Nickjohnson writes: I’ve been working on a Pro version of my Re:load. I’ve got digital control of the current consumption working fine, as well as the optical encoder and USB interface, and I’ve just now got the LCD displaying stuff. Via the project log forum.
Author Archives: DP
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.
USB and serial enabled LCD backpack back in stock
USB and serial enabled LCD backpack is back in stock at Seeed Studio. This board connects HD44780-compatible character LCD screens to your USB port. It works with apps like LCD Smartie to show news, system stats, and more on an external LCD. Get USB and serial enabled LCD backpack for $16.95.
#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 […]
Holiday break project
Sqkybeaver writes, “who’s been working on projects this holiday? I just hit a relatively high point in one of my projects. just barely up to spec for 2M transmitter.” Via the project log forum.
OpenWRT based video recording system
Sean Kelly has written this tutorial describing the process used to build an OpenWRT based video recording system: An OpenWRT router can be used to capture video with a usb webcam in order to record movements in a room. The internal flash storage for the MR3020 is only 4 Mb which isn’t sufficient for storing video. So […]
Bus Pirate v4 back in stock
Bus Pirate v4 is back in stock at Seeed Studio. The Bus Pirate is an open source hacker multi-tool that talks to electronic stuff. It’s got a bunch of features an intrepid hacker might need to prototype their next project. You can get a Bus Pirate v4 for $40, including worldwide shipping.
Open guitar pedal
The pedalSHIELD Arduino guitar pedal by Electrosmash: The shield has three parts: The Input Stage or Preamp: Amplifies the guitar input signal and sends it to the Arduino microcontroller to be processed. Arduino Board: It does all the Digital Signal Processing (DSP) modifying the signal and adding the effect (delay, echo, distortion, volume…). The Output Stage: […]
12mm Rotary Encoder breakout
Tom designed this simple 12mm Rotary Encoder breakout, that is available at Github: Very simple breakout board without so much as pullup resistors, just breaking out all 5 pins to a pin header. The PCB features enlarged holes to fit generic encoders. Via the project log forum.
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: Temperature measurement using thermistors
Another temperature sensitive device, introducing the thermistor. From its name you could guess that its a temperature dependent resistor which varies its resistance as the temperature changes. See Cypress’ application note on using these devices. A thermistor is a temperature-sensitive resistor in which resistance varies with temperature. There are two types of thermistors: positive temperature […]
App note: Temperature sensing using diode
Last time we covered using watchdog timer as temperature dependent component of a microcontroller to do temperature sensing. Now lets take a diode to do the same thing, they are pretty much accurate and cheap, see Cypress’ application note about its implementation. There are various sensors available for measuring temperature such as Thermistor, Thermocouple, resistance […]
App note: F-RAM for smart E-Meters
Cypress’ application note on smart E-Meters and why its more advantageous to use F-RAM over conventional EEPROMs. This application note provides an overview of a smart electricity meter, or Smart E-Meter, and explains the benefits of using nonvolatile serial F-RAM rather than EEPROM in Smart E-Meter designs.
App note: Tone Generation and Melody Player
Two application guides (Tone generation and Melody player) from Microchip to get you started on tone generation basics, these might help create musical greeting cards to give to your fellow geeks this coming holidays. A general purpose resonator routine is implemented using a PIC17C42. This routine is used to generate multiple tones. A tone signal […]
High resolution capacitance meter project
Puretus has been working on a high resolution capacitance meter: One day I was looking for methods to measure capacitances of cap components. Even though it is pretty trivial now with my new Brymen multimeter, I ran into this design by Roman Black which turned out to be very well explained and in terms of […]
Bus Pirate meets the 93LC46B
Bob writes: I found an old EEPROM chip in my spare parts collection, the 93LC46B. The data sheet says it communicates using 3-wire serial I/O, and can store 1024 bits organized either as 8- or 16-bit words. Next was the question of how to wire the bus pirate to the chip. I liked the idea […]
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 December 20, 2013
Here’s a summary of major developments over the last week. Free PCB Friday is coming up soon. USB and serial enabled LCD backpack back in stock Bus Pirate meets the 93LC46B Coming up: Free PCBs via Facebook on Friday App notes on the weekend Free PCB Sunday Free PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday Weekly roundup […]
Arduino and SIM900 GSM Modules tutorial
John Boxall over at Tronixstuff has a series of Arduino tutorials. This chapter fifty-five of a series will show you how to use the SIM900 GSM modules with Arduino: The goal of this tutorial is to illustrate various methods of interaction between an Arduino Uno (or compatible) and the GSM cellular network using a SIM900 GSM […]
Home built bench power supply
Ian Johnston wrote a post on his blog detailing his bench power supply build: My workshop has a couple of bench power supply’s, one is an old Farnell TOPS 3D 3-rail tracking job, and the other is a 3-rail CSI CSI3005XIII with Constant Current functions. The farnell is all analogue but has no constant current control, it has […]