• Caving
• Electronics/Model Train

Caving

I am an active member of the National University Caving Club (NUCC). We visit caves in and around the Canberra region. Caving involves climbing through caves, some of which require SRT skills (abseiling and prussiking). Anyone interested should visit the club homepage below: 

http://clubs.anu.edu.au/Clubs/NUCC/

http://clubs.anu.edu.au/clubs/NUCC/photoindex.html

Electronics/Model Train

I have been interested in electronics for a long time. I have built many circuits from simple LED flashers to advanced digital control systems. Below are the two main categories: Model Train Electronics and Other.

Model Train Electronics

Since 1990 I have made two model railways. One was given up due to a change in location and the other has now been moth-balled due to a lack of dedicated time. However, both projects required a number of electronic circuits to be built, from stable power supplies through train controllers, flashing lights, train detectors and more recently, digital controllers, enabling computer control of the train set.

For anyone interested, one of the digital controllers circuit diagram is available here (PDF). Its based around serial to parallel shift registers. Send Email to the address below for more information.
 
 

Other Electronic Work

To aid in the construction and testing of the electronic circuits, a dedicated multivoltage/high current power supply was built:

Numerous amplifiers, and transmitters have also been built.

Currently, my main interest is in the construction of LED based headlamps for use in caving. Version II of my caving light is in beta-testing (being used as my main light in caves). It is a 12 white-LED, 8 yellow-LED based model with a step-up constant voltage circuit.
  

Last updated 2/12/2005
©2005 Olaf Theden. You may use any of the pictures for your own personal use as long as you mention the original creator: Olaf Theden and reference this site.
Contact: otheden@gmail.com