POTONG6 – Potentiometer & Slide switch breakout

Potong6

Mats shared his Potentiometer & Slide switch breakout -POTONG6 in the project log forum:

This is just a small utility board that I added to a previous batch of PCBs. Nothing fancy at all. :-)
Sometimes I need a pot or two when I test a design on a solderless breadboard and it’s always a PITA to fit the pots into the breadboard, same thing with switches. So I made the POTONG6 that is a SOB DP8049-sized breakout board with six small (10x10mm) potentiometers and six small slide switches for easy connection to a breadboard.

Files available on Github.

RTL-SDR + SDR Radio + Funcube Sat

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Amateur radio operator N4JTC has written a blog post about his experiences using the RTL-SDR dongle to receive the Funcube Satellite.

With the recent record number of cubesat launches this month most Amateur Radio enthusiasts been busy, myself included. There hasn’t been a better time to get into receiving these satellites. With the inexpensive hardware, free software, a ton of information and an active community it is “easy” and quite a thrill to get into this hobby.

I will focus on one satellite and one method of receiving and decoding in this post. There are so many ways to do this but I think this method is the least expensive and provides really good results.

IR remote control station for SensoDuino

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TechBitar writes, “This hack  intercepts sensors data from an Android phone, sends data to a Bluetooth HC-05 module to Arduino which then translates it into an IR remote control code to trigger actions such as lower/increase TV volume, increase/decrease heater temperature, and any action that can be triggered with about 12 sensors found in Android phones.”

Visit TechBitar website for project details.

Via contact form.

Rover 5: encoder speed control

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Bajdi writes:

I’ve dusted of my Dagu Rover 5 :) While I’ve had my Rover 5 for almost 2 years I’ve never really used the encoders. Unfortunately my Rover 5 was delivered with an encoder that didn’t work right. So I decided to have a look at it and try to fix it. It turned out to be an easy fix. I just needed to adjust the potentiometer on the encoder control board. So now I had 4 working encoders :)

MotionMote – Moteino motion sensor

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Felix of LowPowerLab writes:

I’m calling it MotionMote because it detects motion and because pretty much every type of wireless sensor or Moteino node name ends in “mote“. The possibilities for home security are endless, put this little guy in a corner near a door or on top of a cabinet somewhere and detect them intrudaz! Did I say there’s no wires?
Read on for details and source code and case design.

You can find the the low power Moteino sketch and case plans  on Github.

SquareWear 2.0 — an open source wearable Arduino

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SquareWear 2.0, an open source wearable Arduino by Rayshobby:

This is SquareWear 2.0, an open-source, wearable Arduino microcontroller board. This version measures 1.7″x1.7″ in size, and has built-in LIR2032 rechargeable Lithium coin battery. It also has a number of integrated components (see below). It is designed to be sewable: you can stich conductive threads through the large pin pads, solder a wire directly onto the pads, or solder snaps onto the pads to allow quick attachment or detacthment from textfile and fabric. Best of all, it’s based on Arduino, so you can make use of numerous available Arduino libraries to help build your project! SqureWear 2.0 is perfect for wearable electronic projects as well as general-purpose microcontroller projects. It’s also a great little board for learning Arduino programming.

DIY Pick and Place v2 project complete

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Brian Dorey has written an article detailing the build of his DIY Pick and Place v2 project:

The DIY pick and place machine project is now finally running and is able to place the components for our Raspberry Pi expansion boards. This project started in July 2013 when we began to order the various components, bearings, motors, drive systems, frame materials etc and we started to build the machine in September.

The source code can be found on Github.

Decoding FLEX pagers using RTL-SDR and Linux


Superkuh2 demonstrates how to decode FLEX pager radio traffic. He uses gr-pager and zarya’s implementation of it on the Linux platform with the RTL-SDR dongle.

This script runs at a 250 KS/s sample rate and decodes one 12.5 KHz channel only. Internally it uses gnuradio’s optfir to generate low pass taps stopping at 12.5 KHz to use witih a frequency xlating FIR filter. It then passes what’s left to gr-pager’s flex_demod.

Here I show such an activity with the osmocom gr-fosphor visualization tacked on to patchvonbraun’s gnuradio multimode receiver for context.

For more detail on this process, visit SuperKuh’s website.

