cpldcpu writes: I grew fond of NXPs new LPC800 Cortex M0+ microcontrollers. I designed a small breakout for the LPC812 TSSOP20. This is the second revision. It includes push buttons for reset and activating the serial bootloader. The board has an integrated 500mA 3.3V LDO to supply both the MCU and connected devices from the […]
Category Archives: project logs
PlingPlong – A portable synth
Another cool project by Mats the PlingPlong, a two octave touch keyboard with four channel polyphonic synth: This is a small (10x20cm 4×8″) portable battery-operated synth with a two octave touch keyboard and four voice polyphonic digital sound. I’m using two microcontrollers on the board – a Microchip PIC18F44K22 for the user interface and a Atmel ATMEGA328 […]
Jack-O’-Launchpad
Tom shared his Jack-O’-Launchpad in the project log forum: Perhaps not the most imaginative used of a Tiva Launchpad, but the default application makes for a serviceable Jack-O’-Lantern. Powered by a USB adapter from CUI, a freebie via @digikey on twitter. Nice! Via the forum.
‘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 […]
Executive Decision Maker Pro
Bertho shared his Executive Decision Maker Pro in the project log forum: Making decisions is a hard thing to do, so it seems to most of us. The creation of the original Executive Decision Maker has really relieved me of the most of the heavy duty mind-gymnastics and enabled exceptionally good results at incredible speed. It […]
NoLoop galvanic isolator
Bertho shared his NoLoop galvanic isolator in the project log forum: I had a problem some time ago with a nasty ground-loop and that cost me the USB port on my old laptop. It took me a while to realize what had happened and it was a generic problem we all run into more often than […]
SIM900 breakout board
jechavarria writes: Hi! I want to share with you my last design. It’s a breakout board for the SIM900 GSM module. Fits in a 50×50 mm board, and has an IO connector with many of the signals you need to control it. Also, as the board is designed to work with a battery, it also […]
Nibbler 7400 4-bit custom CPU demos
Steve at Big Mess o’ Wires writes: I finished building my 7400 computer, and posted some demo videos here Via the forum.
Simple component size and silkscreen reference board update
Philip posted an update on his component size and silkscreen reference board we covered previously: After the reference board went over well, I also made a set of smaller boards to show the different soldermask colors. The boards all have a very similar front with exposed pads, traces and silkscreen both on copper and off copper. […]
Bipolar stepper motor driver circuit with LMD18245
Viktor blogged about his bipolar stepper motor driver based on Texas Instuments’ LMD18245 build: After extensive research on the internet I decided to make a bipolar stepper motor driver based on Texas Instuments’ LMD18245, which is a 3A, 55V DMOS Full-Bridge Motor Driver. It incorporates all the circuit blocks required to drive and control current in a […]
PCB a Week 22: TraId – Transistor type & pinout identifier
Mats continues his challenge of designing one PCB every week. In week 22 he came up with TraId – Transistor type & pinout identifier: TraId is a really low cost version of the Part Ninja. It’s made to only identify the pinout and type (NPN/PNP) of a transistor and display the results on eight LEDs. […]
Nibbler 7400 4-bit custom CPU update
Steve at Big Mess o’ Wires posted an update on his Custom 4-Bit CPU: Enough with the vague design talk – here’s the circuit schematic for the Nibbler 4-bit CPU! Click the image to zoom in to a full size view. For simplicity, this version omits some details like bypass capacitors, clock generation, reset circuitry, etc. The […]
Stripboard I2C Logic level converter
Tom posted picture of his I2C Logic level converter project in the forum: A very easy logic level converter to translate I2C signals from, say, a 5 V Arduino to a 3.3 V slave device. Via the project log forum.
Nibbler: Another 7400 4-bit custom CPU
Steve at Big Mess o’ Wires writes: I know the Open 7400 Contest is long past, but I wanted to call out a new 7400-based custom CPU I’m building. It’s a 4 bit CPU called “Nibbler”, and more info is on my web site here My goals are to keep the chip count to an absolute […]
Dot-Matrix MSP430 alarm clock update
Markus Gritsch posted an update on his Dot-Matrix MSP430 alarm clock we covered previously: Using the ADC is a good suggestion. Thank you! The clock now has an additional state after turning the flashlight off, where it displays the battery voltage in volt. I also added an additional displaying mode where it uses dice symbols for […]
Color Meter project
Isonno posted his Color Meter in the project forum: It’s a digital meter for measuring color; either the reflected color of solid object, or emitted light. It works, but the original goal was to measure/calibrate the output of RGB LEDs driven by PWM, but that didn’t work out so well. Via the forum.
Project-a-week: RickPAW – ISP2DIP
This week Rwinscot shared his ISP2DIP project in the forum. And he is giving away 2 freebies: These turned out just as well as the TAG2DIP adapter… as with my others I have 2 freebies to give away. Just send me your name/address and I’ll drop one in the mail for you.
PCB a Week 21: Tindog SMD soldering practice
Mats continues his challenge of designing one PCB every week. In week 21 he came up with Tindog an SMD soldering practice board shaped like a dog: A 8-pin SOIC is about the easiest SMD IC to solder so I had to come up with a project using one of those, and also not having […]
Mini 7-segment clock project update
Kevin Rye posted an update on his Mini 7-segment clock we covered previously: UPDATE: I finally got in my rev 1.1 PCBs from OSH Park. While working on these revisions, I came across some discussions about 슈퍼벳 and its innovative approach to user experience, which inspired me to rethink how I designed the interface for this […]
Breadboard version Bus Pirate and ST7920
BrianGriffin posted his Breadboard version Bus Pirate and ST7920 in the project log forum: Over this weekend I cobbled up a breadboard version of Bus Pirate with the extra stuff I have from the drawer (the main chip PIC24FJ64GA002 is there too), dumped the bootloader and dumped the rest of the firmware with a dirt […]