Class-D Amplifiers are neat, arent they?

Together with some students and a colleague I took part at the International Future Energy Challenge (IFEC) in 2024. It was a great opportunity to combine my interest on power-electronics, audio-technology and microcontrollers. The topic of this competition was to create a Class-D-Amplifier with three channels and 135W output-power – per channel. Origin of the…

Negative duty cycles? Maybe. But complex? Well, lets see…

In mid-2010s I’ve spent weeks on comparing different topologies for inverters and DC/DC-converters for PV-applications. One of these topologies was quite interesting as it had a surprise when calculating the equations for the duty cycle. Under specific circumstances this duty cycle went from a positive real value into a complex imaginary value. To understand why…

Tutorial: UltraNet-Receiver with Arduino MKR Vidor 4000

In 2023, I published a video on my YouTube channel about reading and processing the Behringer UltraNet protocol (see YouTube: Hacking Behringer’s Ultranet for an FPGA-based DIY audio mixer). in this blog post I’d like to take a bit more time to describe the background and the connection between the UltraNet device, FPGA, and the…

Linux on Behringers X32 = OpenX32

Linux, being a highly versatile and flexible operating system, can be configured to run on a wide variety of hardware – including Behringers X32… If you are using a fullsize X32 console like me, you might have realized the huge amount of different connectors at its back. While working on my own Audio-Over-IP-protocol I used…

Zero Feed-In with Victron-PV-System

Don’t loose your PV-power to the Grid. Here’s a cheap DIY-solution to keep the PV-energy in your home! General idea In Germany it was common to earn more than 40ct per kWh if you had a PV-power plant on top of your roof in 2009. Since than everything changed: the feed-in tariff dropped to less…

IoT-development: Velux goes MQTT

With the KLF200, Velux offers an ethernet-based device to control shutters and other wireless components. But their implementation is a disaster for DIY-homes. With an ESP8266 I fixed this mess… Attic = sweating Its June and here in Germany and the sun is very powerful now. Together with my wife and four kids I’m living…