Morse Code By Light | Project 1/10 | Maxitronix 10in1 | Learning Electronics In The Lab With Jay Jay

This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video on this show’s homepage which is here.

You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

In this video I do the first the Maxitronix 10in1 Electronic Project Lab project: Morse Code By Light.

Stay tuned for the upcoming projects. If you’re interested in seeing them don’t forget to subscribe!

Also, if you’re interested in getting any of these Maxitronix kits yourself the best place I know to look is on eBay. Let me know if you find them somewhere else!

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe!


Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

Yum Cha Magnetic Claw Pickup ToolThis is an image of the product.notes

Let’s go shopping!

Introducing Maxitronix 10in1 | Maxitronix 10in1 | Learning Electronics In The Lab With Jay Jay

This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video on this show’s homepage which is here.

You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

In this video I introduce the Maxitronix 10in1 Electronic Project Lab. This kit has 10 projects which we will be working through in future videos.

I did check out the URL listed on the manual: www.maxitronix.com — but there’s nothing there any more, it is simply listed as for sale. I tried looking in archive.org but I only found some default content from the hosting provider.

Stay tuned for the upcoming projects. If you’re interested in seeing them don’t forget to subscribe!

Also, if you’re interested in getting any of these Maxitronix kits yourself the best place I know to look is on eBay. Let me know if you find them somewhere else!

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe!


Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

ZKETECH EBD-A20H Electronic LoadThis is an image of the product.notes

Let’s go shopping!

6 Horribly Common PCB Design Mistakes and AppCAD

Today I enjoyed watching 6 Horribly Common PCB Design Mistakes and the follow-up video Design Mistakes You Must Avoid on Your New Electronic Product.

In the first video I learned about AppCAD Design Assistant which is a free tool which boasts a broad bunch of features (and, particularly, it can help you design an antenna on your PCB):

  • S-Parameter Analysis and Plotting
  • Active Circuit Bias Design
  • Cascade Noise and IP3 Analysis
  • Transmission Line Analysis
  • Signals and Systems
  • Complex Math Engineering Calculator

I haven’t used AppCAD yet, but I will check it out soon.

Old Book Teardown #3: Vest Pocket Guide To Electrical Testing And Troubleshooting (1987)

This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video on this show’s homepage which is here.

You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

Silly Job Title: Charge Charmer

This video is part of the Old Book feature of my video blog.

In this video we take a quick look at Vest Pocket Guide To Electrical Testing And Troubleshooting by John E. Traister published in 1987 with 130 pages.

In the video I also wish everyone a happy new year, talk a little about upcoming Xin1 projects, and mention how expensive it will be to upgrade my scope to 350 MHz.

And if you’re interested the Wikipedia page for Logic Analyzer says that the first commercially available instrument to be called a “Logic Analyzer” was the HP 5000A Logic Analyzer, introduced in October 1973.

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe!


Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

Victorinox Swiss Champ Red Swiss Army KnifeThis is an image of the product.notes

Let’s go shopping!

BIOS settings for ‘verve’

I went hunting in the BIOS for ‘verve‘ which has a ASUS PRIME B550M-A motherboard and I found I needed to change two settings.

The first setting was Advanced -> CPU Configuration -> SVM Mode = Enabled. This enables AMD-V and allows the CPU to function in a hypervisor.

The second setting was Advanced -> Onboard Devices Configuration -> USB power delivery in Soft Off state (SS) = Disabled. This fixes the problem with the power button not working as discussed here: Earth leakage hack.

Earth leakage hack

Happy New Year! Best wishes to all my friends for 2024.

I have this weird problem with my new studio computer ‘verve‘. When I press the power button, it doesn’t turn on. It does have 15 USB cables plugged into it, and quite a number of those are powered, which seems to affect the system.

The power for most of the devices on my bench goes through a PowerShield Defender 1600VA UPS battery, and then through an Arlec PB91 Residual Current Device (RCD).

The RCD has a test feature so you can press the button on the RCD and it will trip the safety which will disconnect the power. If I do this most of the equipment on my bench will turn off (but, importantly, not my workstation ‘verve’) including all the powered USB devices which are interfering with my computer.

After I trip the RCD I can power on my computer, and then once it’s powered on I can reset the RCD and bench power is restored. It’s a bit fiddly but at least it works!