Bus timer project

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Limpkin published a new build:

For once, this project was not for me… it was for my wife !
Every morning she takes the bus then train to go to work. If she misses her train, she has to wait for more than 30 minutes for the next one. Not missing her bus is therefore quite important.
Where we live every bus station has a display letting you know in real time when the next bus will be there. My first thought was to reverse engineer its RF signal but something easier then came to mind.
In the very same bus stations, a small QR code brings you to a web page displaying the very same “minutes before bus arrival”… HTML parsing therefore made more sense given that I was fairly busy with other projects.

See the full post on his blog.

App note: Current sensing in metering applications using a pulse current sensor and ST metering devices

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App note from STMicroelectronics about current sensing using Rogowski coil together with STPMxx metering device. Link here (PDF)

This application note describes the benefits of a current sensing system for metering applications using STPMxx metering devices and a current sensor developed by Pulse Engineering Inc. (hereafter referred to as “Pulse current sensor”), based on the Rogowski coil principle. Following an overview of the Rogowski coil principle, the Pulse current sensor is introduced along with a comparison to other current measuring devices. This is followed by a presentation of the characteristics of the STPMxx family of metering devices, and the results of accuracy testing conducted using a demonstration board with the STPM01 and the Pulse current sensor.

App note: Watt-hour meter based on the STM32F101 microcontroller

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ARM Microcontroller based watt-hour meter implementation from STMicroelectronics. Link here (PDF)

This document describes, in detail, the hardware and software implementation of a watthour meter using the STM32F101 microcontroller. This cost effective watt-hour meter uses shunt with an operational amplifier as a current sensor, an embedded 12-bit ADC for current and voltage measurement, GPIO for LCD management, and a lot of other peripherals for communication, tamper detection, keyboard, and power disconnection. Powerful architecture of the STM32™ microcontroller allows sampling at 1 Msps. The high sampling rate makes it possible to use methods for ADC resolution enhancement.

Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters

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Every Friday we give away some extra PCBs via Facebook. This post was announced on Facebook, and on Monday we’ll send coupon codes to two random commenters. The coupon code usually go to Facebook ‘Other’ Messages Folder . More PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday and the blog every Sunday. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week:

Continue reading “Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters”

Weather logger with Losant and Amazon Alexa

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Steve documented his experience experimenting with home weather logging:

Like a million other people on the Internet, I’ve been experimenting with home weather logging. I roll my eyes at the phrase “Internet of Things”, but it’s hard to deny the potential of cheap networked sensors and switches, and a weather logging system is like this field’s Hello World application. Back in June I posted about my initial experiments in ESP8266 weather logging. Since then I’ve finalized the hardware setup, installed multiple nodes around the house, organized a nice web page to analyze all the data, and integrated everything with Amazon Alexa. Time for an update.

More details at Big Mess o’ Wires homepage.

Check out the video after the break. Continue reading “Weather logger with Losant and Amazon Alexa”

Transistor radio series – The 7 MHz scratch synthesizer

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Vasily Ivanenko has written up documentation on his 7 MHz synthesizer project:

Above — All 4 boards were built in re-purposed Hammond boxes. A PIC-based counter sits on top of the offset mixer. I build modular gear and this allows modification and fosters experimentation. When I build a final transistor radio receiver, I plan to place the offset mixer, PLL circuitry and VXO on the same board inside the radio with some shielding. My VCOs always go in a RF tight container. A 0.0033 µF feed through capacitor connects the VCO varactors to the outside world.

See the full post on his blog, QRP HomeBuilder.

#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.

Teardown of an ATVR-1000D AC voltage regulator

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Kerry Wong did a teardown of an ATVR-1000D automatic AC voltage regulator and discussed how different types of AC regulators work:

The ATVR-1000D utilizes a motor to drive the wiper of a autotransformer (Variac), the servo motor can be driven in either direction depending on the output from the OpAmp (LM324) based comparator. Comparing to a voltage regulator that uses relays for tap-switching, this type of servo-driven voltage regulator has several advantages. It offers continuous voltage adjustments as opposed to the limited discrete steps offered by relay-switching regulators. Also the output waveform is continuous.

See the full post on his blog.

