One part that I find myself using somewhat regularly in microcontroller-based experiments is the “USB power bank” that provides USB-standard 5-V DC output and offers some basic protection features.

While it might seem counterintuitive on the surface, there are a number of cases where dumping a large amount of energy into a resistor simply to turn it into heat is necessary to the operation of a ...

This dummy-load circuit has been in use at Maxim for more than 10 years (see the figure). It's useful for testing power supplies and power amplifiers as well as drivers for LEDs, relays, and solenoids ...

Testing bench power supplies would require the use of a current build and the best way to have one is to build yourself one. The article shows how a custom dummy load is built. Testing bench power ...

While it might seem counterintuitive on the surface, there are a number of cases where dumping a large amount of energy into a resistor simply to turn it into heat is necessary to the operation of a ...