Author: admin

1 min 0

IR code finder LCD version

My friend Rick sent this over to me which he managed to get working – it is a sketch which displays the results of an infra-red remote control hex codes on an LCD display. Ideal for if you want to use those cheap Chinese remote controls for your electronics projects but are unsure what key […]
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1 min 0

Further firmware update for my 6 digit ATMega328P clock

With collaboration with my friend Rick, I have updated the firmware for my clock and his version as well. My version shows the hours and minutes on 1.8″ displays and the seconds on 0.8″ displays. Rick’s version uses 4″ high digits driven from my display driver boards discussed in a previous blog post with alternate […]
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2 min 0

MDL-150 Electronic load and battery tester review

The MDL-150 battery capacity tester and DC electronic load A great inexpensive unit that performs as expected and is really good value for money. User interface could use some improvement but otherwise I highly recommend it for hobbyists for occasional use. Oh yeah, throw away the dangerous power supply that comes with it and use […]
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2 min 3

SPI driver board for large 2-8″ 7 segment displays

As part of a collaboration project through contact with a member of Instructables who had seem my large LED clock project I made some serial driver boards for his project adapted from mine which uses 4″ high LED displays and uses the decimal points as the colons with alternate digits inverted. These driver boards are […]
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2 min 0

Harrier GR5 engine diagnostic computer DRU unit teardown

Here I have a PRS-2026C Data Retrieval unit which is part of the GEC-Marconi (formerly Plessey Avionics) ESD2020 system used for fault diagnosis and servicing of the Harrier GR5 and the AV8B aircraft. These are no longer used by the air force and find themselves onto eBay and other military surplus sites. I was donated […]
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1 min 0

Russian Avionics ARK-22 Radio Compass teardown

In this teardown article I have a Russian ARK-22 radio compass control box which was part of the avionics and miscellaneous items I was donated for my YouTube channel. I have not taken any Russian avionics apart before so this was an interesting find. It took a while to find some information on this unit […]
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3 min 0

Vandling / Global NDB-2 aircraft navigation unit teardown

More aircraft avionics to take a look at again. This time we have a Global NDB-2 which is an optional unit for the GNS-500A navigation system commonly fitted to private business jets. This unit is a “databank” containing coordinates and other information for over 20,000 airports and airfields worldwide. It consists of a main unit […]
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1 min 0

Plessey PV1754X military radio control box teardown

In a various spending spree of avionics I bought on eBay I have a radio control box for a Plessey PTR-1751 military radio, a common unit used in several aircraft including helicopters during the 1980s and 1990’s. The radio has 7000 channels across 25khz intervals as well as AM reception on 243Mhz for emergency use. […]
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