Luca Dentella writes, “Hello! I’ve just published my latest project, an Arduino-based bluetooth switch you can control via Android App.”
The design uses an Android smartphone app which communicates via Bluetooth with a Bluegiga WT11 module, which in turn communicates with an Arduino controlling a relay switch.
Luca’s plans and code are available on his website.
Via the contact form.
Today we assembled an update to the IR Toy, and a secret project PCB. We prepared for the release of two new projects later this week. Completed website and server updates, Twitter and Facebook should both be connected to the blog again.
The secret project gave us grief today. The LCD started spewing out garbage. So we spent some time trying to find the bug. It turned out the microcontroller pin, connected to D7 pin of the LCD, had a weird solder bridge on it that only shorted from time to time.
Exapod built a USB IR Toy v1.1 free PCB. With the USB IR Toy you can use a remote control with your computer, view infrared signals on a logic analyzer, capture and replay remote control buttons.
If you build a free PCB we’ll send you another one! Blog about it, post a picture on Flicker, whatever – we’ll send you a coupon code for the free PCB drawer.
You can get IR Toy v2 for $22.05, including world wide shipping.
Via the forum.
We sent over some of our stuff to the SYN Shop Vegas hackerspace. Krux filmed the un-boxing.
Get your own handy Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping and Logic Sniffer for $50.
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:
Renesas is making the RX210 promotional demo board available free to eligible registrants. This board is based on the RX210 ultra-low power, low-voltage Flash MCU. You can download the board’s schematic here.
This promotion is open to residents of the United States, Canada, Mexico & South America. Other restrictions may apply.
In order to qualify, you have to give up some personal info by registering with Renesas.
Unbricking a Mac Book with the Bus Pirate. He documented the entire process on his blog, with step by step instructions.
In my tinkering with EFI I attempted to flash some backdoored firmware to a test MacBook that was kindly donated to science by a friend of mine. This resulted in the bastard doing the S.O.S. beeps and not booting, and it didn’t seem to be recoverable using the Firmware Restore CDs from Apple. I decided that since it was dead anyway I might as well try and recover it by re-flashing the firmware manually using the nifty Bus Pirate that I impulse-bought not long ago, and a copy of flashrom.
Thanks Russm! Via the contact form.
Get an assembled Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also available from our friendly distributors.
Jawi made excellent strides with the cross-platform client for the Logic Sniffer. Last week v0.96 beta 3 was released. The latest release features an improved UI, as well as dual/quad mode SPI decoding.
Most of the UI repainting bugs should be squatted by now (at least the most annoying ones ;)), and some small improvements in the look and feel have been made. Also extended the keyboard/mouse control a bit, see this wiki page for the current bindings and additional information.
With the help of TitanMKD, the SPI decoder tool is now also able to decode dual/quad mode SPI (aka SPIFI). An initial attempt to a Manchester decoding tool is also added, which should work but might need some additional attention before fully usable…
Thanks Jawi! Via the forum.
Today we made some site updates: The tracker now allows ready only, WordPress publish bug fixed by deactivating (non functioning) Google+ integration plugin. We also sent two new project sales pages to Seeed, which should be up in a day or two.
Work on the secret project firmware continues. Today we implemented a buffer that is filled from two sources, but keeps the information of the order, and the source, from where the data came from.
We did a little Eagle parts library clean-up, and added a bunch of the devices we used in the DP Badge circuits.
Matseng made a contest in the forum. If you guess what the PCB is, he’ll send one over.
This PCB is exactly the same size as a credit card and have the XMega, a Lipo battery and charger, a MicroUSB for comms and charging, a buttload of tactle switches and a bunch of 7-segment displays on it. I’ll tweak the design a bit more and then send the gerbers to Seeed and see if I can get it working. Major parts of the firmware is already done for the 644 so it’s about time to actually try it on some real hardware.
I’ll send a PCB for free to the first person that correctly guesses what this project actually is meant to be.
R3tikus received the Big box of parts and made a video (in Spanish) showing all of it’s contents.
We had lots of stuff hanging around since our move to the new workshop, so we decided to send it around to forum members in the big box of parts. People take stuff out, and replace it with their own.
Via the forum.
Today we made the 3D model of the Superprobe v1a. This is the SMD version we made, based on the original Superprobe.
