Some Web sites get updated more frequently than others. Therefore, a bit of surfing may identify more recent versions of some of these documents and will permit you to locate the site nearest your physical location - to minimize the traffic jam on the information superhighway, um, parking lot :-).
The Sci.Electronics.Repair (S.E.R) FAQ is an extensive set of documents on consumer electronics (and other) troubleshooting and repair, testing, general electronics, reference information, assorted schematics of interesting and sometimes unusual devices, links to over 1000 technology related Web sites, and more. It was developed specifically for the DoItYourselfer (DIYer) and tinkerer, hobbyist, experimenter, engineer, dentist, and poet. The S.E.R FAQ includes all of the material I have written (nicely formatted by Filipg G.) as well as many articles and references from others. To the best of my knowledge, this is the most comprehensive collection of information of its kind in the explored universe.
Silicon Sam's Technology Resource (SSTR) includes all the documents I have authored but may not be as nicely formatted as those of the S.E.R FAQ. However, the actual information may be more recent since the formatted FAQs do not get updated as frequently.
Sam's Laser FAQ - A Practical Guide to Lasers for Experimenters and Hobbyists - contains extensive practical information on a variety of laser related topics. Sam's Laser FAQ is usually included as part of the S.E.R FAQ and SSTR, but due to its nature and size, is also available as a self contained collection of documents and at other sites as well. Version may vary by site but all are nicely formatted including a table of contents, complete list of associated files, and extensive cross-links. The Laser Equipment Gallery (LEG), a collection of photos of various laser systems and components, is only present at selected sites but is NOT part of the FAQ distributions.
Copies of some of these documents, particularly the various repair guides of the Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ, may be found at other totally independent sites. However, unless they are live links back to one of the sites below, the versions are likely to be quite old (relatively speaking, at least). There are also some additional sites which have copied and modified some of these documents to provide a more user friendly graphical user interface. So, if you stumble across something that looks vaguely familiar, you will know where it came from. In either case, if there is no acknowledgement of the origin in the links or at the beginning of the document, please let me know!
The Main Table of Contents (ToC) links, below, are the usual jumping off points for the good stuff :-).
One of the latest versions of the document: "Notes on the Troubleshooting and Repair of Electronic Flash Units and Strobe Lights, and Design Guidelines, Useful Circuits, and Schematics" usually resides at:
Fluorescent and discharge lamp info and troubleshooting documents:
High Voltage Stuff: