Using BMP180 for temperature, pressure and altitude measurements

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Raj from Embedded Lab has posted a comprehensive tutorial on how to use BMP180 for temperature, pressure, and altitude measurements:

The BMP180 is a new generation digital barometric pressure and temperature sensor from Bosch Sensortec. In this tutorial, we will briefly review this device and describe how to interface it with an Arduino Uno board for measuring the surrounding temperature and pressure. We will also discuss about retrieving the sensor altitude from its pressure readings.

Details at Embedded Lab homepage.

App note: LCD screens don’t flicker – or do they?

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An old application note from Intersil on comparison of CRT and LCD regarding display flicker. Link here (PDF)

When comparing CRT to LCD screens, one of the most popular differences is the issue of flicker. It is a common assumption that CRT screens flicker while LCD screens do not. In truth, both screens have some amount of flicker. The mechanisms are different and methods for correction have varying amounts of success. This appnote presents the cause of flicker in LCD screens and offers a solution for avoiding flicker by using our ISL45041/2 LCD Module Calibrator in LCD panels.

Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB

IRToy

We go through a lot of prototype PCBs, and end up with lots of extras that we’ll never use. Every Sunday we give away a few PCBs from one of our past or future projects, or a related prototype. Our PCBs are made through Seeed Studio’s Fusion board service. This week two random commenters will get a coupon code for the free PCB drawer tomorrow morning. Pick your own PCB. You get unlimited free PCBs now – finish one and we’ll send you another! Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week:

Continue reading “Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB”

App note: Interfacing AT84AD001B dual 8-bit 1 Gsps ADC and AVR ATmega128L

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e2v’s application note interfacing their 1 Gsps 8-bit ADC to AVR. Link here (PDF)

With its smart feature (3-wire serial interface), e2v’s AT84AD001B dual 8-bit 1 Gsps ADC provides you with digital control over various functions offered with the dual ADC: calibration, gain and offset adjustments, DMUX ratio selection, analog and clock input mode, and partial or full standby mode.

This digital control via the 3-wire serial interface can be managed using Atmel’s ATmega128L AVR. The aim of this application note is to provide you with the relevant information for interfacing these two devices.

App note: Designing VCNL3020 into an application

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An app note from Vishay: Designing VCNL3020 into an application (PDF!)

The VCNL3020 is a proximity sensor with I2C interface. It combines an infrared emitter, PIN photodiode, and signal processing IC in a single package with a 16 bit ADC. With a range of up to 20 cm (7.9″), this stand-alone, single component greatly simplifies the use and design-in of a proximity sensor in consumer and industrial applications because no mechanical barriers are required to optically isolate the emitter from the detector. The VCNL3020 features a miniature leadless package (LLP) for surface mounting in a 4.9 mm x 2.3 mm package with a low profile of 0.83 mm designed specifically for the low height
requirements of smart phone, mobile phone, digital camera, and tablet PC applications. Through its standard I2C bus serial digital interface, it allows easy access to a “Proximity Signal” measurement without complex calculations or programming. The programmable interrupt function offers wake-up functionality for the microcontroller when a proximity event occurs which reduces processing overhead by eliminating the need for continuous polling.

High voltage power supply for Nixie tubes

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Limpkin has published a new build: a high voltage power supply for Nixie tubes

For quite a while I’ve had this project idea in the back of my head that would involve using many Nixie tubes.
These funny looking cold cathode displays were actually introduced during the 1950s and unfortunately need quite a high voltage to work (from 100V to 180V depending on the type). This meant that I had to find an easy, cheap and (if possible) not dangerous solution to power them.

Project info at Limpkin’s blog.

USB to ADB converter project

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Steve at Big Mess o’ Wires has been experimenting with USB to ADB converter.  He writes:

It’s time for a new progress report on my USB to ADB converter project! My goal is to design a simple PIC32 device that enables USB keyboards and mice to be used with vintage ADB-based Macintosh and Apple IIgs computers. You can read my earlier reports here: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I don’t know when I’ve ever spent so much time investigating the feasibility of a project, without actually doing the project. Hopefully all this preparation will pay off.

More info at Big Mess o’ Wires project page.

Bringing a vintage telegraph into the digital age

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Kyle Gabriel writes:

I recently inherited a key on board (KOB) telegraph that my late grandfather used to practice Morse code with when he was a kid (Figure 1). A little bit of curiosity of how it would work and a little bit of displeasure from seeing it sit and collect dust, I began a journey to resurrect the old machine and develop some software to bring it into the digital age.

More details at Kyle Gabriel’s blog.

Check out the video after the break. Continue reading “Bringing a vintage telegraph into the digital age”

Get ready for MPLAB Express, throw away your Arduino

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Chas from iradan.com writes:

I credit the maker movement with bringing electronics back from the crusty old and lonely electronics hobby back into the main stream. The Arduino is the micro of choice for this army of makers and I conceded it made sense… you install the IDE, plugged in your board into the USB port and a couple clicks later and you have an LED blinking.. the most exciting blinking LED you’d ever seen in most cases. I stuck with the PIC micros because I didn’t see any need to put back on the training wheels.
I got invited to a conference call earlier this week as they rolled out MPLAB Express. I almost passed the email up as spam, I’m glad I didn’t… a quick half hour later and I was in shock. Microchip is now relevant in the hobbyist realm.. They just leapfrogged over Arduino in usability for the beginner. They just released Microchip MPLAB Express a new, free, online cloud-IDE. Write your code (or pick a sample), press the compile button and the .hex file downloads.. DRAG AND DROP the .hex file on to the dev board. … the dev board looks like a plain flash drive… just drag and drop and the code is automatically programmed to the device… DRAG AND DROP.. brilliant.

