PIC Projects | Embedded Lab

Category Archives: PIC Projects

Making a simple clap switch

Posted on November 25, 2012 by R-B 49 comments

A clap switch is a fun project for beginners. It switches on and off electrical appliances with a sound of clapping hands. Today we will discuss about making a simple clap switch that operates when it detects two clapping sounds in a row. It uses an electret microphone as a transducer for converting a clapping sound into an electrical signal. The microcphone output is amplified by a transistor and is then sent to the PIC12F683 microcontroller which performs an ON/OFF switching action when valid claps are detected.

Mini project board for PIC12F series microcontrollers

Posted on October 10, 2012 by R-B 2 comments

The 12F series of PIC microcontrollers are handy little 8-pin devices designed for small embedded applications that do not require too many I/O resources, and where small size is advantageous. These applications include a wide range of everyday products such as hair dryers, electric toothbrushes, rice cookers, vacuum cleaners, coffee makers, and blenders. Despite their small size, the PIC12F series microcontrollers offer interesting features including wide operating voltage, internal programmable oscillator, 4 channels of 10-bit ADC, on-board EEPROM memory, on-chip voltage reference, multiple communication peripherals (UART, SPI, and I2C), PWM, and more. The following project board is designed for fast

I/O Experimenter Board (PCB version)

Posted on October 5, 2012 by R-B 11 comments

Most embedded projects require the same common stuff, basically I/O devices such as switches, LEDs, LCD display, buzzer, etc. Connecting these things on a breadboard for prototyping every new project is time consuming and boring. Recently, I have designed a general purpose I/O experimenter board that will not only reduce the prototyping time for a new project but also free up plenty of space on the breadboard.

Introducing Easy Pulse: A DIY photoplethysmographic sensor for measuring heart rate

Posted on September 12, 2012 by R-B 165 comments

When I first built the Heart rate measurement through fingertip project, the infrared LED and photodiode used for finger photoplethysmography were actually from salvaged parts, and therefore, I could not provide specifications for them in the article. As a result of that it takes quite a bit of time to replicate that project with a different set of IR LED and photodiode as the values of the current limiting and biasing resistors may have to be changed for the new sensor to work properly. Today, I am going to talk about a revised version of the same project but with all the

0-9999 seconds count down timer using PIC12F683 microcontroller

Posted on August 29, 2012 by R-B 22 comments

The goal of this project is to construct a simple 0-9999 seconds count down timer with an alarm and a display. The time is set through two tact switches and the count down seconds are displayed on a 4-digit seven segment LED display. The project uses PIC12F683 microcontroller for all I/O and timing operations and MAX7219 IC for driving the seven segment LED module. The time out condition is indicated by an audible alarm from a buzzer.

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