Everything you always wanted to know about electronics, but were afraid to ask:

Manuel:
For an installation, I want to drive 24 Fluorescent Lights independently via a PC. I am using a Wiring board that has 40 Digital I/O (the board is connected to the Computer via USB). Now I wonder which hardware I would require in order to use the Hi/Low (is that correct?) of the digital output to turn the fluorescent lights on/off. So basically, which pieces of hardware would I need between the Wiring Board and the fluorescent lights.
Find the answer here

travis:
I would like to understand the inner workings of the H-bridge, how it works and why.
How can we use an H-bridge to control a stepper-motor through something like the adruino?
Also through an H-bridge and adruino(or any kind of digital outs), I would like to know how to construct a circuit to drive a D/C motor in both directions, and if this setup would also allow for braking?
I won’t be able to make it on Monday, but if anyone else is interested in these Q’s… maybe someone(nice) could take notes? :)

What is an H-bridge? And how does it control the flow of electricity?
Find the answer here

niels:
how does a multimeter work and how do i check transistors with it?
what do i have to know about oscilators to get them work and fuck around with them to get a wide varity of wild soundscapes from them
how do solar panels work? and how do i get them work?
dirk:
How to get the configuration word from a PIC? (Is this the same as 'fuses'?) How to set the configuration word from my code? How to read the Data Sheet on this subject?
How could I perform PWM or BAM (bit angle modulation pdf) from outside a microcontroller in order to make the system more energy efficient.
How can I create moderate complicated programs using only simple transistors and alike (i.e. no microcontrollers)?
marc: Using a microcontroller can actually be a very power efficient solution, especially if run at a low voltage on a low frequency crystal, such as a 32kHz watch crystal. The PIC16F636 for example (1.74 euro at farnell), consumes only 18uA at 3V/32kHz, which means it can run continuously for a full year on a typical lithium coin cell (CR2025) of 150mAh capacity. The BAM modulation technique is especially suited for low frequency operation, so this would be a good combination.

edo:
How do I temporarily collect and store energy coming from a small solar-cell, in order to later release this energy in a short time-interval? I'm thinking about storing energy for, say, 5 s. and then release it with a higher voltage in, say, 10 ms. Marc, we already discussed this a bit and you suggested storing energy as potential energy (through movement), which seems a very visible (=preferable) way of doing it, but I'm also still curious about how this would be done electronically. I guess some basic understanding of different electric energies and transfering between them is needed (like how does one translate a high-voltage, low-ampere signal to a low-voltage, high-ampere signal with the same amount of energy (maybe some less because of heat-loss).
A very basic way to do it would probably be to use capacitors in some way. I'll have the needed materials (solar-cells/capacitors/resistors/solenoids) at hand at our meeting on june 5th. If possible I'd like to try it then. If nessesairy, I can buy some more materials. I don't know if you will be there?
I sadly can not be there on may 15th.
Heerko:
I would like to know who to make a circuit that can read out the state of 48 switches in a matrix, so i can use 8x6 pins on a microprocessor. 8 is easy but there seems to be some shortcircuit when i try to read out more.