13 July 2024

Water-Cooled Breadboards

From Wikipedia, A breadboard, solderless breadboard, or protoboard is a construction base used to build semi-permanent prototypes of electronic circuits.

Unlike a perfboard or stripboard, breadboards do not require soldering or destruction of tracks and are hence reusable.

For this reason, breadboards are also popular with students and in technological education.

A variety of electronic systems may be prototyped by using breadboards, from small analog and digital circuits to complete central processing units (CPUs).

OK, this post is a quick introduction to water-cooled breadboards, which may be a little unfamiliar to many beginners and hobbyists!


Thorlabs' Water-Cooled Breadboards are versions of their anodized aluminum breadboards that have been plumbed to accept a water or coolant supply.

They feature a standard 1" (25 mm) hole pattern and are ideal for applications involving sensors, detectors, lasers, LEDs, or other apparatuses that may require temperature stabilization.

These water-Cooled breadboards can be used in applications requiring cooling or heating.

  • Cool or Heat Work Surface via Internal Water Channels (0 to 60 °C)
  • Matte Black-Anodized Finish Reduces Reflections
  • Through-Tapped Mounting Holes

Below is the image of Throlab's MBC3030/M Water-Cooled Breadboard (300 mm x 300 mm x 12.7 mm, M6 Taps).

More details, drawings, and documents are available. Click Here → MBC3030/M


Maybe we will go into this a little more in a later post. See you then!

11 July 2024

Electronics Blog Update!

Dear Readers & Visitors...

As you know, this electronics blog started a few years back.

But due to our busy professional schedules and some other reasons beyond our control, we were not able to satisfy you with valuable contents till now.

At this moment, we are extremely happy to announce that we are now back on track with the support of a few veterans around us.

So, from now you can see awesome technical (especially electronics) content here. Our blog posts are scheduled to be posted every Tuesday and/or Saturday.

  • CIRCUITS
  • DESIGN IDEAS
  • REVIEWS
  • PROJECTS
  • TEARDOWNS
  • TUTORIALS
  • INTERVIEWS

& More interesting things to come... Stay Tuned...

Thank you for your valuable cooperation till date. Looking forward to your continued support.

It is often the small steps, not the giant leaps, that bring about the most lasting change!

--Team electroTEKSNiX 

08 July 2024

Sharp Optical Dust Sensors

The GP2Y1010AU0F and GP2Y1014AU0F from Sharp are the most common and widely used optical air dust sensors tailored for sensing dust particles.

An infrared emitting diode (IRED) and a phototransistor are diagonally arranged into these devices, which allows detection of the reflected light of dust in air. It is very effective in detecting very fine particles like the cigarette smoke.




These Sharp products are probably true for all the cheap (i.e. hobbyist) optical dust sensor using the infrared light scattering technique. The sensor module has a 6-pin connector and the electronic inside the shell is split in two parts, the IRED (emitting part) and the phototransistor (receiving part).

The provided analog output is proportional with the concentration of the dust particle in the air.

See the DATASHEET



02 July 2024

Geiger-Muller Tube - Mullard ZP1481

The Mullard ZP1481 Geiger-Muller Tube is a halogen quenched metal tube with a thin end window!

It is used for detecting alpha, beta and gamma radiation and is recommended as a general purpose tube for use with radioactive sources in schools.

A removable protective mesh cap of plastic is fitted over the window and the body has a thin plastic coating.

Mullard ZP1481 Features:

  • Sensitive to alpha, beta and gamma radiation
  • Threshold voltage: max. 400V
  • Plateau length: min. 100V
  • Recommended supply voltage: 450V
  • Operating temperature: -40 to +75°C
  • Dead time (at 450V): 120μs
  • Anode/cathode capacity: 3.5pF
  • Sensitivity for 1mR/L radium: 1650 counts min-1
  • Window thickness: 2.5 - 3.0 mg cm-2
  • Dimensions overall: 76mm x 26mm diameter
  • Life expectancy at approx. 25°C: 5x10¹° counts

An appropriate Geiger-Muller Tube Holder is essential to start experimenting with this GM Tube. Usually GM Tube Holders are sold separately.

This post is based on information found at https://www.findel-international.com/ 

And, below is the link to get more details about Mullard ZP1481



According to Wikipedia, The Geiger–Müller tube or G–M tube is the sensing element of the Geiger counter instrument used for the detection of ionizing radiation.

It is named after Hans Geiger, who invented the principle in 1908, and Walther Müller, who collaborated with Geiger in developing the technique further in 1928 to produce a practical tube that could detect a number of different radiation types.