Author Archives: R-B

A simple IoT demo using ESP8266 and Arduino

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ESP8266 is a highly integrated serial-to-wifi tranceiver chip that can be used to connect any microcontroller with a serial port to a WiFi network for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. The best part of it is that the breakout board for this chip costs only $3 on Ebay, and the chip itself can be programmed/customized for a complete IoT solution. This instructable describes a simple demo of using the ESP8266 and Arduino to send temperature measurements to a remote webserver using WiFi connection. In this example, the remote server is ThingSpeak and the tenperature sensor used is Maxim’s DS18B20.

Temperature web logger using ESP8266

Temperature web logger using ESP8266

HootLoader2 allows you to customize the ATMega16u2 USB-Serial bridge on Arduino Uno

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We know that the newer Arduino Uno boards have two programmable microcontrollers: one is Atmega328, which is an actual Arduino processor, and the second one is Atmega16U2, which is flashed to operate as an USB-Serial converter. Nico’s HootLoader2 allows you to reprogram the Atmega16U2 with your custom sketches to add more functionalities. HoodLoader2 replaces the DFU bootloader with a CDC bootloader and comes with full Arduino compatible USB-HID core, and CDC Serial. You can also use the 7 i/o pins of the Atmega16u2 on board.

HootLoader 2 to customize the Atmega16U2 on Arduino board

HootLoader 2 to customize the Atmega16U2 on Arduino board

Running LED dice

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Tons of LED dice projects with different output forms have been published online. The most common output configuration in those projects is a 3-1-3 setup (two rows of three LEDs and one LED at in the middle) of seven LEDs, which simulates the actual patterns of dots found on the six faces of a traditional dice. When it is rolled, one or more LEDs are selectively turned on to display a random number between 1 to 6. This project is about a similar LED dice but with a slightly different output form. It uses 6 LEDs which are arranged in a circular pattern and are labeled 1 through 6. They create a chasing effect when the dice is rolled. The chasing effect slows down gradually, and eventually stops at one of the six LEDs. The rolling is done by a gentle shaking of the dice horizontally. The LED dice is powered with a 3V coin cell battery and uses PIC12LF1822 microcontroller to generate a random number and drive the output LEDs.

Running LED dice

Running LED dice

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Arduino OLED clock plus thermometer

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Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays are the coolest displays ever made. Check out this instructable on building an Arduino controlled OLED clock that uses a DS3231 RTC module for precise time-keeping. The DS3231 is a low-cost, extremely accurate I2C realtime clock (RTC) with an integrated temperature compensated crystal oscillator (TCXO) and crystal. The project incorporates a rechargeable battery to maintain accurate timekeeping during power failure. The implementation of an interactive menu system, which is navigated through two tact switches, the time setting becomes handy. The DS3231 module uses the built-in temperature sensor to compensate for clock drift due to temperature variation, which helps to keep the accuracy to 1 or 2 minutes/year. By default, the temperature is sensed and updated by the DS3231 once every 64 seconds. However, it is possible through software to update temperature reading and oscillator adjustment done as fast as 5 times/second. The temperature measurements are also displayed on the OLED clock screen. The author uses Adafruits Graphics library to drive the OLED display, which has the SSD1306 controller.

Arduino OLED clock

Arduino OLED clock

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