Werner sends this handy hack he found at IKEAHackers. Giovanni Gentile devised this simple hack which mods an IKEA Ljusa hand powered flashlight into a USB charger. “The procedure was simple, it was enough to eliminate some resistors and use a capacitor sufficient to handle the charge given by the Ljusa’s dynamo. I set the […]
Category Archives: hacks
Solar tracking device using MSP430
vigneshraja wrote this Instructable detailing his solar tracking device using MSP430: Hi everyone.here i am showing my solar tracking project for solar panel. The two LDRs are connected to both edges of the solar panel.so it can able to follow sun direction from east side sunrise to until west side sun set. this project find more […]
PIC32 oscilloscope
Bruce Land writes: Turns out that the DMA channels on a PIC32 can move data from the ADC using the ADC done interrupt flag, but without wasting time in an ISR. The ADC can be triggered by a timer interrupt flag, again without software intervention. Doing this means that you can blast ADC into memory […]
6AS5 and 6N2P vacuum tube base guitar amplifier
Another Dilshan Jayakody’s cool project, a vacuum tube base amplifier project based on 6AS5 pentode and 6N2P dual triode: This is our first vacuum tube base amplifier project and this project is based on 6AS5 pentode and 6N2P dual triode. Schematic of this project is not designed by us and we got it from web. We got […]
Building a Strata 1 NTP server
Kenneth Finnegan writes: As a quick first test, I built a quick adapter board between the GPS engine’s 2×5 pin header to the standard FTDI serial cable, with a diode and 0.3F capacitor (Yes, not micro Farads, 0.3 actual Farads) to keep the SRAM from losing the current GPS almanac every time I power cycle […]
TI MSP430 Emulating calculator build
Chris of simpleavr documented a TMS0803/5 Emulating calculator build: As this project emulates the original TI DataMath and Sinclair Scientific calculators, it operates exactly the same as the original ones. The keyboard layouts are similar in both calculators. On the PCB, the dominant key legends (on top of each key) are for TI DataMath, while […]
Garage door signal hacking using RTL-SDR and TI Chronos watch
Students Ido Livneh and Gil Freidlin from Tel Aviv University have been experimenting with garage door opener signals using the TI Chronos watch and RTL-SDR dongle. Their technique involves using the SDR along with HDSDR software to acquire and record the signal, which is then analyzed using Python based tools and encoded for loading onto […]
Simple xtal oven for accurate clocks
From the comments on our earlier HP 5350B OCXO repair post, a temperature controlled OCXO xtal oven: This is a very simple and easy to make temperature controller and heater to be attached to a xtal (crystal). The xtal is normally used to clock a microcontroller (PIC or ATMEL etc). Normally xtals provide an accurate clock to […]
RFID reader for BuildBrighton door pt II
Chris Holden has written an article on their new door entry system at BuildBrighton: The basic idea is this: A keyfob is presented to the reader and the serial number read from it. The keyfob number is displayed on the character LCD. This is sent (via the ethernet module) to a URL to validate the serial number […]
DIY Wacom Cintiq project using the LCD panel
Chocochan is working on a DIY Wacom Cintiq project using the LCD panel that is used in the Microsoft Surface Pro tablet: I wanted something small and portable that wouldn’t take up much space and be light to hold. I don’t have a large desk and I don’t traditionally draw on much that is bigger than […]
High Altitude Glider
Check out this cool High Altitude Glider project that House4Hack and HABEX made: On 14 June 2014, team HAG from House4Hack teamed up with HABEX. We released our High Altitude Glider on weather balloons into the atmosphere. After our glider reached the CAA approved height, kilometres up in the atmosphere, we released the glider from […]
Hack adds Bluetooth control to old iPod using Android and Arduino
The crew at Erroneous Data presents this tutorial detailing how to wirelessly control an old iPod music player with you Android device. Using only an Arduino, an HC-05 Bluetooth module and a few resistors they show how to build your very own MuseHack. The project includes the Arduino code as well as the Android app […]
Gesture based security lock project
Alan Parekh writes: Instead of using keys and codes for security this device that Ankur Thakkar, Darshan Shah and Saisrinivasan Mohankumar built as part of their ece4760 Final Project uses gestures to grant access. The system uses IR sensors to determine the movement of a persons hand within the detection area, after you train the […]
DIY CNC pendant
A DIY CNC pendant made by Bob Davis. He wrote a post on his blog detailing it’s assembly: Last night I finished building my DIY CNC pendant and tested it out. I still need to add a manual jogger to it someday. It is made out of an old Zenith TV remote control. The key is […]
Counter project recorded in C
Ricardo of Electropepper writes: So i’ve decided to rewrite the code in C language using the MikroC compiler for the Counter project. I have chosen MikroC compiler for its easy of use and good documentation, unfortunatelly the IDE editor simple sucks big time, so it really is good for me to tolerate it. I also got […]
Drum light trigger that uses leds, a NE555 timer and a piezo transducer
Davide Gironi writes: This circuit is a Drum Light Trigger. It uses a piezo transducer that reacts to drum vibration, and a NE555 timer to setup the light time. There are two trimmer pot, one to setup the sensibility of the vibration, the other to set how long the LED light will be active. This […]
Bus pirate used to hack into a car
Nilsson writes to inform us that he spotted a Bus Pirate in a video from Vice News, “How to hack a car: Phreaked Out (episode 2)” From his laptop, he was able to manipulate the car’s engine, brakes and security systems by wirelessly tapping into the Controller Area Network, or CAN bus, network. Without getting too deep into […]
A computer kit from the ’70s: Ithaca Audio Z80 CPU card for the S100 bus
Fabio Battaglia blogged about his Ithaca Audio Z80 CPU card for the S100 bus project: First of all, I assembled some simple test code to write a letter on my video console, just to check that code was actually executing. Obviously I only got a black screen at first, which seems a constant when I build […]
OTTO – The hackable GIF camera
Gustavo Huber and his friends announced that OTTO – the hackable GIF camera is now being offered on Kickstarter! OTTO lets YOU decide how it takes pictures. Besides being the only camera that makes animated GIFs, OTTO’s an image making machine that can transform into hundreds of different cameras with a quick tap. GIFs, time lapses, impromptu […]
MM74C922N-based encoded matrix keypad
Raj of Embedded Lab has writen an article about his latest project, an encoded 4×4 matrix keypad using MM74C922: In this project, we are building a simplified 16-switch keypad using the MM74C922 encoder chip, which converts a key switch closure to a 4-bit nibble output.