words » Electronics http://www.curlybrace.com/words by Jeff Fitzsimons Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:21:03 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Saving Money on Arduino Basic Starter Kit http://www.curlybrace.com/words/2011/07/01/saving-money-on-arduino-basic-starter-kit/ http://www.curlybrace.com/words/2011/07/01/saving-money-on-arduino-basic-starter-kit/#comments Sat, 02 Jul 2011 05:14:38 +0000 Jeff Fitzsimons http://www.curlybrace.com/words/?p=1813 Continue reading →]]> Several sites are selling Arduino “basic starter kits” for around $55. That’s not a bad deal, but they tack on around ten dollars in shipping! These kits generally include:

  • Arduino UNO board
  • “Getting Started with Arduino” book
  • Breadboard
  • Jumpers
  • USB A to B cable

I put together my own bundle on Amazon, with free shipping, which costs significantly less:

The total price was $42.84, with free shipping. I saved $22, and the only things missing are a USB cable and some wire jumpers for the breadboard. I have a $2 roll of solid core wire from the local electronics shop for jumpers, and who doesn’t have USB cables laying around?

If you really want purpose-built jumper wires, I have read good things about the NKC Electronics 70 pack ($4.95 + $4.75 S/H) and the CanaKit Premium 30-pack ($7.95 + a whopping $12.52 S/H) looks like it has very high-quality, rectangular connectors.

]]> http://www.curlybrace.com/words/2011/07/01/saving-money-on-arduino-basic-starter-kit/feed/ 0 Entertainment Center Power Consumption http://www.curlybrace.com/words/2008/05/27/entertainment-center-power-consumption/ http://www.curlybrace.com/words/2008/05/27/entertainment-center-power-consumption/#comments Tue, 27 May 2008 16:10:52 +0000 Jeff Fitzsimons http://www.curlybrace.com/words/?p=118 Continue reading →]]> I used my Kill A Watt to measure the power consumption of various items in my entertainment center.

PVR

Antec case, Biotstar TF-7050M2 motherboard, Hauppauge tuners, 2.5″ Hitachi drive.

  • 80 watts peak at bootup
  • 65 watts nominal

Dell 2001FP 20.1″ LCD monitor

(not normally part of my entertainment center, but I was using it to reconfigure the PVR’s BIOS, so it was in the general area)

  • Monitor off: 1 watt
  • Monitor asleep: 3 watts
  • Monitor active: ?? watts

XBox 360

  • Off: 3 watts
  • Starting up: 160 watts
  • Loading GTA IV: 155 watts
  • In-game: 188 – 195 watts

Samsung 32″ CRT television

  • Off: 3 watts
  • Startup: 483 watts (momentary)
  • On: 92 watts
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