A hall effect sensor as liquid level sensor app note from TT Electronics.
Author Archives: DP
An FPGA sprite graphics accelerator with a 180MHz STM32F429 controller and 640 x 360 LCD
Here’s a cool open source FPGA graphics accelerator board by Andy Brown. Check out the full write-up here: In this project I’m going to attempt to design and build a sprite-based graphics accelerator that will function as a co-processor to an MCU. Using cheap off-the-shelf components I’m hoping to achieve a level of gaming performance that […]
Using DS1307 and DS3231 real-time clock modules with Arduino
John Boxall over at Tronixstuff has posted a detailed tutorial on how to on how to use DS1307 and DS3231 real-time clock modules with Arduino: There are two main differences between the ICs on the real-time clock modules, which is the accuracy of the time-keeping. The DS1307 used in the first module works very well, however […]
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 two random commenters. More PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday and the blog every Sunday. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week: Free PCB Sunday. The classic. Every week, get free […]
Soundbar design from start to finish
Dafydd from Hacker Camp Shenzhen vol 2 works at TI and wrote this app note: The future of consumer home audio has shifted. The priority has moved from having speakers and wires all over the living room to a single, intelligent product capable of emulating the audio experience of other multi-speaker installations. This is normally […]
Cheap USB LiPo charger notes
Jim writes: Since I use a variety of cells, I wanted to be able to charge at Chip2014under 1A. Most such charge controllers have a single resistor that programs the bulk charge current, so I looked for the datasheet to find what values I’d need for the charge currents I wanted. The chip is marked […]
Hacking the HP Z800 Xeon motherboard into a standard case
Andy Brown wrote an article detailing how to hack the HP Z800 Xeon motherboard into a standard case: I’m not one to give up in the face of a technical challenge and besides I’d just forked out a hundred notes on the board so the rest of this article will go through all the steps […]
PIC Micro Modbus
Chas over at PNW/Electronics has been working on a PIC Micro MODbus project: MODbus is a older-than-dirt communications protocol for industrial process/power controls. It’s generally seen in the wild as MODbus/RTU which is a RS-485 protocol ran at 9600 or 19200 baud. Of course there are a ton of variations and it wouldn’t be a comm […]
Huge saving @ Seeeday December 10th 2014 EST
Huge saving @ Seeeday December 10th 2014 EST! Up to 70% off of all items. Free shipping over 3 items your purchase. (Available for Registered Air Parcel Only, Weight Less Than 2KG) More than 60 items ready for additional fire sales of $0.99, $1.90, $2.90, $3.90, $4.90 and $9.90 USD; Easy shop within 12 different […]
Cupid Mega Remote: Killer controller
Colin Reese blogged about his MEGA controller build: Last we met, we built a prototype temperature wireless RF temperature controller. We got some good ideas and a Beer Fridge monitor out of the deal. We also realized, however, that we were flying pretty close to the sun in terms of the available memory we had to […]
#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 […]
First steps with the ESP8266-03 development board
As a follow up to the “Development board for the ESP8266-03” post, Limpkin blogged about his first steps with ESP8266-03 dev board: As mentioned in my previous blog post I was very optimistic when designing my ESP8266-03 development board and didn’t even prototype it before launching a batch in production. As I just received a few of these […]
VHF Aircraft radio communications receiver
Dilshan Jayakody published a new build, a VHF Aircraft radio communications receiver: This is simple radio receiver project which is capable to receive aviation radio voice signals which are transmit between 118MHz to 138MHz in AM (A3E). We got initial idea of this project by reading Sverre Holm’s (LA3ZA) article about “cheap VHF receiver project”. Like […]
OV7670 image sensor data capture with Atxmega32E5 without using external FIFO
Kehribar has interfaced a OV7670 camera module with Xmegae5 microcontroller without external FIFO: With current configuration, this system sends 20FPS 80×60 grayscale image data over 3Mbaud serial stream. There is 3 byte preamble {0xAA,0x55,0xAA} to indicate the start of a new image frame. Computer software / other MCU can use those bytes to sync with […]
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: Magnetoresistive Sensors
Principle of operation of magnetoresistive sensors, app note from Honeywell. Magnetoresistivity is the ability of a material to change resistance under the influence of magnetic fields. There are several different magnetoresistive effects, but Honeywell sensors use the Anisotropic Magneto Resistive (AMR) effect which occurs in ferrous materials, including Permalloy. Permalloy is an alloy of nickel […]
App note: Hall effect sensing and application
Hall effect sensing introduction app note from Honeywell. The Hall effect has been known for over one hundred years, but has only been put to noticeable use in the last three decades. The first practical application (outside of laboratory experiments) was in the 1950s as a microwave power sensor. With the mass production of semiconductors, […]
Reviving 80’s arcade, Super invaders
Stian did restoration of 80’s arcade. He wrote a post on his blog detailing the process: I did a visual inspection the board looking for shorts or burned out components, and replaced a few 100nF ceramic capacitors that literally had cracked and/or fallen off. I then examined the on-board power supply. It consists of four voltage regulators, […]
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 two random commenters. More PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday and the blog every Sunday. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week: Free PCB Sunday. The classic. Every week, get free […]
Piccolo, a pocket sized open source CNC-bot
Piccolo, a pocket-sized stand-alone CNC platform from DiatomStudio: Using laser-cutting, off-the-shelf hardware and Arduino, you can make your own simple 3 axis robot. Attach a brush or pen to make a quick drawing robot, or extend Piccolo with sensors, custom toolheads, or by using multiple Piccolos together. Experiment with 2D or 3D digital fabrication at a […]