How do you test the oscillator circuit you just made that runs between 200MHz and 380MHz if all you have is a 100MHz oscilloscope, a few multimeters and a DC power supply? One answer is to put away ...

While using a digital multimeter to diagnose electrical problems on customers’ equipment, I frequently hear the comment, “I’ve got one of those multimeter things, but I never learned how to use it.” ...

Today I got a multimeter (nothing fancy, precision is +/-0.5% for DC current to tweak my lines (Antec Truecontrol).<BR><BR>Findings:<BR>- motherboard measurments are generally unreliable, for instance ...

When your car doesn’t start, often a low or dead battery is the culprit. Unfortunately, most vehicle owners do not check their battery until it fails. As preventative maintenance, the suggested best ...

My stepfather wired my basement and I'm installing the outlets (eg. placing the wire on the outlet itself), but I'm not sure which circuit breakers to turn off.<BR><BR>How can I tell if a power line ...

Measuring voltages is fairly straightforward most of the time. Simply grab any old cheap multimeter, hook up the probes, and read off the answer. If, however, you need to measure very tiny voltages, ...

To measure a zener diode’s breakdown voltage, you need a dc voltage source whose voltage exceeds that of the zener voltage. In Figure 1, resistor R SER provides voltage drop between V IN and V ZEN. In ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Technology journalist specializing in audio, computing and Apple Macs. Plugable is one of those fascinating companies that make ...