Check out the video after the break. Continue reading “Teardown of an ATVR-1000D AC voltage regulator”

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: Thermal design calculations for integrated stepper motor driver solutions

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Another technical note from STMicroelectronics on fine tuning motor drivers for optimal thermal design. Link here (PDF)

One constant trend in the automotive world is the tendency to reduce the size of electronic components and the ECUs (Electronic Control Unit). While this development has many benefits for the car manufacturer as well as for the end customer, there are also challenges for the developers of these systems: especially for power drivers the design of robust applications requires an accurate estimation of the thermal power dissipation on a system level.

In this article a method to calculate the thermal power dissipation of a stepper motor driver is derived from a simple example to a model that includes the various configuration options and modes of a state of the art stepper driver, like that of ST Microelectronic’s L9942.

App note: Pop & click in audio amplifiers

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Technical note from STMicroelectronics about popping noise usually heard on audio amplifiers and how to minimize it. Link here (PDF)

Pop and click, or rather, the absence of it, is a characteristic that makes a lot of impact in the world of audio amplifiers. This is especially true for those destined for headphone-equipped applications (such as mobile phones and MP3 players).
Pop and click are the names given to the popping noise that may be heard through the headphones when you switch on or off portable audio equipment or mobile phones. The noise is generated by a voltage difference at across the output stage of the amplifier at switch-on or switch-off before it reaches its idle (or equilibrium) state.

Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters

BP

Every Friday we give away some extra PCBs via Facebook. This post was announced on Facebook, and on Monday we’ll send coupon codes to two random commenters. The coupon code usually go to Facebook ‘Other’ Messages Folder . More PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday and the blog every Sunday. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week:

Continue reading “Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters”

A full review of EasyEDA: A circuit EDA online tool

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Yahya Tawil wrote in to share his review of a web based EDA tool, the EasyEDA. He explains the general structure of this tool and some of its cool features:

EDA cloud tools which are related to electronics are emerging exponentially in almost all aspects (i.e. simulation, PCB design, footprint creation, gerber files viewing and 3D PCB viewing). Even well-known desktop programs like EAGLE CAD and Altium are trying to compete in this field by making their own services or by acquiring others.
Web-based EDA tool suites like EasyEDA and Upverter are getting rapidly famous. These online tools offer some outstanding solutions for collaboration and providing some viable features for teams with financial limits like multi-layer PCB designing, while it costs a lot to buy a licence for other EDA tool with a multi-layer feature, for example.

More details at allaboutcircuits.com.

#FreePCB via Twitter to 2 random RTs

BP

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.

Reverse engineering of BK Precision 1696 switching power supply’s LCD protocol

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Kerry Wong writes:

As mentioned in my previous post, besides the broken LCD there was also an issue with the power supply portion of the unit and the output voltage was clamped at around 10 to 11V. The digital circuitry portion however seemed to be intact. Unfortunately since an identical LCD is virtually unobtanium, I thought I’d reverse engineer the LCD protocol so once the power supply is fixed I can fix the display by hooking up a different LCD.

See the full post on his blog.

Check out the video after the break. Continue reading “Reverse engineering of BK Precision 1696 switching power supply’s LCD protocol”

App note: Characteristics and applications of fast recovery epitaxial diodes (FRED)

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All about ultrafast diodes app note from IXYS. Link here (PDF)

During the last 10 years, power supply topology has undergone a basic change. Power supplies of all kinds are now constructed so that heavy and bulky 50/60 Hz mains transformers are no longer necessary. These transformers represented the major part of volume and weight of a traditional power supply. Today they have been replaced with smaller and lighter transfomers, whose core materials now consist of sintered ferrites instead of iron laminations and which can operate up to 250 kHz. For the same power rating, high frequency operation significantly reduces the weight and volume of the transformer. This development has been significantly influenced by new, fast switching power transistors, such as MOSFETS or IGBTs, working at high blocking voltages (VCES > 600 V).

Apart from the characteristics of the transitor switches, the on-state and dynamic characteristics of the free wheeling diodes have a significant impact on the power loss, the efficiency and the degree of safety in operation of the whole equipment. They also play a decisive role when it comes to increasing the efficiency of a SMPS and to reduce the losses of an inverter, which clearly mandates that ultrafast diodes be used. The ultrafast diodes described here embrace all characteristics of modern epitaxial diodes, such as soft recovery, low reverse recovery current IRM with short reverse recovery times.