Check out our tutorial on how to build 3D models from Cadsoft Eagle board files, as well as the tutorial on how to render life like images with Kerkythea.
The models will be published in the Dangerous Prototypes 3D warehouse collection. They are also uploaded to our SVN. You can find them inside the “art” folders in the respective project folders
We previously covered the CircuitLab circuit simulation software for the PC. The above video from Nerdkits demonstrates that the same browser-based CircuitLab schematic capture and circuit simulation tool now works on the iPad!
UPDATE: As aptly noted in the comment, CircuitLab is a Javascript-based app and is available free for use on the iPad from within the Safari browser. It is in no way affiliated with the similarly named “Circuit Lab” which sells for $6.99 in the Apple iTunes store.
The WordPress update is complete. No incidents so far.
Identified WPGPlus, the WordPress Google+ integration plugin, as the source of “A valid URL was not provided” errors when we publish. Disabled it because it never worked once in the first place. Hopefully this will solve the Twitter integration problem too, we’ll find out with this post.
Anonymous read access to the tracker is already fixed.
Sorry for (Enjoy the) extra app notes posts if you’re a hater (lover).
Flavor accidentally shorted the power on his Open Bench Logic Sniffer 3.3volt regulator and blew it out. With some quick thinking and a TO-220 through-hole voltage regulator his Logic Sniffer was back in business.
Via the forum.
An app note on a multichannel fan controller:
Intelligent Fan Controller Cost-Effectively Improves System Energy Efficiency and Reliability
- Provides energy savings by operating fans at the minimum required conditions
- Improves system reliability
- Lowers system cost by providing all the functions for controlling multiple fans with one IC
Thanks rsdio!
rsdio writes: These support both Apple and legacy charger detection
Industry’s First and Smallest USB BC1.1 Host ID Switch for USB Power Ports
- USB BC1.1 specification complies with latest battery charger specification
- Provides Hi-Speed USB switching
- ±15kV ESD for robust protection
An app note on analog switches:
MAX14756, MAX14757, MAX14758
Quad SPST +70V Analog SwitchesFamily of +70V Analog Switches are Ideal for Industrial and Battery Management Applications
- Provides enhanced performance and protection, eliminating the need for expensive optorelays
- Low leakage (2.5nA, max), low on-resistance (5Ω, typ), and low on-resistance flatness (0.03Ω, typ) minimize the voltage errors introduced by series current-limiting resistors on switch inputs
Thanks rsdio. Via the forum.
An app note on a MAX17710 energy-harvesting charger and protector:
Maxim Integrated Products introduces the MAX17710, the industry’s first IC to integrate all of the power-management functions for ambient energy harvesting, as well as for charging and protecting micro-energy cells (MECs), a form of solid-state battery. Operating at an ultra-low current level, the MAX17710 accepts energy from a variety of poorly regulated energy harvesting sources with output levels ranging from 1µW to 100mW. Examples include light (captured by photovoltaic cells), vibration (captured by a piezoelectric element), heat (captured by a thermoelectric generator), and RF (e.g., near-field communications (NFC)). The MAX17710 integrates a programmable input boost regulator and needs no expensive external components to charge a MEC with energy sources as low as 0.8V. It protects the MEC by using a linear shunt-series regulator. An ultra-low-quiescent current, adjustable low-dropout linear regulator (LDO) with selectable voltages of 3.3V, 2.3V, or 1.8V allows the MAX17710 to adapt to a variety of loads. Packaged in a low-profile 0.5mm TQFN, it enables a new class of thin, card-like applications. The IC will also be available in wafer form to enable even thinner form factors. The MAX17710 is targeted for powered smart cards, real-time clock (RTC)/memory backup applications, and wireless sensor networks. Examples of wireless sensor networks include remote applications like irrigation valve control, building energy management, machine monitoring systems, asset tracking, biometric security systems, medical applications, and a myriad of portable consumer electronics.
Thanks rsdio. Via the forum.
The WordPress to Twitter plugin has been down for more than a week, and the WordPress to Facebook plugin kinda works whenever it wants. Our apologies for the missed Twitter and Facebook PCB giveaways, we’ll try to get them back online this week. We also have some issues posting from behind the scenes that need to be addressed.
Anonymous read access to the tracker is already fixed.
We’re looking at all of these bugs right now. A WordPress update will happen in just a few seconds. Thanks for hanging in there.
