Hi all Readers,

We always try to publish useful circuits and topics for our readers. After publishing an article we usually measure how well it was received among our readers. We have two options for measuring success of an article published; first being the number of page views it has got and the second being the number of comments. Among our team we believe the second measure that’s “number of comments” is the best available criteria for calculating success of an article.

A “comment” is an opinion made by a valuable reader about a particular article. It may be a positive acknowledgment, a criticism, a doubt, a correction, sometimes a suggestion and sometimes an answer to a doubt. What ever it may be we believe comments make an article rich. Comments give article a Life! Web 2.0 makes possibility for a great user interaction compared to old ages of static web!

What are the advantages of “Comment-ing” on an article ?

• Reader can instantly publish his opinion about the article
• Reader can ask any doubt of his and get an answer very quickly
• Reader can criticize and point out the mistakes
• Reader can share similar thoughts or advanced concepts of the same
• Reader can help other people by clearing their doubts – by taking part in interaction

I am going to list all the published articles in Circuits Today which has got at least 15+ Comments. We consider these articles as really successful  and this list may be helpful for our daily readers to have further interaction; hence improve their knowledge.

1. Infrared motion detector circuit – Enjoys 1st position with 81 comments so far. This is a VERY HOT topic.

2. 150 Watt amplifier circuit -  Stands 2nd with 75 comments. Another HOT & Active topic.

3.  Automatic LED Emergency Light -  Now on 3rd position with 73 comments. This HOT discussion is on a race!

4. 100 Watt inverter circuit – 62 Comments

5. Long Range FM Transmitter – 52 Comments

6. Battery charger circuit using SCR – 50 Comments

7. Single Chip FM Radio circuit – (35)

8. 100 Watt sub woofer amplifier -(30)

9.  AM Transmitter circuit – (28)

10. Remote control tester circuit – (27)

11. Simple Water Level Indicator

12. Lead acid battery charger circuit

13. Fire alarm circuit

14. TV transmitter circuit

15. 2 km FM transmitter

16. Simple Electronic Combination Lock using IC LS 7220

17.  High & Low voltage cut-off with delay& alarm

18. Light activated switch circuit

19. 50 W transistor amplifier

20. Air flow detector circuit

So that’s it! 20 HOT& Active posts listed above. Choose one that you like and be a part of it!!

Description.
This jet engine sound generator circuit is based on the sound generator IC HT2844P from Holtek Semiconductors. This particular IC can make four sounds namely low speed sound of jet engine, high speed sound of jet engine, missile sound and machine gun sound. Each of these sounds can be activated by connecting the pins 12, 13, 14and 15 to ground by using the respective push button switches. Resistor R3 can be used for manually increasing or decreasing the speed.LED D1 gives a visible indication of the sound.

Circuit diagram.

Notes.

• The circuit can be powered from a 3V battery.
• Do not give more than 3.3V to the IC.
• K1 can be a 200mW/8 Ohm speaker.
• IC1 must be mounted on a holder.

Description.

This is a simple and easy to construct digital dice circuit. The circuit is based on a single IC, CD4060B.The dice consists of six LEDs marked D1 to D6.The number of LEDs glowing indicates the numeral.

The heart of this circuit is 14 stage binary ripple counter IC CD4060B.The IC also has a built-in oscillator. The oscillator output (here 2 KHz) is used to clock the binary ripple counter. The counter increments by one in its natural count sequence each time it is clocked. The oscillator in initially inhibited as long as the pushbutton switch S2 is not pressed. The counter outputs will be in logic zero state and all the six LEDs will be ON.As the push button S2 is pressed, oscillator is enabled and the counter starts counting. The counter outputs (pin 4, 5 & 7) changes from 000 to 101 and then resets to 000 to repeat the sequence. After 101 the counter does not advances to 110 because of R3, D7 & D8.When the counter just advances from 101 to 110 the diodes D7 & D8 become reverse biased and makes the reset pin (pin 12) high to reset the counter.

The counter counts as long as the push button switch S2 is pressed. Also the micro buzzer will sound as long as the IC is counting. When the push button switch S2 is released, the counting is stopped and holds the existing state to represent the random number.

Circuit diagram with Parts list.

Notes.

• Switch S1 is the ON/OFF switch.
• Switch S2 can be a push button switch.
• Buzzer K1 is a piezo buzzer.
• The circuit can be powered from a 9V PP3 battery.
• The IC must be mounted on a holder.

Description.
This is a simple single chip metal detector circuit based on IC CS209A from the Cherry Semiconductors. A 100uH coil is used to sense the presence of metal. The IC CS209A has a built in oscillator circuit and the coil L1 forms a part of its external LC circuit which determines the frequency of oscillation. The inductance of the coil change in the presence of metals and the resultant change in oscillation is demodulated to create an alarm. The LED gives a visual indication too. This circuit can sense metals up to a distance of few inches.

Circuit diagram with Parts list.

Notes.

• Assemble the circuit on a general purpose PCB.
• The switch S1 can be a slide type ON/OFF switch.
• The IC must be mounted on a holder.
• The POT R1 can be used to adjust the sensitivity of the circuit.

Descrption.

This is a simple circuit in which the glowing LED can be switched OFF just by a puff. A condenser mic (M1) is used to sense your puff. When the push button S1 is pressed, the transistors Q2 and Q3 wired as latching pair gets activated and drives the LED to glow. The LED remains in this condition. When you puff on the condenser mic, the sound pressure is converted into a voltage signal at its output. This voltage signal will be amplified by the transistor Q1.Since the collector of the Q1 is coupled to the emitter of the latching pair, the pair will stop conducting when ever there is a signal from the condenser mic due to puffing and the LED will go OFF.  The push button switch S1 has to be pressed again to switch the LED ON.

Circuit diagram with Parts list.

Notes.

• The circuit can be powered from a 3V battery.
• The M1 can be a general purpose condenser microphone.
• The switch S1 can be push button switch.
• The circuit can be assembled on a good quality PCB or common board.
• Instead of the LED, you can also try a low power 3V bulb.