John Boxall over at Tronixstuff has a series of Arduino tutorials. This chapter fifty-four of a series will show you how to use the NXP PCF8563 real-time clock IC with Arduino: Recently a few people have been asking about the PCF8563 real-time clock IC from NXP – so this is a tutorial on how to use […]
Author Archives: DP
xQFP80 +50 Protoboard free PCB build
mikelelere built a free xQFP80 +50 Protoboard v1 PCB: Last week I received a xQFP80 protoboard from the free PCB drawer, which I have used to build a CPLD development board. It features a Xilinx XC2C64A with selectable I/O levels for each bank (3.3v, 2.5v and 1.8v) via jumpers and a PIC18F24J50 to enable USB functionality. […]
Hackaday’s Arduino clone opens beer
Mike Szczys writes : Frankly we’re tired of Arduino having a bad name here at Hackaday. So [Brian Benchoff] came up with a way to make it useful to a wider audience. His creation, which we call the HaDuino, lets you use the Arduino clone to open a tasty bottle of beer.
Arduino stepper motor driver tutorial
Here’s a tutorial from VK1od.net : Arduino stepper motor driver with the Logic Shrimp logic analyzer This tutorial shows how to explore an inexpensive stepper motor and driver board using an Arduino and included stepper library. The stepper motor and driver board can be purchased on eBay at very low cost, and is an ideal educational project for the […]
High-voltage seven segment LED display driver with SPI interface
Raj writes: This is about my new project, which is a High-Voltage Seven Segment LED Driver with a serial interface. The goal is to simplify the interface of bigger seven segment display modules to 5V microcontrollers. The project provides a TTL SPI interface of MAX7219 to input display data from a 5V microcontroller and outputs […]
Bus Pirate v3.6 back in stock
Bus Pirate v3.6 universal serial interface is back in stock at Seeed Studio. This is the updated v3.6 in a standard PCB footprint. You can get a simple laser-cut acrylic protector for this board for only 3 bucks. Bus Pirate is a hacking multi-tool that has the capability to interface with most IC bus protocols […]
#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 […]
Interfacing TLV5620 With Arduino
Kerry Wong posted an article on interfacing the TLV5620 with an Arduino: TI’s TLV5620 is a budget 4-channel 8-bit DAC. While it is designed primarily for running with a power supply between 3V and 3.6V, it can be powered by 5V as well given its wide supply voltage range. With a TL431 voltage reference (2.5V), the DAC output can cover […]
LMD18245 base Microstep motor driver
In this video Dilshan Jayakody demonstrates his open hardware project the LMD18245 micro-step stepper motor driver: This article describe the LMD18245 and PIC16F877A base 16 step bipolar stepper motor driver which is design to work with 12V 18º bipolar stepper motors. In this design we use pair of LMD18245 DMOS full bridge motor drivers to control 2 phases […]
Light up logic symbols – Or RS-FlipFlops the weird way
NsN writes: At the OHM 2013 Festival, I got inspired to make some logic gates that work with light. The basic idea is to have a simple and cheap gadget, that can become an AND/OR/XOR… gate. You could then connect multiple of these gates via fiber optics to make more complex circuits. Via the forum.
Making your own test leads
Viktor wrote a post on his blog detailing his DIY test leads: The result is that now I have proper test leads with resistance of less than 0.1 ohm per meter. This is a measurement of one of my new test leads Also, with this method now I can have as many test leads of any length as […]
xQFP80 +50 Protoboard free PCB build
TomKeddie posted his xQFP80 +50 Protoboard free PCB build: Am running learn to SMD solder workshops at our local hackspace. SMD October uses the qfp surface mount protoboard to build a basic leonardo using the adafruit 32u4 schematic Schematic is from Adafruit at raw.github.com/ I used my free pcb build to build the master for the class. […]
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: Lithium-Ion battery recycling made easy
An app note from Maxim: Lithium-Ion battery recycling made easy This application note describes how to recycle lithium-ion (Li+) batteries from older devices for use in other electronic devices, such as toys. This can all be done without the need for a microcontroller (or the required software). One challenge is that the battery charger in these […]
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.
HID-class USB Serial communication for AVRs using V-USB
This video by Ray Wang demonstrates HID-class USB serial communication for AVRs using the V-USB library: Serial communication is helpful for debugging and checking sensor values, and HID-class means it can work on all operating systems without driver installation. This is useful for many software-only USB projects such as based on ATmega328 or ATtiny45/85. To receive and send messages between the […]
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 October 11, 2013
Here’s a summary of major developments over the last week. Free PCB Friday is coming up soon. Testing a MAX7219 LED array with Bus Pirate Bus Pirate v4 Acrylic case kit v1 and USB Infrared Toy v2 are back in stock Fan Controller free PCB build Check out ezflyr’s open Ssurce Nixie clock project , Bertho’s Executive Decision Maker […]
‘GPS to Xbee bridge’ project
ezflyr posted another cool project in the project log forum, the GPS to Xbee Bridge: Here is my latest project, a ‘GPS to Xbee Bridge’. This project utilizes a USGlobalsat BR-355 GPS receiver, and an Xbee module to wirelessly transmit a GPS-derived time/date info packet to a variety of home-brew clocks around my home! These clocks […]
Bus Pirate v4 Acrylic case kit v1 back in stock
The Bus Pirate v4 Acrylic case kit v1 is back in stock at Seeed Studio. This fits the earlier Bus Pirate v4 models which comes in the non-Sick of Beige PCBs. You can get one for $3 at Seeed Studio.