Author Archives: DP

Continuous temperature monitoring

Hlipka wrote a post on his blog detailing his continuous temperature monitoring build: Two years ago, when we returned from our skiing vacation, there was a nasty surprise waiting for us: with outside temperatures of down to -20° (celsius), our heating system had shut down. At one point, the pilot flame went out, and without it the heater could […]

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. 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 […]

Week in (p)review January 17, 2014

Here’s a summary of major developments over the last week. Free PCB Friday is coming up soon. XC9572XL CPLD development board back in stock USB IR Toy – Infrared modulation frequency review Check out noahp’s 0.96″ 128×64 OLED breakout, Bertho’s 7-segment clock and scasagrande’s GPIBUSB Adapter rev3 in the project log forum Coming up: Free PCBs via Facebook […]

SMD reflow hot air gun NC automatic machine

Giorgos from PCBheaven has been working on a DIY hot-air gun NC machine  and wrote a detailed explanation on his blog describing the build: Four pieces is all it takes to make the frame of the NC. And BTW, an NC machine is the same as a CNC without the leading C. CNC stands for “Computer Numerical […]

CO2 meter using NDIR infrared MH-Z14 sensor library for AVR ATmega

Davide Gironi writes: MH-Z14 NDIR Infrared gas module is a common type, small size sensor, using non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) principle to detect the existence of CO2 in the air, with good selectivity, non-oxygen dependant and long life. MH-Z14 has a PWM output, with a sensitivity range of 0ppm to 2000ppm CO2, an accurancy of ±200ppm. […]

RGB LED ring clock

Greeeg over at the 430h forum has been working on a RGB LED ring clock: The clock is comprised of 2 rings of 60 LEDs each. the LEDs are WS2812 parts, which include a built-in driver. The PCB is one of the interesting parts of this clock. I designed the board in altium as a single 6 […]

Simple 3.3V power supply unit

Dilshan Jayakody  writes: Now a days 3.3V PSU is essential for microcontroller, programmable logic devices and for some analog components also (especially with some new ADCs). This is ultra-simple 3.3V power supply unit, which is suitable for above mentioned experiments. This power supply is based on, ON semiconductor’s MC33269T-3.3 LDO regulator and it is capable […]

Simple 0.96″ 128×64 OLED breakout board

noahp shared his breakout for 0.96″ 128×64 OLED display in the project log forum: Thought I’d share this design here in case it can be of use to anyone. Includes python script that initializes and loads data to the ssd1306 (please excuse the logo pandering, needed a simple example and that was right in front of […]

Controller board for RGB LED Matrix displays

EmbeddedCreations is working on a controller board for the 16×32 and 32×32 RGB LED Matrix displays: I’m working on a controller board for the 16×32 and 32×32 RGB LED Matrix Displays you may have seen at Adafruit and Sparkfun. After seeing Paul’s post on driving WS2811 LED strips with DMA on the Teensy 3.0, I looked into […]

#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 […]

An Ultrasonic eye for the visually impaired

Dhavalis build this Netra project, an ultrasonic eye for the visually impaired: Netra is an eye for visually impaired, a device based on Echolocation principle. It uses Arduino Micro, Ultrasonic sensor and vibrating motor. Vibration of the motor increases with decrease in distance and vibration decreases with increase in distance between device and object in front. […]

Homemade GPS receiver update

Andrew Holme posted an update on his DIY GPS receiver  we covered previously: This is now a truly portable, battery-powered, 12-channel GPS receiver with turnkey software, which acquires and tracks satellites, and continuously recalculates its position, without user-intervention. The complete system (below, left) comprises: 16×2 LCD display, Raspberry Pi Model “A” computer, two custom printed-circuit boards, commercial […]

Diode temperature sensor calibration using Arduino and SHT15 module

Paulo writes: A simple diode or the output of a transistor bias circuit can be used as a rough temperature sensor. For this purpose, a calibration procedure using a precise temperature sensor is recommended. This article shows how to calibrate such a temperature sensing circuit using an Arduino and the SHT15 Sensirion temperature/humidity sensor module.

504 Segment clock, a 7-segment clock done differently

Bertho  has designed and built this cool 7-segment clock, the 504 Segment clock: At some point I was being silly and got the idea of making a 7-segment clock, but then a bit different. The result became this.  Features include: 72 7-segment displays in three rings; inner (hour) ring 12 displays, middle (minute) ring 24 and outer (seconds) ring 36 […]