#FreePCB via Twitter to 2 random RTs

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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 it every Sunday, right here on the blog
  • Tweet-a-PCB Tuesday. Follow us and get boards in 144 characters or less
  • Facebook PCB Friday. Free PCBs will be your friend for the weekend

Some stuff:

  • Yes, we’ll mail it anywhere in the world!
  • Check out how we mail PCBs worldwide video.
  • We’ll contact you via Twitter with a coupon code for the PCB drawer.
  • Limit one PCB per address per month please.
  • Like everything else on this site, PCBs are offered without warranty.

We try to stagger free PCB posts so every time zone has a chance to participate, but the best way to see it first is to subscribe to the RSS feed, follow us on Twitter, or like us on Facebook.

Experience with the Bus Pirate

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Steve of Big Mess o’ Wires shares his impressions of the Bus Pirate as a prototyping and test tool:

I finally got curious enough that I decided to just buy one, and get the sense of the Bus Pirate through hands-on experimentation.

My conclusion is: it’s great! Imagine every hardware programmer, debugger, serial cable, and interface tool you’ve ever used, rolled into one. That’s the Bus Pirate. But it’s even better than that, because the Bus Pirate also offers interactive diagnostic features those other tools never dreamed of. If you like to tinker with digital electronics, the Bus Pirate is the tool you’ve always needed, without realizing how much you needed it.

Thanks for the feedback. It’s always great to read about your experience with the Bus Pirate, good or bad. We’ve had so much fun designing it, and it’s awesome when other people find it useful too.

Get your own handy Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also available from our friendly distributors.

TI EZ430 Chronos Black Friday sale

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In recognition of the Black Friday shopping sales, we will be selling the Chronos for only $29.99 + free shipping on the TI eStore all week! There will only be a limited number available each day, but this deal will be live for 10 days! So if you try one of the coupon codes below and it isn’t working, remember to check back on the following morning.

Check TI’s estore to get 50% off on the eZ430-Chronos watch.

Varun via the contact form.

UberCubeX4- The MSP430 based benchtop LED cube

In this video Rohit Gupta demonstrates his 4x4x4 LED Cube using MSP430G2553 microcontroller:

I recently made a led cube. It is a project i was dreaming to fiddle with for quite a while(years). I finally managed to make one. Here is the complete video of the demonstration.Its basically a 4x4x4 Led Cube with various patterns programmed into it. I made it during Diwali-The Indian Festival of lights. The entire build procedure is documented in the video.

A digitally controlled dual tracking power supply I

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Kerry D. Wong writes:

Power supply is one of those things one can never have too many of. I have quite a few already, and my favorite one so far is the Topward 6603A. This dual 60V/3A tracking power supply satisfies most of my needs. I have since added an automatic fan controller, digital voltage readout and a fine voltage adjust knob, making it even more pleasant to use. Another power supply that I regularly use was the one I built earlier last year. That power supply was based on an LM338 5A voltage regulator with added digital voltage/current readouts. But I have always wanted to build a power supply more or less from scratch without using those three terminal regulators. So this time around, I decided to design and build one from the ground up.

Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB

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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: Selecting the Optimum Voltage Reference

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An application note from Maxim giving you hints when selecting voltage references on your designs.

What could be more basic than a voltage reference—a simple, constant reference voltage? As with all design topics, there are tradeoffs. This article discusses the different types of voltage references, their key specifications, and the design tradeoffs, including accuracy, temperature-independence, current drive capability, power dissipation, stability, noise, and cost.

App note: Low-Cost Shunt Energy Meter using MCP3909 and PIC18F25K20

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Here’s a low-cost single phase energy metering solution using Microchip’s MCP3909 metering ADC and PIC18F25K20 8-bit microcontroller. App note can be found here.

The meter was tested for a range of current from 0.1A
to 20A using the Fluke 6100A Electrical Power
Standard. Measurement results are visible on the LCD
or on the Pulse Output.
This document is intended to provide guidance for
designers who are interested in using Microchip’s
MCP3909 Metering ADC with synchronous sampling
and PGA on current channel, and the low-cost high
performance PIC18F25K20 microcontroller.

Pololu Black Friday sale

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Ryan from Pololu informs us about their biggest Black Friday sale:

Pololu Robotics and Electronics is having its biggest Black Friday sale yet, discounting hundreds of sensors, actuators, motor controllers, and other robot parts by 30% to 60% and offering an additional 11% to 15% off orders over $100! Buy one Zumo Robot and get one free, save on a 3pi Robot and get a free programmer, and take advantage of great deals on select Arduinos, Raspberry Pis, and mbeds. The first doorbuster deals go live Wednesday, November 27, and the sale runs through Cyber Monday (December 2). For details, visit Pololu.com/blackfriday.