Category Archives: how-to

One dollar variable fan controller

Mountaindude has been spending some time lately working on 12V fan controllers and thought he’d share his experiences so far. “While trying out various computer and network gear, I quite often find the fans too loud. They are of course there for a good reason, but experience tells that the device usually works just fine […]

AmbientMonitor Arduino Javascript dashboard project

Luca Dentella posted an example on his blog about creating a full-working dashboard for Arduino (charts and gauges) in Javascript, running entirely in a web browser without the need for a webserver.without the needing of a webserver it runs entirely in a web browser. In this implementation, Luca uses the Arduino connected to an AM2302 […]

Controlling a heat pump with Raspberry Pi and USB IR Toy

Here’s a video from Chris LeBlanc  showing how to control a heat pump using a Raspberry Pi and USB Infrared Toy: A quick demo showing how to control a heat pump (or any IR device) using a Raspberry Pi, an IR Toy* from Dangerous Prototypes, a Google Calendar, and a bit of Python code. I’ve […]

Interfacing the DAC7564 to an MSP430

Juan has written an article detailing how to use an MSP430 with a DAC7564: The DAC7564 is a low-power, voltage-output, four-channel, 12-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The device includes a 2.5V, 2ppm/°C internal reference. The device is monotonic, provides very good linearity, and minimizes undesired code-to-code transient voltages (glitch).

Measuring microamps & milliamps at 3 MHz bandwidth

Paul over at Dorkbotpdx writes: Recently I needed to actually “see” a current waveform in the 100 uA to 5 mA range with at least a couple MHz bandwidth.  This extremely expensive probe would have been perfect, but instead I built something similar for about $30 using the amazing Analog Devices AD8428 amplifier.

Android phone used as Arduino GSM shield

Kerimil has made a new video on how to interface arduino boards with Android devices using MIT app inventor and Bluetooth. This time it focuses on using the phone as a GSM shield. “I used texting functionality which let’s you use GSM on the phone to send and receive text messages. So if you ever […]

Using TI Chronos .NET dll with C#

The TI EZ430 Chronos watch allows for wireless transmission of button push and accelerometer events to a PC. This SourceForge project by elmariano provides a helpful example for developers of how to use the EZ430 Chronos .Net dll in conjunction with C#. It was created in Visual Studio 2010 Express, tested under 32 bit WinXP […]

Turning a TP-LINK TL-MR3020 into an audio player

forbiddenhex has written an article detailing how to turn a TP-LINK TL-MR3020 into an Audio player: This time i flush the TL-MR3020 with Openwrt. After couple of usb packages and audio packages i just plug in the USB sound card (which was given by whoknowz – to the router. When the USB sound card is detected from […]

Using REF200 as 100uA precision reference

Kerry D. Wong has posted an article:  Using REF200 as 100uA precision reference The simplest way to use REF200 is to utilize either of its two independent current sources. In this case we obtain a 100 µA reference current. Because REF200 has a built-in current mirror, you can obtain currents of 50µA, 100µA, 200µA, 300µA […]

Tutorial – Arduino and the TI ADS1110 16-bit ADC

John Boxall over at Tronixstuff has a series of Arduino tutorials.  This chapter fifty-three of a series will show you how to use the TI ADS1110 16-bit ADC with Arduino: Moving on from the last chapter where we explained an 8-bit ADC, in this instalment we have the Texas Instruments ADS1110 – an incredibly tiny […]

HDMI current booster fixes Raspberry Pi video instability

Orlando Cosimo with Creativity/Design blog was experiencing instability problems with the HDMI output on the Raspberry Pi which are typical when using an HDMI to VGA adapter. He devised this solution using three resistors and an LM317 voltage regulator. Orlando states, “This addon hardware extends a past project and it allow to increase the flow […]

Turn a smart phone into a signal generator

Jacob Beningo has written an article detailing how to turn a smart phone into a signal generator: Signal generators are a handy thing to have around the lab. They are perfect for testing inputs on a new hardware design and verifying the behavior of a circuit before connecting all the pieces together. In recent years […]

Mounting an SD/MMC via parallel port using Linux

Vinod has been experimenting with mounting an SD/MMC card connected to the parallel port of his Linux desktop machine. He recounts, “For the last few days I was engaged in a mad project; I was trying to access an SD card directly via the parallel port of my desktop PC with Linux. At first, I […]

Carambola2 portable Dropbox uploader

Saulius has been working on this project to use the Carambola2 dev board for portable Dropbox uploading. This eliminates the need for a PC, allowing pictures from a webcam be to uploaded directly using the dev board’s built-in WiFi. Sometimes it’s overkill to use computer with 200W power consumption for 24/7 to do small task […]

24VAC to 5VDC Conversion

Ray Wang wrote this post about voltage conversion from 24VAC to 5VDC. Voltage conversion from 24VAC to 5VDC is quite useful, because a lot of home automation devices use 24VAC, including sprinkler solenoids, home surveillance systems etc. Having a conversion module makes it easy to use a single power supply, without a separate 5V adapter […]