Electronic fun with cheap eBay modules: Spend nearly nothing to build your own amplifiers, power supplies, timers and flashers.

by Julian Edgar

The advent of eBay and the sale of cheap pre-built electronic modules has dramatically changed the hobby of electronics. Now you can build power supplies, amplifiers, timers, flashers (and a whole lot more) vastly more cheaply and easily than ever before. This book covers over 20 electronic modules – all are available on eBay. Sometimes the coverage is of just the bare module (what it does and how to connect it up) while in other cases, complete projects are built using the modules. All modules have been purchased and thoroughly tested.This is an ideal book for someone developing an interest in electronics as a hobby, right through to the more advanced user who wants to quickly and cheaply build projects that work well. The author writes for Everyday Practical Electronics magazine and this book is based on his very successful ‘Electronic Building Blocks’ column.

48 pages, Paperback

Published September 28, 2016

About the author

Julian Edgar, 56, started his working life freelancing for photography magazines. He then worked as a secondary school teacher for eight years before leaving teaching and becoming a full-time technical writer.

He edited a national Australian automotive print magazine before becoming editor of an online car magazine. Along the way he wrote extensively for electronics hobbyist magazines while also contributing articles to publications in Australia, the UK and the US.

He has also worked at Executive Level in the Australian Public Service. Formal qualifications include a Diploma in Teaching (Secondary), Bachelor of Education and Graduate Diploma in Journalism.

In the automotive field he has owned cars with two, three, four, five, six and eight cylinder engines; diesel, petrol and hybrid petrol/electric drivelines; front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive configurations; and cars with single turbos, twin turbos and superchargers.

He has been electronically modifying his cars for about 30 years. Over that time he has modified engine management systems, engine cooling systems, turbo boost controls, electric power steering systems, auto transmission controls, all-wheel drive torque split controls, stability controls, hybrid car regenerative braking controls, and lighting and sound systems.

He also enjoys aerodynamic modification of cars. He was the first automotive journalist to extensively wool tuft cars and write about the results (starting in 1989), and use Magnehelic gauges to directly measure aerodynamic pressures (in 2000) - both approaches now widely used by amateurs. In 2018 he developed a technique allowing amateurs to measure car aerodynamic panel pressures on the road.

Julian has supercharged - and then turbocharged - a Toyota Prius. He has also turbocharged a Honda Insight and fitted it with programmable engine management, doing the engine mapping from scratch. The Insight also has electronically-controlled, custom air suspension that Julian developed and fitted.

He has an extensive home workshop that is equipped with a chassis dyno; lathe; mill; MIG, TIG and oxy welding gear; metal folder and other tools.

Julian lives in a hamlet 80 kilometres north of Canberra, Australia. He is married to Georgina and they have a son, Alexander, who is 16 years old. Also in the family are Victor the sheep and Ar-Chee the cat!