Digital reversi board by Hanting Lu and Kai Wang from Cornell University, built as a final project: For our final project in ECE 4760, we designed and implemented a Reversi board consisting of hardware, a microcontroller, and a touch screen. Sixty-four bicolor (red and green) LEDs were implemented as the black and white pieces of […]
Author Archives: DP
Yet another geek love: Heart displayed on a 8×8 Matrix
Here’s another geek love idea. It’s a cute heart graphic displayed on an 8×8 LED matrix. A PIC12F675 runs the show, while a few shift registers help out with it’s pin deficiency. Via the workshop.
PCB a Week 8: NU-FitHole hole size helper
Mats continues his challenge of designing one PCB every week. This tool helps to determine exact hole dimensions for screws and other parts. This weeks PAW will be extremely simple – it’s not even a breakout board, but it might still come in handy for people making PCBs. The FitHole is a tool for testing […]
Another geek love: Valentine’s Day flowers with LEDs
Want to make your loved ones feel extra special with your handmade Valentine’s Day flowers? Nowait shows you how to make inexpensive electronic flowers: Long story short, I get alot of stick for not buying flowers (I think they are a waste of money) so I decided that I was going to make some that would […]
GIVEAWAY: Vacuum florescent character displays
Later today we will announce the winners of the 2×20 character vacuum florescent displays! Leave a comment on the original contest post with a project idea. Three commenters will receive two VFDs to use in their project.
High efficiency battery boost regulator using the MCP1640
Giorgos over at PCBheaven made a MCP1640 boost converter for his camping LED light project. It’s designed to squeeze every last bit of energy from the batteries. What i want now, is something to spice up this hack. So here is what – I used the MCP1640 boost converter to drain the last electron from […]
Precision voltage adapter for low voltage measurement
Kerry Wong shows how to make an adapter circuit for measuring very low voltages with a multimeter: I will show you a simple adapter circuit that can be used for precision voltage measurement down to the µV range. Using this circuit along with the current adapter circuit I discussed earlier you will be able to […]
Raspberry Pi irrigation system rain bypass
This web-enabled rain sensor will automatically turn-off an irrigation system when it rains using a Raspberry Pi: This Raspberry Pi Irrigation System Rain Bypass uses a web connected Raspberry Pi to look up rain predictions and disable the irrigation system from watering the lawn if it won’t be necessary. The existing controller has an input […]
Bus Pirate education kit parts
A new Bus Pirate educational/experimentation kit is in the works. Here, in no specific order, are the experiments/parts we plan to include. Almost all are from Microchip. This is mostly an accident, they seem to have the cheapest and most commonly available small serial devices in through hole packages. If you know of alternate devices […]
GIVEAWAY: Vacuum florescent character displays
Tomorrow we’ll give away 2×20 character vacuum florescent displays! Leave a comment on yesterday’s post with a project idea and preferably a rough schematic. Three commenters will receive two VFDs to use in their project this Thursday.
Automatically lower TV sound during loud commercials
Want to adjust TV sound during loud commercials? TechBitar shows you how to easily make an automatic volume control using Arduino: The TV Volume Loudness Guard will listen to your TV and if the volume goes higher than a certain level, it will bring it lower. Via the contact form.
Workshop Update for February 12th, 2013
Finalizing chips to include in Bus Pirate education kit. Anyone know of a cheap serial ADC or DAC in through hole? We continued work on the illustrations for the above mentioned kit. 3D modeling and rendering, as well as breadboard illustrations will be available.
GIVEAWAY: Vacuum florescent character displays
This week we’re giving away 2×20 character vacuum florescent displays to three winners (2 each). It interfaces just like a typical HD44780 LCD, but the display uses blue-green VFD characters. VFDs are always very popular, but also very expensive. Pulls are the only affordable source we’ve found. Leave a comment on this post with a […]
Eagle Tip: Gateswap and Pinswap tool
We route all our PCBs manually instead of using an autorouter. This can be a tedious job sometimes, but we think it gives the best results. Sometimes we’re just about to finish a PCB, when we notice a MUCH better way to route it if only a few connections could be changed. The Gateswap and […]
#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 […]
Another DIY Solder Paste Stencil – Etched soda can
A few days ago we posted about using soda pop cans as a DIY solder paste stencil. Alistair made a similar stencil about a year ago. He documented the process on his blog, so check it out if you want to try soda pop solder paste stencils yourself. I described a similar method to this on […]
Workshop Update for February 11th, 2013
Printer went permanent paper jam. Replaced. Did you know most countries will give you a second passport if you need lots of visas or travel to certain countries? Waited in line at the Consulate. We’re working on assembling documentation on the Bus Pirate for our Bus Pirate educational kit project. We’re writing it up to […]
OpenERP tutorial shows how to organize your projects
Make Magazine has a tutorial on the OpenERP enterprise resource planing tool. It’s a project manager for tracking a project from an idea to fulfillment. The tutorial runs through one project example and explains how to setup all the steps along the way. ERP systems have been around for several decades, but for much of […]
Simple and efficient 12V to 5V convertor
Fcobcn shared his simple and efficient 12V to 5v converter. It’s based around the TL2575 buck IC, and can output 1 amp of current. I’m using a TL2575 from ti, wich has a max efficiency of 88%, 1A, works quite well, previously were using a 7805 wich needed heat sinking. There’s apparently no heat coming […]
1341 chips being given away for free
Vinicius.jlantunes over at the 430h forum is giving away his 1341 strong chip collection. He asks that interested parties pay for the shipping. I don’t like seeing all this stuff laying around, not being put to good use. So I will donate most of the items if anyone is interested – you would only need […]