Nvidia unveils Turing architecture and GPUs with dedicated ray-tracing hardware | 19mm Momentary Push Button

While contrast-detection AF systems these days are much faster than they used to be, phase-detection AF generally still has the edge in terms of outright speed. It also involves less hunting around the point of focus, since phase-detection systems can determine both the focus direction and the required adjustment. On the flip side, though, contrast-detection systems generally offer more precise focusing, since the image sensor itself is responsible for confirming the point of focus, without any reliance on the lens’s focus drive and AF sensor alignment being perfectly in spec.

For a TRIAC I bend the middle pin forward 0.1″ – 0.2″, this is often done commercially and you can even buy them pre-bent.

The only people having trouble with L1 are those DOPES who haven’t read their owner’s manuals. There all EV manuals state that car charging is a heavy continuous load, and it requires high-quality receptacles that have been tested to make sure they are safe by someone competent.

Power outlets in homes—but not businesses and other buildings—are required to have tamper-resistant receptacles, which prevent kids from getting hurt when sticking objects in the slot. At first glance, the tamper-resistant receptacles don’t look different from the ones without the safety feature, so read the label closely if you need to buy a new one. They’re a little more expensive, but I’ll send you back for another if you don’t shell out the extra money up front.

Reuben Saltzman is a second-generation home inspector with a passion for his work. Naturally, this blog is all about home inspections and home-related topics in the Twin Cities metro area. In addition to working at Structure Tech, he is also a licensed Truth-In-Sale of Housing Evaluator in Minneapolis, Saint Paul and several other cities.

I suppose if you want, you can stick your fingers into the toaster slot to touch the exposed element and push down the slider or try to make toast while taking a bath. Otherwise, you are not making any contacts with the high voltage.

It takes volts to push amps, and if your body tripped a 1A breaker you’d be dead. For shock hazard, 110V is safer than 220V regardless of the size of the circuit breaker. But for a given power draw the possibility of overheating your wiring is lower with 220V, which is why I use it in my (American) shop whenever my equipment supports it.

True, but I have never seen a product use them. They will probably become popular with wifi powered stuff.

The most unusual capability of the Sony Alpha A33′s video mode is enabled by its translucent mirror. The Sony A33 can continue to use phase detection autofocusing during movie recording, allowing swift adjustments to focus as your subject moves. Since standard Alpha-mount lenses are used, this focusing action is accompanied by significant levels of AF drive noise, which is clearly picked up by the camera in recorded videos. For consumers, this is likely a relatively small price to pay for sharply focused video, however, given that manually pulling focus during video capture is a difficult art to learn. If focus point selection is set to local, the Sony A33 even allows the active focus point to be changed during video capture, and it’s also possible to adjust exposure compensation during recording. Also available in Movie mode are the autoexposure lock function to prevent variations in scene brightness, and white balance, creative style, AF area and metering mode functions. However, if autofocus is used, lens aperture must be controlled automatically by the camera, regardless of AF servo mode. When using manual focus, the A33 allows manual control of aperture before video capture commences. In all cases, shutter speed and ISO sensitivity of videos is controlled automatically.

The standard in UK is 230 V not 240 V, like the the rest of the EU. The continent was mainly using 220 V until 1986 and UK 240 V until 1986. The 230 VAC was choosen by the IEC as a compromise between the 220, 230 and 240 system. So actually main voltage in EU should be 230V +/-6% at distribution panel, and equipement should support 230V +/-10%. (voltage drop in the internal house distribution should be less than 4%) But a transition period of 20~25 years was used, during the transition period main voltage at distribution panel in UK should be in the 230 VAC +10%/-6% range, and in the rest of EU it should be in the 230 VAC +6%/-10% range. (Other 240 VAC country like Australia and NZ switch to 230 VAC at least officialy)

The stakes are much higher when you’re connecting your project to the house mains, though, as [Mattias Wandel] recently learned when the solid-state relay controlling his water heater failed, with nearly tragic results. With aplomb that defies the fact that he just discovered that he nearly burned his house down, [Mattias] tours the scene of the crime and delivers a postmortem of the victim, a Fotek SSR-25DA. It appears that he mounted it well and gave it a decent heatsink, but the thing immolated itself just the same. The only remnant of the relay’s PCB left intact was the triac mounted to the rear plate. [Mattias] suspects the PCB traces heated up when he returned from vacation and the water heater it was controlling came on; with a tank full of cold water, both elements were needed and enough current was drawn to melt the solder build-up on the high-voltage traces. With the solder gone, the traces cooked off, and the rest is history. It’s a scary scenario that’s worth looking at if you’ve got any SSRs controlling loads anywhere near their rated limit.

They’ve lifted 200kg so far, and it looks like a pretty cool addition to a shop already packed with other builds, like their MOT spot welder and a propane tank sandblaster.