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Why Does My Old Phone Charge Slowly But Heat Up More?

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The Truth About Aging Batteries Welcome back to Hobitronics — where we decode the daily mysteries inside your gadgets. Today we’re getting into something everyone with a 3-year-old smartphone has asked themselves: "Why is my phone charging so slow? And why does it feel like it’s cooking itself while doing it?" You’re not imagining it. Aging phones really do charge slower and heat up more — and the reason lies deep inside the battery chemistry , internal resistance , and the invisible wear and tear of thousands of charging cycles. 1. Your Battery Ages — Even If It Looks Fine Smartphones use Li-ion or Li-Po batteries . These are fantastic when new, but over time: Electrochemical reactions degrade the anode/cathode SEI (Solid Electrolyte Interface) layer thickens Lithium plating reduces active ions Capacity drops with every charge-discharge cycle This degradation results in something very important: higher internal resistance . 2. Internal Resistance: Th...

Why Do Phone Chargers Get Hot While Charging?

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Welcome back to Hobitronics — where we decode the daily mysteries inside your gadgets. Today we’re talking about something everyone has noticed at some point: Why does your phone charger heat up when you're using it? — and why do the cheap ones feel like they might just melt? That warmth isn’t just you imagining things. It’s real, and it’s telling you something about what’s happening inside the plastic shell of that adapter. Especially with budget chargers, the heat is more than a minor annoyance — it’s a sign of energy loss , sloppy design , and sometimes, real danger. 1. What's Actually Inside a Charger? Your phone charger might look like a simple plug, but it’s actually a clever little Switch Mode Power Supply (SMPS) . It takes the high-voltage AC from your wall and transforms it into a low-voltage, phone-friendly DC output. Here’s the quick path: 230V AC in → DC conversion → stepped-down voltage → regulated output Key parts of a charger includes: Bridge Rect...

Why Does Tea Taste Weird on an Induction Stove?

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Science Behind the Taste Change Welcome to the Hobitronics blog — a space where everyday curiosities about electronics and appliances get the deep respect they deserve. You're not just asking "Why does tea taste off when I use an induction stove?" You're asking one of the most nuanced, beautifully human questions: "What really happens under the hood of our everyday devices?" And that is exactly what Hobitronics is here for — to make the complex beautiful, relatable, and fun. This is part of our series where we decode the science of consumer electronics that people use every day but rarely understand. So let’s talk about tea☕. Me? Personally? My day doesn't start without a hot cup of tea. No offense to the coffee gang, but my favorite will always be the simple, soul-healing cup of tea. But if you’ve ever made tea on an induction stove ... you might’ve noticed something strange: It overboils too quickly The tea turns slightly bitter The milk...

Delta Modulation and Adaptive Delta Modulation: Simplifying Digital Voice Communication

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In the world of digital communication, Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) paved the way for digitizing analog signals. However, PCM isn't always efficient in terms of bandwidth and data rate. To address these limitations, two intelligent techniques were developed: Delta Modulation (DM) and its improved version, Adaptive Delta Modulation (ADM) . In this blog, we’ll take a deep dive into how Delta Modulation works, its advantages and limitations, and how Adaptive Delta Modulation overcomes those challenges. So, let’s decode this modulation magic! 🔁 Recap: What Came Before — PCM Before we explore DM and ADM, it’s essential to remember what PCM  (ref:  Pulse Code Modulation (PCM): The Digital Backbone of Modern Communication ) does: Samples the analog signal at regular intervals (Nyquist Rate). Quantizes the samples into discrete values. Encodes these values into binary for transmission. While PCM is powerful, it requires a high bit rate and complex quantization , makin...

Pulse Code Modulation (PCM): The Digital Backbone of Modern Communication

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Introduction: Why PCM Matters In the era of smartphones, digital streaming, and cloud-based communication, it's easy to forget that all digital information starts out analog. Whether it’s your voice, your favorite song, or a movie’s soundtrack, sound begins as a continuously varying signal. But to store, transmit, or process it digitally, we need to convert it into a digital form—and that's where Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) comes in. PCM is the foundation of digital audio , and it plays a crucial role in telecommunications, media storage, and even space communication. Let’s dive deep into how it works, why it’s important, and where it’s used. What is PCM? Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent analog signals. It involves sampling , quantizing , and encoding an analog input into a binary form suitable for transmission or storage. Think of PCM as translating a wave of sound into a digital language that machines can understand. The Three Core P...

💡 Li-Fi: The Internet Through Light

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Imagine downloading an HD movie in seconds—not through Wi-Fi, but from a light bulb. Sounds like science fiction? Welcome to the world of Li-Fi — Light Fidelity — a revolutionary wireless communication system that uses light instead of radio waves to transmit data. 🌟 What is Li-Fi? Li-Fi is a Visible Light Communication (VLC) technology that uses LED light to transmit data wirelessly. Instead of relying on radio frequency (like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth), Li-Fi uses the flickering of light (too fast to be seen by the human eye) to encode and send digital information. Developed by Professor Harald Haas at the University of Edinburgh in 2011, Li-Fi opens up a completely new spectrum for communication — the visible light spectrum, which is 10,000 times larger than the radio frequency spectrum! ⚙️ How Does Li-Fi Work? Here’s a simple breakdown: Transmitter: A Li-Fi-enabled LED bulb modulates its intensity to encode data (1s and 0s). This happens at a very high speed , invisible to...

🎧 Sampling and Quantization Explained

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Welcome back to Hobitronics , your go-to space for demystifying electronics and communication concepts with clarity and creativity. Today, we begin a fundamental journey through how analog signals become digital , forming the bedrock of everything from your voice call to digital music and embedded sensor systems. We’ll dive deep into the two most critical steps: Sampling and Quantization . These processes are essential for converting real-world continuous signals into digital data that machines can store, process, and transmit. 🌊 The Real-World is Analog Most physical phenomena—sound, light, temperature, voltage—are analog in nature. This means they vary smoothly and continuously over time. But computers, microcontrollers, and communication systems operate in the digital domain —they understand only discrete values, especially binary (0s and 1s) . So how do we bridge this analog-digital divide? By converting analog signals into digital ones using Analog-to-Digital Conversion (...