joesugar over at Computer/Electronics Workbench writes: Because of my location, amateur radio operations are limited to low power and disadvantaged antennas. Therefore, the WSPR (Weak Signal Propagation Reporter) protocol immediately caught my eye when I first ran across it. My primary interest is building, so I put together a stand-alone beacon using an Arduino and […]
Author Archives: DP
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: Decoupling solutions
App note (PDF) from KEMET on different decoupling capacitors for each board power line requirements. Integrated circuit (IC) technology has advanced over time, requiring innovative decoupling solutions that address decoupling needs over the entire power path from the main power supply to the logic gates on the IC. As one follows the path from the […]
App note: LED lighting and supercapacitors
An app note (PDF) from KEMET on coupling two high lifetime devices: LEDs and Supercapacitors. Light emitting diodes, or LEDs, have come to prominence in recent years in conventional lighting applications including flash lights, street lamps, traffic lights and emergency lighting. Their advantages over incandescent and compact fluorescent light sources include greater robustness, higher energy […]
App note: Bluetooth smart communication using Microchip RN4020 module and 16-bit PIC microcontroller
An app note from Microchip, Bluetooth smart communication using Microchip RN4020 module and 16-bit PIC microcontroller (PDF!): This application note provides the following: • Framework for any of the user application platform using RN4020 module and PIC24FJ series of microcontrollers. • Specifically an interface of RN4020 module with PIC24FJ128GA010 microcontroller. • Start up or reference code […]
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 times every […]
Getting started with an I2C LCD using a Bus Pirate
Inderpreet over at Embedded Code writes: I got one of these (The LCD!) LCDs from the budget and the motive is to use them to display air quality. Low and behold I got them and these things are tiny… I mean more than I thought. BUT they should get the job done. This post is […]
Teardown and repair of an Agilent E4433B ESG-D synthesized signal generator
Teardown and repair of an Agilent E4433B ESG-D synthesized signal generator: In this episode Shahriar repairs an Agilent E4433B ESG-D Synthesized Signal Generator. This 4GHz unit shows the “UNLEVEL” error for all frequencies and at all output power levels. After a close look at the system block diagram the fault is traced to the main […]
MIDI Christmas tree
A MIDI Christmas tree by Peter Marchant: Using an Arduino and a SparkFun MIDI Shield to control Christmas Lights with a MIDI keyboard. The lights cycle colour (green, red, blue, orange) for each note or chord. Imrpovisation based on the minor blues scale on D. Via Hacked Gadgets.
Laser cut chassis for ATX PSU board
@UsableMaterials tweeted, “Made a quick lasercut chassis to go with my @dangerousproto ATX PSU board.” Get your own ATX breakout board bench power supply for $14 at Seeed Studio. You can also get a Sick of Beige case for your ATX breakout board for $4 at Seeed.
HC-05 Bluetooth link with zero code
Phillipe Cantin writes: So you want to two HC-05 modules to automatically connect together, as soon as they’re powered up and with zero code? Well this is your lucky day since this can be done using the AT+BIND command. Let’s do this thing! For this, you will need: 1 Arduino (I’m using UNO) 2 HC-05 […]
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all. May you find many PCBs and other electronics wizardry under your tree or pole. Remember, support is available on Christmas. Just give us a shout in the forum.
OneRNG – an open source entropy generator
Moonbase Otago is pleased to announce its Kickstarter campaign for OneRNG – an open source hardware entropy generator: OneRNG is a USB key in the same form factor as a USB flash drive, it’s an entropy generator, it makes random bitstreams suitable for feeding to your computer’s encryption systems to make better and faster keys […]
Arduino heart rate sensor
An Arduino pulse sensor project from Bajdi: I found a little heart rate sensor @ ICstation. It is a clone of the open hardware pulse sensor. The sensor is well documented, and it comes with Arduino and Processing example code. To try it out I connected the sensor to an ATmega328 running at 3.3V and loaded the example Arduino […]
#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 […]
A Steampunk high quality MP3 Player
A steampunk high quality MP3 player by Horatius.Steam, an instructables here. Check out the video after the break.
Teardown of Kentli PH5 1.5 V Li-Ion AA battery
Jason over at Rip It Apart did a teardown of a Kentli PH5 1.5 V Li-Ion AA battery: The PCB that holds the 1.5 volt regulator is inside the end cap, with the rest made up of the Li-ion cell itself. Curiously enough, the cell inside is labeled “PE13430 14F16 2.66wh” which is interesting in more […]
LittleBits Hue lighting controller
Jeremy Blum has written an article about his latest project the LittleBits Hue lighting controller: The LittleBits Hue Controller is an easy-to-setup, wall-mountable, physical controller for your Philips Hue lightbulbs. The controller makes it easy to turn the lights on/off, change their brightness, and cycle through preset colors. This is a great project for people who […]
PWM Based LED Driver
A followup to the constant current driver for a high power LED post, Elmars writes: If anybody is interesed, I have posed a follow up to this original post with a simple PWM LED driver, adding an 씨벳 ATtiny85 mCU. The post includes schematic, board layout and code for the ATtiny85. I hav tested the circuit […]
Inside the Intel 1405: die photos of a shift register memory from 1970
Ken writes: In the Datapoint 2200, each memory board had 32 shift registers, providing 2K of storage. The processor board used a counter to keep track of the shift register position, and would stop processing until the right bits were available. (Kind of like a cache miss in modern processors.) I got a display board from […]