Daniel use the #twatch as a monitor for his ICelsius wireless thermometer: Finally I found a purpose for my twatch. I use it as a monitor for my iclesius wireless thermometer. So I wrote a quick and dirty python script which works as a relay between the icelsius and the twatch. The icelsius periodically broadcast the […]
Author Archives: DP
App note: Reed switch operation
Reed switches operation app note from Hermetic Switch Inc. (HSI). Link here (PDF) A reed switch is activated by a magnetic !eld. It’s important to realize that there are numerous possibilities for a switch’s orientation within a given magnetic field. The length of the magnet and the length of the reed switch both affect the […]
Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB
We go through a lot of prototype PCBs, and end up with lots of extras that we’ll never use. Every Sunday we give away a few PCBs from one of our past or future projects, or a related prototype. Our PCBs are made through Seeed Studio’s Fusion board service. This week two random commenters will […]
App note: Reed switch basics
Application note from Hermetic Switch Inc. (HSI) on simple reed switches. Link here (PDF) A reed switch consists of two or three metal reed contacts (blades) that are hermetically sealed inside a glass tube containing an inert atmosphere. Reed switches come in various sizes, magnetic sensitivities, high power capabilities, high voltage capability, contact configurations, and […]
App note: Design guidelines for ATtiny43U
Here’s a design guidelines for ATtiny43U from Atmel, app note here (PDF!): The integrated boost converter of ATtiny43U provides the microcontroller and peripherals with a fixed supply voltage, generated from an external supply of lower voltage. The boost converter is a switching type, step-up regulator that requires some external components to be complete. This includes an external inductor, […]
App note: Mixed signal microcontroller
A mixed signal microcontroller application note (PDF!) from Texas Instruments: The Texas Instruments MSP430 family of ultra-low-power microcontrollers consists of several devices featuring different sets of peripherals targeted for various applications. The architecture, combined with five low-power modes, is optimized to achieve extended battery life in portable measurement applications. The device features a powerful 16-bit RISC CPU, 16-bit […]
Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters
Every Friday we give away some extra PCBs via Facebook. This post was announced on Facebook, and on Monday we’ll send coupon codes to two random commenters. The coupon code usually go to Facebook ‘Other’ Messages Folder . More PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday and the blog every Sunday. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three […]
10A Variac Soft Starter
Steve Gardner did a repair of a 10A Carroll & Meynell Variac and documented the whole process on his blog: I recently purchased a used 10A Carroll & Meynell Variac from eBay for use in the lab, however the variac often caused the 32A B-curve MCB in the consumer unit to trip due to the high […]
Sjaak’s Hackershop is open \o/
Sjaak has announced that his Hackershop page is now open! Today is a super exciting day as my friend Ian Lesnet from Dangerousprototypes.com finally got around in rewriting his website (well some parts I guess :) ) He already published parts of the new site (new DirtyPCBS and DirtySLA) , but today he added Hackershops. […]
Building a simplex repeater
Kenneth Finnegan writes, “In this installment of the “How to Build a Repeater” series, I explain the concept of a simplex repeater and how to assemble one out of an Argent Data ADS-SR1 and a Motorola Maxtrac. Thanks again to Argent Data for providing me with an ADS-SR1 to play with; it’s a fun little […]
CSI Premier 75W and Hakko 936 solder station teardowns
Todd Harrison did a teardown of the CSI Premier 75W and Hakko 936 solder station: I did the teardown of the CSI 75W solder station as well as the Hakko 936. The Hakko of course had all analog circuits using operational amplifiers and potentiometers as well as a temperature sensor in the iron tip to signal back […]
Atmega16u2 virtual serial example using LUFA Library
Shane of Wattnotions has published a new build, an Atmega16u2 virtual serial LUFA board: What I wanted the LUFA library to do was pretty specific – the atmega16u2 should show up as a virtual serial port so that the computer can connect and read data from it like any other serial port. All of the other […]
DIY USB volume knob
Markus Gritsch made a nice USB volume control knob for his computer: After having been inspired by this Instructable [1] I also wanted to make a nice looking volume knob to attach to my computer. It uses the TrinketHidCombo library [2], but on a Digispark board, to have one more I/O pin which I use […]
#FreePCB via Twitter to 2 random RTs
Every Tuesday we give away two coupons for the free PCB drawer via Twitter. This post was announced on Twitter, and in 24 hours we’ll send coupon codes to two random retweeters. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times a every week: Hate Twitter and Facebook? Free PCB Sunday is the classic PCB giveaway. Catch […]
New Energia 17 release brings SensorTag, Red Bear CC3200 And F28069M support
The Energia team announces the availability of version 0101E0017. We wrote about it previously: A new version of Energia has been released. This version fixes alot of bugs from the previous version and also adds support for the following: Support for three new boards have been added added: – CC2650 based SensorTag (MT) – CC3200 based […]
A 3.6V LiFePO4 charger for under 50c
Nerd Ralph built his own 3.6V LiFePO4 charger: I like LiFePO4 batteries. They have a rather flat discharge at around 3.2V, which is ideal for powering 3.3V devices without a regulator. You can also use them in devices that take 2 standard AA cells by using a blank shunt in the 2nd battery slot since 2 […]
CEmu, an open source TI-84 Plus CE / TI-83 Premium CE calculator emulator
Cemetechian MateoConLechuga and his team Jacobly, Adriweb, Lionel Debroux, Vogtinator have been working on a portable and open source TI-84 Plus CE/TI-83 Premium CE emulator – CEmu , that is available on Github: Features Portable emulation core written in C Decent emulation accuracy yielding the ability to boot all of TI’s CE OS’s, browse around, execute […]
Reverse engineering the ARM1, ancestor of the iPhone’s processor
Another great article from Ken Shirriff, this time on reverse engineering the ARM1: Almost every smartphone uses a processor based on the ARM1 chip created in 1985. The Visual ARM1 simulator shows what happens inside the ARM1 chip as it runs; the result (below) is fascinating but mysterious.[1] In this article, I reverse engineer key […]
App note: Design considerations for mixed-signal, How to design a PCB layout
Another application note from e2v, this time about PCB design involving mixed-signal (Analog and Digital) components. Link here (PDF) This application note aims at providing you with some recommendations to achieve improved performance. The initial assumptions are the following: • Proper grounding and routing of all signals is essential to ensure accurate signal conversion • […]
Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB
We go through a lot of prototype PCBs, and end up with lots of extras that we’ll never use. Every Sunday we give away a few PCBs from one of our past or future projects, or a related prototype. Our PCBs are made through Seeed Studio’s Fusion board service. This week two random commenters will […]