Why use catalogues
I'm a fan of using manufacturers catalogues. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, if your involved in the purchase of equipment, you will likely...
Batteries
A battery consists of one or more cells, each of which use stored chemical energy to produce electrical energy, There are many types of cells and these...
Bows and Arrows
It starts with me reading one of the Horrible History books with my son (Groovy Greeks). Arrows were mentioned which lead to the discussion of the bodkin...
Star-Delta Motor Starting - Performance
Many questions sent in to the site are in connection with motor starting and in particular star-delta. For all but the simplest application, there is...
Photovoltaic (PV) - Electrical Calculations
Photovoltaic (PV) cells (sometimes called solar cells) convert solar energy into electrical energy. Every year more and more PV systems are installed...
Mobile Phones (Brick to Implant)
The mobile phone was born in 1973. They were the size of a brick and weighed a couple of kg, making them difficult to fit into your pocket. At a few thousand...
Electromechanical Relays
Electromechanical relays have been the traditional backbone of electrical protection systems. While over recent years these have been replaced by microprocessor...
UPS Sizing - Rules of Thumb
It wasn't so long ago I was telling someone that I don't use rules of thumb as most things are easily calculated anyhow. As it turns out I last week...
Thomas Edison
American inventor Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio on February 11, 1847. He was the youngest of seven children and received little formal schooling...
Lithium Ion Battery
Over recent years the Lithium Ion battery has become popular in applications requiring high power densities with small weight and footprint. Today Lithium...