Author Archives: R-B

Lead-acid battery desulfator

Posted on by Leave a comment

Sulphation is a common problem in lead-acid batteries which usually happens when the battery remains idle for a long period. The sulphuric acid inside the battery react with the electrodes to form sulphate crystals that eventually deposit on the electrodes resulting into sufficient reduction in the efficiency. It has been found from research that the deposited layer of sulphate crystals may be broken down by applying high current pulses to the terminals of the battery. This instructabledescribes a desulfator circuit using 555 timer IC to reverse this process and rejuvenate the battery to like new condition.

Battery desulfator

Web-based relay controller for home automation

Posted on by One comment

Home automation is getting increasingly popular these days mainly due to reduced cost and simplicity through web or smartphone connectivity. Here’s a DIY version of web-based home automation controller that allows you to have a set of six relays connected to the end of a piece of Ethernet cable that can be accessed from a web browser anywhere from your house. You can use it to control or program the operation of lights, water pumps, or any other electrical appliances at home. The project uses Arduino (Atmega328) microcontroller and the ENC28J60 ethernet controller chipset.

Arduino home automation controller

Internet Logging Pill Dispenser using Propeller microcontroller

Posted on by 2 comments

Forgetting to take a medication is a common problem in older people. This instructable describes how to make a pill reminder, dispenser, and logger to ensure that your dear ones are taking their medications on time. It uses a Parallax Propeller micro-controller at its heart and keep track of when a patient should take their medications.

Pill dispenser

It displays a count down timer one hour before dosage time and then when the time arrives, it generates audible messages, LED 7 Segment messages and lights an LED under the correct compartment to be opened. When the patient opens a compartment, a sensor detects this and records the event to an internet accessible log file (thereby allowing relatives or health care providers to verify meds are being taken on time). More importantly the P.I.L Box logs the fact that a patient has missed their serving time and even sends a Twitter message to alert relatives and health care providers.

DIY wristwatch using Atmega328P

Posted on by Leave a comment

Zak Kemble from England has shared his digital wristwatch buildon his blog. It is a very neat and clever design using the Atmega328P microcontroller and a 1.3″ OLED for display. The watch is powered by a 150mAh LiPo battery which can be charged via USB. The onboard battery charging circuit uses Microchip’s MCP73832 device. The ATmega328P uses its internal 8MHz oscillator and runs on 2.5V derived from a linear regulator. Time-keeping is done with the DS3231M RTC chip. With 32K of program memory, Zak has implemented many other cool features besides displaying time and date, such as alarm, stopwatch, animation, games, etc.

DIY wristwatch using AVR MCU

« Older Entries Recent Entries »