LED bulbs we examined are often simpler than those made four years ago, sometimes employing discrete transistors to handle tasks once done via chips. Leland Teschler, Executive Editor Back in 2015, we examined LED bulbs putting out the equivalent of 60-W incandescent bulbs. We recently obtained several new LED bulbs to see how things have […]
Teardowns
Teardown: Rexing V1 dash cam
The Rexing V1 is a simple wedge-shaped dash camera that films in a 1080-line progressive scanning format. The lens is made of six glass layers and is fish-eyed to capture a 170° view of whatever it sees. There’s also a built-in vibration sensor, called a G-sensor in the promotional literature, that automatically locks any files […]
Teardown: Inside bouncing LED balls
We cut one of these balls apart so you needn’t destroy yours to get a look at its internals. If you’ve ever attended a trade show, you might have seen a booth give-away item that consisted of a see-through bouncing ball with a flashing LED or two inside and sometimes a noise maker. When you […]
Teardown: Inside the PlayStation 4 game box
We take a look at the venerable Sony game box with an eye toward power handling and architecture. Chances are that if you’re a gamer, you’re experiencing your video games on a Sony PlayStation 4. To date, over 75 million PlayStation 4 boxes have sold. The closest competitor is the Xbox One (36.03 million) and […]
Teardown: Anki Cozmo, distant relative of Vector
Cozmo is a palm-sized robot from San Francisco-based Anki, the same company that makes an intelligent racing robot system called Overdrive that we’ve torn down previously. Cozmo is actually an earlier version of an Anki robot called Vector. Vector has more capabilities in the area of artificial intelligence, thanks to its use of a processor […]
Teardown: Inside the Neurometrix Quell TENS device
A TENS device for transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation wraps around the upper calf much like a wristwatch wraps around the wrist. Here are some of its operational secrets. A medical device called a Quell performs what’s called transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation on the lower leg. This technique is said to relieve diabetic pain. None of […]
Video Teardown: HOME Ever Inc. E27 A19 60-W equivalent LED bulb
As part of a continuing series where we take perfectly good LED bulbs and turn them into junk, Design World Executive Editor Lee Teschler and Associate Editor Michelle DiFrangia analyze the circuitry and design techniques used in a 60-W equivalent bulb from HOME Ever Inc., a Chinese manufacturer. There are big differences in this bulb […]
Teardown: Leviton ground fault circuit interrupter
GFCIs detect hazardous current paths to ground and ground-to-neutral faults. A teardown reveals they are relatively simple but have circuit details that can be tricky to figure out. Bathrooms, kitchens, and other rooms with access to water are required to employ ac outlets with ground-fault circuit protection. GFCIs disconnect the output if they sense a […]
Teardown: Inside the TP-Link Archer C7 wireless router
Here is what the architecture of modern-day dual-speed Ethernet/Wi-Fi router looks like these days. TP-Link’s Archer C7 dual-speed wireless router delivers 1,300 Mbps over the 5 GHz band and 450 Mbps over the 2.4 GHz band. That should be enough bandwidth for HD streaming, online gaming and other bandwidth-intensive tasks. The idea behind using two […]
Teardown: Inside Amazon’s Echo Dot
The Amazon Echo Dot is essentially the top portion of the Amazon Echo, but without the speaker underneath it. Eliminating the big speaker drops the price of the from $180 for the Echo to $50 for the Echo Dot. The Echo Dot does have its own speaker, but the speaker is comparable to what you […]
