The light intensity of LED’s drops over time. Bogdan wanted to figure out exactly by how much the light intensity of his LED strips dropped, so he build a light intensity logger. It’s basically a closed box with an LED strip and a light intensity sensor inside. An Arduino reads the sensor and stores the […]
Author Archives: DP
ATX Breakout Board V1.1 Acrylic case V1 back in stock
The ATX Breakout Board v1.1 Sick of Beige case is back in stock at Seeed Studio. This case is designed to be simple, cheap, and easy to assemble. The ATX Breakout Board is sandwiched between two laser-cut acrylic sheets, and the whole assembly is held together with aluminum screws and standoffs. This is a minor […]
Arduino based stereo 7 band equalizer display
Here’s a tutorial describing how to design a stereo 7 band equalizer display using an Arduino and two MSGEQ7 ICs. The MSGEQ7 does most of the work by reading the input signal and outputting 7 voltage levels depending on the strength of their respective bands in the signal. The output is time multiplexed, meaning you […]
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 February 01, 2013
Here’s a summary of major developments over the last week. Free PCB Friday is coming up soon. WORKSHOP VIDEO #53: Unboxing reflow oven, hot plate, and test rig Bus Pirate v3.6 added to the Fritzing library Reflow oven at 200 solder temperature looks good Reflow oven USB jack test with new heat profile Reflowing first […]
Shipping from Shenzhen arrives at FreakLabs too
We’re not the only ones getting our boxes from Susie Shipper in Shenzhen. Akiba @ freaklabs got a bunch of soldering and rework stations for a new hackerspace in Akihabara Tokyo. Got my gear from my shipper in Shenzhen today. fast. :) (thx @dangerousproto)
Workshop Update for January 31st, 2013
We received tools and tested the reflow oven and hot plate. Added a tools section to the forum, you can get the PDF versoin of the reflow oven manual there. The workshop video of the tool unboxing was made. We purchased an air-compressor for the solder paste dispenser, and got to clear almost all back […]
Simple ATmega325 development board
Here is an open source ATmega325 development board designed by Dilshan. The board includes a crystal oscillator circuit for the MCU, a MAX232 serial driver, hardware reset button, and breakouts for all the MCU pins. This post is about simple Atmega325 development board which I was designed and build to test some large AVR systems. […]
Tips and tricks on how to tidy up your bench
If you’re like us then your desk is always a total mess of microcontroller programmers, prototype PCBs, wires, tools, etc… This article covers a few tips and tricks on how to tidy up your workspace. While the article is written for heavier tools and equipment than what we use, there are some cool universal tips […]
Another cheap PCB fab house
Mats stumbled upon another cheap PCB fab house. The pricing and PCB limitations are comparable with Seeed and Itead. With each PCB order they offer a solder past stencil for an extra $25. We also noticed that they offer part sourcing, and PCB assembly services even in low quantities. Via the forum.
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. v4 has some great new features, but if you want a tool that “just works” […]
Workshop Update for January 30th, 2013
We updated the backup script to use Amazon S3. We also typed up Shenzhen travel log for tax records and scanned all receipts. Looked at air compressors for the solder dispensor that should arrive Friday. Reflow oven and a few other packages were just released from customs and should be here for a Workshop video […]
PCB a Week 6: GolGrid Conway’s game of life emulator 4×4 LED modules
Mats continues his challenge of designing one PCB every week. In week 6 he came up with GolGrid, a Conwat’s game of life emulator 4×4 LED modules. The modules are designed to accept commands over the UART protocol, and set or clear the corresponding LEDs. This weeks PAW will be a similar board, but SMD […]
Part Ninja built on perfboard
JanW built a Part Ninja on perfboard. He used a DIP cased microcontroller and through hole parts. He also replaced the 2.5V voltage reference with the similarly specced LM385-2.5. The connections were made with enamelled copper wire AWG 28. The lacquer is burned off by tinning it with a very hot soldering iron (400 ° […]
Weller DS701E soldering-desoldering station repair
Gelbanana had some free time on his hands and he decided to try and repair an old Weller DS701E soldering-desoldering station he had laying around. The problem was diagnosed to a couple of bad capacitors. After a quick replacement, the station started working as expected, with the exception of the desoldering iron heater. While waiting […]
Workshop Update for January 29th, 2013
Today we worked on implementing a debugging UART mode for the Bus Pirate v4. To talk to your computer the Bus Pirate v4 uses a software USB stack coded in the firmware. While this gives us some advantages, it has a disadvantage of hanging if in-circuit debugging is needed. The USB simply fails and no […]
4 channel digital TV multiplexer and modulator
Always wanted to run your own TV station? Now you can. Here is a project that lets you encode 4 video and audio channels and broadcasts it on a set radio frequency. The schematic and board files are available for anyone wanting to build their own. The TV transmitter we present today generates a stream […]
Texas Instruments CC3000 integrated WiFi IC
Texas Instruments released the CC3000 integrated WiFi IC. It features on-chip everything needed to connect your project to a WiFi network. TCP/IP stack, configuration utilities, and your security tools are included in the IC. Vince made a breakout board for this IC using Altium Designer. Also available are design files direct from TI for their own evaluation […]
#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 […]
Workshop Update for January 28th, 2013
Bus Pirate BASIC scripting mode is back in the latest firmware revision (6.3). Since v6.1 we had to remove it due to memory issues, but over the past year we’ve optimized the code some, and space has been found to add it back. BASIC scripting mode lets you write scripts to automate repetitive and tedious […]