Author Archives: R-B

Arduino Fireworks controller

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JonBush has posted great instructions on building an Arduino-powered firework controller.

Arduino firework controller

Arduino firework controller

My module is Arduino powered for a few reasons. 1) I need to work on my programming skills. 2) I wanted it to be “smart” or “aware” of what connections were present. 3) I wanted to have control over timing adjustments that a more analog solution wouldn’t allow. 4) I wanted a more graphical user interface that would be fun for my kids. The complete solution was a two part module that allows you, children, babies, etc to safely enjoy launching fireworks from a minimum distance of 50 feet. I wouldn’t have felt comfortable sending my 3 year old up to a mortar tube with a punk, but I would let him launch them all day with this and its included safety features.

I tried to take pictures along the way in order to make a clear Instructable. I succeeded in some step and others I failed. But there is no way I am taking this thing apart for more pictures! Take a look through the Instructable, ask questions if you are curious and I hope you build some version of this for yourself!

TIC-TAC TV Remote Jammer

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DangerousTim’s TV remote jammer is disguised in a TicTac Box, which constantly sends steady IR pulses at about 40kHz to the TV receiver to disable any command sent from the TV remote. With this handy little circuit, you can watch your favorite show without any interruption from your family member.

TV remote jammer

TV remote jammer

IOT enabled AC wall outlet

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Gopinath.Marappan has posted great instructions about how he built an IoT enabled AC wall outlet using Arduino and ESP8266 platforms, along with a bunch of sensors, relays, and LCD displays. It features light and fan On/Off control, fan speed regulator, mood lighting, and cloud datalogger. It also allows IR remote control, amartphone app control, twitter and SMS alerts, and many more features.

IoT enabled smart AC wall

IoT enabled AC wall outlet

This project was conceived when I felt the need to automatically reduce the speed of an AC ceiling fan in the bedroom as temperature drops through the night. In Bangalore, where I live, during winters, I like to switch on the fan when I go to sleep. But early mornings, when the temperature drops, the fan makes it even colder. Which disturbs my sleep and I don’t want to or cant get up to reduce the speed or switch off the fan since the wall socket is not close to the bed. So I needed a way to automatically shutoff the fan or reduce its speed in the mornings and thought of building one myself since there aren’t any commercial products already available in the market. I know, I know, there are bigger problems to solve in this world, but I guess this problem needs solving too, so what the heck 🙂

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PIC18 development board with ethernet capability

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DIY development boards are popular among hobbyists. [magkopian] from Greece has designed a PIC18 development board that features Ethernet connectivity (using ENC28J60) and Full Speed USB 2.0.

The development board is based on a PIC18LF4553 microcontroller. The microcontroller features a Full Speed USB 2.0 (12Mbit/s) interface without the need for any external components. Also, it has 32KB of program memory, 2KB of RAM and it supports an external clock up to 48MHz, which is optional because it also has an 8MHz internal clock.

The ENC28J60 Ethernet controller is used to provide Ethernet connectivity to the microcontroller thought the SPI interface. The ENC28J60 has an integrated MAC and a 10Base-T PHY, 8KB of buffer RAM, supports both Full and Half-Duplex modes and it is fully compatible with 10/100/1000Base-T networks.

The microcontroller is not soldered directly on the PCB but mounted on an IC socket. The advantage of doing this is that when you are done with the development of the code and you want to make a prototype, you can just pop the microcontroller out and make a new PCB with only the components you actually need for your project.

Because the ENC28J60 needs a 3.3V supply to function I decided to power the microcontroller from 3.3V too. That eliminates the need for two different voltage regulators and for logic shifters between the microcontroller and the Ethernet controller. That means reduction of the BOM cost and more space available on the PCB for other components. On the other hand the LF version of a PIC microcontroller can function over an extended VDD range of 2.0V to 5.5V, so if your project needs to run on 5V instead of 3.3V when you move the microcontroller from the development board to a more permanent board you can power it from 5V if you want.

PIC18 development board with ethernet module

PIC18 development board with ethernet module

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