 : 250 L3 : 247 , i am a bit confused is why the voltage increased where the voltage drop is high and should be lower at the SDB than the MDB . 

Hi, I want to release droplets of water one-by-one on command, and have been doing some research on how to do that, but I'm wondering if anyone has some other ideas or has heard of a ready-made solution. So far I have come across: ======== -peristaltic pumps with really low flow rates, like the one here http://aptinstruments.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store;_Code=AI∏_Code=SP100VO&Category;_Code= It goes down to 0.09 ml/minute, which should be small enough. I can selectively turn the pump on and off, feeding water to a small tube or dropper end, producing the water drops. These are pretty expensive, the cheapest one I've seen is around $60. ======== -DIY systems like the one pictured here with a solenoid opening and closing a safety pin on a tube. http://www.maggiecarsonromano.com/index.php?/projects/what-made-the-wound-wound-the-thread/ Maybe I could tune the distance of the solenoid so it just opens the pin a tiny amount, and a drop or so is allowed through. ======== -or I could use a more typical water pump, attach it to something with a really small aperture. I could turn the pump on and off. I have a hard time picturing drop-by-drop control with this, I might be able to release very small amounts, and maybe some 2nd reservoir between the motor and dropper could be designed to aid this. ======== Is there a ready-made solution to what I'm trying to do? If I just get a regular water pump what should I look for? Ideally I'd like to get a pump that's as quiet as possible, too. Thanks bros. Josh