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Contents Vol.23, No.8; August 2010 SILICON CHIP www.siliconchip.com.au Features 10 Solar Power When The Sun Doesn’t Shine Here’s how the Spanish get solar power around the clock using advances in thermal storage – by Richard Keech & Matthew Wright 16 Flat-Panel TV 42 Years Ago If you thought flat-screen TV was a recent innovation, check out this article from “Electronics Australia” 42 years ago! High-Power Reversible DC Motor Controller – Page 26. 26. 20 Quad HiFi Gear: How It Stacks Up 30 Years On Quad gear was revered by hifi enthusiasts from the 1950s to the 1980s. So how well does it stack up against modern hifi gear? – by Nicholas Vinen 72 Review: Hameg HMF2550 Arbitrary Function Generator This unit can deliver a 14-bit arbitrary waveform at 250MS/s, a sine or square wave up to 50MHz or a triangle wave up to 10MHz. It also does PWM, FSK and more – by Nicholas Vinen Pro jects To Build 26 High-Power Reversible DC Motor Speed Controller It’s available in reversible and non-reversible versions and features soft start, relay switching of motor direction and PWM speed control – by Branko Justic 34 Remote-Controlled Digital Up/Down Timer Remote-Controlled Digital Up/Down Timer – Page 34. This versatile timer can count up or down from one second to 100 hours and is programmed using a universal infrared remote control. It can also be automatically controlled by external trigger inputs – by Nicholas Vinen 58 Build A Large Ultrasonic Cleaner Looking for a large ultrasonic cleaner at low cost? This unit is ideal for cleaning automotive and other large mechanical parts – by John Clarke 80 Electrolytic Capacitor Reformer & Tester Got a bunch of old electrolytic capacitors you’d like to use . . . but don’t know if they are any good? Or do you need to re-form the electrolytics in an old valve amplifier or vintage radio set? This unit will do the job – by Jim Rowe Special Columns 44 Serviceman’s Log Consumer gear that’s faulty out of the box – by the Serviceman 67 Circuit Notebook (1) Check Inductors With This Simple Q-Meter; (2) Adding Protection Diodes To Positive/Negative Regulator Circuits; (3) DC Motor Speed Sensing Circuit; (4) SCR Circuits Based On Discrete Transistors; (5) Playing Dice Games With A PICAXE08M; (6) Random Playback Trigger For The Voice Recorder Build A Large Ultrasonic Cleaner – Page 58. 88 Vintage Radio The Airzone 612 6-valve battery-powered console – by Rodney Champness Departments   2   4 25 57 Publisher’s Letter Mailbag Order Form Product Showcase siliconchip.com.au 94 Ask Silicon Chip 98 Notes & Errata 102 Market Centre Electrolytic Capacitor Reformer & Tester – Page 80. August 2010  1