Stavros made a very small ESP8266 breakout board:
A very small breakout for the ESP8266. Includes all necessary pullups/pulldowns for it to boot to your code, a LDO regulator, a 3V3 output pin and enough breadboard space for one row on each side on a standard breadboard.
Keysight MXA revision-b signal analyzer / Spectrum analyzer review, analysis & experiments from The Signal Path:
In this episode Shahriar reviews the long awaited Keysight MXA Signal Analyzer (N9020B). The new X-Series Spectrum Analyzers from Keysight offer an entirely re-designed GUI interface which supports multiple tabs as well as multi-touch interaction.
Check out the video after the break. Continue reading “Keysight MXA revision-b signal analyzer / Spectrum analyzer review, analysis & experiments”
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:
App note from Maxim Integrated about simple fixes that can solve most issues when designing with ASICs. Link here (PDF)
Noise is a common problem in mixed-signal ASICs, degrading performance and jeopardizing the completion of products. This application note gives hints and tips for adding external circuits that make many of these ASICs operational for prototyping or shippable as final products. Ways to optimize the ASIC by correcting noise in analog circuits, making adjustments, calibrating gain and offset, and cleaning power sources are discussed. The payoff is quicker time to market and even the prevention of an extra ASIC manufacturing spin.
An analog switch MAX14689 from MAXIM Integrated let signals that are higher than rail voltage pass. Link here (PDF)
Boosted class-D amplifiers drive speakers with voltages greater than the supply voltage. These amplifiers are becoming more common because they allow higher performance audio from a single lithium ion battery. Most boosted class-D amplifiers, however, do not give the user access to the internal boosted voltage. This makes it difficult to multiplex a speaker to multiple audio sources using common analog switches. This application note discusses how the Beyond-the-Rails capability of the MAX14689 allows it to switch these signals without additional circuitry.
@incyi tweeted picture of his free Bus Pirate v3.8 PCB build. The Bus Pirate is an open source hacker multi-tool that talks to electronic stuff.
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.
Get your own handy Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also available from our friendly distributors.
Andrew blogged about his cheap car remote jammer ‘detector‘:
There are a number of ‘detectors’ available but the prices range from about R500 to over a few thousand! Generally these simply determine if there is a signal being transmitted for an extended period of time, and if there is it will sound an audio or visual (usually LEDs) alarm.
Having worked with 433mhz transmitters and receiver pairs for some of the research I did previously on bypassing car remotes as well as building the zacon badges I thought I would give it a go to build a very cheap passive ‘detector’. I put detector in quotes because it still needs a person to visually see the alert!
More details at AndrewNohawk blog.
Check out the video after the break. Continue reading “Remote jamming “detector” on the cheap”
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”
An Arduino Knight Rider Rainbow dice built using a clock by Davide Gironi:
This project implements a Knight Rider / Rainbow effect Random Selector.
It uses an Arduino UNO and a WS2812B RGB led strip.
A friend of mine needs a random selector for train scale model.
I’ve developed this using the Arduino framework, because he would like to modify the sketch “the Arduino way”.
Unluckly I have not any picture or video of his build. So I’ve built a dice selector by using an old clock frame. I would like to thank my friend Matteo for cutting vinyls out for this project.
Check out the video after the break. Continue reading “An Arduino Knight Rider Rainbow dice that uses WS2812B RGB LEDs”
Simple 3 Phase Arduino energy meter from The DIY Life:
Again, with this meter I was going for simplicity. Sure, for perfectly accurate measurements you need to measure both the supply current and voltage but for this application and in the interests of keeping the energy meter simple and safe – only requiring a non-contact connection to your mains – I’ve decide to stick with a simple current measurement which gives you an estimate to within a couple of decimal points of a kilowatt hour.
This meter measures the supply current through each phase using a CT (current transformer) and then does a few calculations to give you the current, power, maximum power and kilowatt hours consumed for each phase.
Project info at The DIY Life homepage.
Check out the video after the break. Continue reading “Simple 3 phase Arduino energy meter”
Jesus Echavarria published a new build:
For several months I’m working with FONA808 modules from Adafruit to make a portable, web-based locating system. This modules are based on the SIM808 module from SIMCOM manufacturer, and integrates both GSM and GPS transceivers in one 24x24mm package. The Adafruit board includes this module and also some electronics for choosing voltage levels, battery connection and charger. Because I need to test and programming some of this modules, I decide to make an specific PCB for it, allowing the programming and debugging via PC, wich is more comfortable that use a microcontroller for all these tasks. I use the MCP2221 USB-Serial bridge and add some electronics to give the board more functionality.
Project info at Jesus Echavarria’s blog.
From the comments on our previous post Improving ADC resolution by oversampling and averaging application note, Edward Mallon writes:
I managed to get oversampling working well on cheap Arduino promini clones. Turns out all you have to do is toggle a digital pin connected to ground with the right size resistor to generate enough noise for the technique to work.
More details at Arduino based underwater sensors homepage.
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:
Some stuff:
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.
An Arduino Nano-based open source data logger by Liudr.
I have been designing data logger for a number of years. This is my answer to lots of data logging needs. An Arduino Nano-based open source data logger
More details at Liudr’s blog.
zed65 posted picture of his UniSolder 5.2 build designed by Sparkybg:
Ok, first of all thanks sparky for a great project!
I’ve now finished the project and it finally works.
Thought I would share some of my experience when building this.
Via the project log forum.
orbitroniks built a free USB IR Toy 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.
Get your own handy Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also available from our friendly distributors.
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:
Holtek’s HT45F3420 MCU provide LED flashlight application all in with minimal external components. Link here (PDF)
In traditional LED flashlight application circuits, the battery is used to directly drive the LED which will cause uneven brightness levels and the possibility of damaged LEDs due to changing battery conditions. Using the HT45F3420 for LED flash application, both buck and constant current techniques are used.
Holtek’s App note about their audio to digital signal converter chip BH45F0031 that together with an phone app, communication via audio phone jack is possible. Link here (PDF)
The BH45F0031 is a Flash type 8-bit high performance RISC architecture microcontroller, which is designed for smart phone headset interface applications that can directly transmit data and communicate with the microcontroller using their audio earphone interface.
The BH45F0031 can convert the analog audio signals from mobile phones into digital data and transmit them to a master external MCU. The device can also convert the digital data from the master MCU into analog audio signals and transmit them to mobile phones.
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”