Details at iradan.com homepage.

Nanocounter is an accurate frequency counter using an FPGA, STM32 and a bluetooth android app

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Andy Brown has designed and built a frequency counter using an FPGA, STM32F072 and an Android GUI – the Nanocounter:

After studying the above counting methods I decided on the following goals for my frequency counter, which I’m going to call Nanocounter.

  • Very accurate measurement over a range of 1 to 50MHz. This would cover the range of MCU crystals that I’d want to measure.
  • Onboard accurate, but cost effective reference with the option to feed in an external reference clock source.
  • Advanced options including data logging, charting and calibration of the onboard reference.

That should do for starters, let’s see how I get on. This project will call upon a large number of engineering disciplines including circuit design, PCB layout, SMD reflow, FPGA design, C++ programming and java android programming so I should be in for a fun time.

Project info at Andy Brown’s blog.

Check out the video after the break. Continue reading “Nanocounter is an accurate frequency counter using an FPGA, STM32 and a bluetooth android app”

Automatic monitor brightness controller

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Dilshan Jayakody writes:

This is an automatic “monitor brightness controller” based on environmental light conditions. This system use USB port base sensor unit to measure the light level and control monitor brightness accordingly. We design this system to reduce the eye stress by matching the monitor brightness with environmental lighting.

Project info at Dilshan Jayakody’s blog.

Behringer v-tone GMX212 Hybrid tube amplifier mod

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Davide Gironi wrote a post on his blog showing how he modified the Behringer v-tone GMX212 Hybrid tube amplifier:

For this project I’ve used 12AX7 vacuum tube. This tube is one of the most used for the guitar preamplification. So there are many resources available on web.
The first problem i faced it’s the power stage. Tubes needs high voltage in order to work properly. The solution I’ve found was to connect a 230V/9V power transformer with secondary and primary reversed. That way, connecting it to the 10.5V AC output of the main Behringer transformer i can get almost 160V DC.
Any tube also needs a low voltage current to power up the heater. I choose to use a 7805 voltage regulator, shifted by 1.3 volts using two switching diodes. This gives me the 6.3V DC I need.

More details at Davide Gironi’s blog.

Check out the video after the break. Continue reading “Behringer v-tone GMX212 Hybrid tube amplifier mod”

UCload: revisited

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Sjaak has posted an update on his uC controlled dummy load project we covered previously:

I finally found some time to check out the UCload project. A couple of weeks ago I quickly soldered the PCB and wrote a quick’n’dirty firmware for it. The basic functionality was working, but it wouldn’t do good for the shiny display.
Today I locked myself in my mancave and shut myself off from the world. Turned the light down, pulled loud music from the speakers and started coding like hell!! Not exactly but I found some time to write some more decent firmware for this load. In a previous revision of the PCB I forget the pull up resistors and swapped the SDA and SCL signals. I corrected that and made some small other changes (still ****ed up the silkscreen) in revision 2. The hardware is quite OK and rock solid (prolly more due to the robust FET then my analogue skills :)). However I managed to use a 1n4148 diode to measure the temperature. Connect it to the heat sink and if that one gets to hot turn on a fan. It accuracy is terrible but capable of detecting over temperature :)

More details at smdprutser.nl project page.

Via the project log forum.

Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB

IRToy

We go through a lot of prototype PCBs, and end up with lots of extras that we’ll never use. Every Sunday we give away a few PCBs from one of our past or future projects, or a related prototype. Our PCBs are made through Seeed Studio’s Fusion board service. This week two random commenters will get a coupon code for the free PCB drawer tomorrow morning. Pick your own PCB. You get unlimited free PCBs now – finish one and we’ll send you another! Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week:

Continue reading “Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB”

App note: WM8731 Suggested power-On/Off sequence

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Interesting app note from Cirrus Logic on how to minimize popping sound on the output when turning on/off the DAC on their WM8731 digital to analog converter. Link here (PDF)

As with any consumer audio product, it is important that any on/off power noise be kept to a minimum. Generally, this is done with some sort of external mute circuit at the output socket of the application. Although effective, this does increase the BOM (bill of materials) cost, which in many cases is a critical factor.

With this in mind, the WM8731 DAC signal path may be powered-on in such a way that power on/off noise is kept to a minimum with no need for an external muting circuit, reducing the BOM cost.

App note: CS3001/2/11/12 & CS3003/4/13/14 Chopper-stabilized Operational Amplifiers

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Cirrus Logic’s app note, discussing their own designed chopper amps. Link here (PDF)

The chopper-stabilized amplifiers designed at Cirrus Logic are unique. These amplifiers offer performance benefits that combine the best features of bipolar amplifiers with the best features of chopper amplifiers. The intent of this application note is to understand Cirrus Logic’s unique technology and to see how it can be applied in various measurement applications.

App note: Output buffer options for Si53X/55X/57X/59X XO/VCXO devices

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SiLabs’ application note: Output buffer options for Si53X/55X/57X/59X XO/VCXO devices (PDF!)

The Si53x/55x/57x/59x XO/VCXO devices can be ordered with one of four different output buffer types: CMOS, LVPECL, LVDS, or CML. Each output type has its own particular benefits and disadvantages. This document describes each buffer type, proper biasing and termination schemes, and related technical trade-offs.

A 1-meter-diameter small transmitting loop for 7 MHz, part 1

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qrp-gaijin has been working on a 1-meter-diameter small transmitting loop for 7 MHz:

I’ve decided to try constructing a smaller, more traditional loop of 1-meter diameter. A smaller loop means smaller radiation resistance, and that means that small values of loss resistance become more significant. Great care must be taken in all aspects of construction to minimize the loss resistances.
This series of articles will detail the progress of the project.

Project info at qrp-gaijin blog.