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Category Archives: Tips and Tricks

Soldering the SPI7SEGDISP8.56 serial 8-digit seven segment LED display kit

Posted on January 1, 2013 by R-B One comment

SPI7SEGDISP8.56 is a MAX7219 based serial 8-digit seven segment LED display module. With this display module, you can easily add 8 digits of seven segment LED displays to your project using only 3 I/O pins, and provides full control of all the digit segments including decimal points. You can even cascade two or more of these modules together without sacrificing any extra I/O pin. You can buy SPI7SEGDISP8.56 display kit on Tindie for only $12.00. SPI7SEGDISP8.56 PCB is double layer. The top layer consists of two 4-digit CC LED display modules (Disp1 and Disp2) arranged in a row and header connectors (JP1 and JP2), whereas the bottom

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.

Assembly instructions for Easy Pulse kit

Posted on September 17, 2012 by R-B One comment

Assembling Easy Pulse kit is pretty simple and straightforward. There are two versions of PCBs which are mostly the same. In the second version the J1 connector has 5 pins instead of 4. I have added an additional VCC pin next to the EN pin. This would allow users to test the board quickly after being assembled. You can activate the sensor by simply placing a jumper between the EN and VCC pins, and the board is ready for operation. While soldering the parts, start with low profile components such as resistors and capacitors. This makes overall soldering process easier.

Add a thermometer to your digital multimeter

Posted on May 3, 2012 by R-B 17 comments

A digital multimeter is a very useful instrument that combines several measurement functions in one unit. A typical multimeter includes features of a variable-range ohmmeter, voltmeter, and ammeter. Some of them also include capabilities of testing diodes and transistors. In this article, I am going to talk about a technique of adding thermometer feature to a regular digital multimeter. The technique is very simple and uses one temperature sensor along with two resistors and a DPDT slide switch.

Testing active analog temperature sensors with a multimeter

Posted on April 26, 2012 by R-B 6 comments

There are quite a variety of active analog temperature sensor ICs that provide an output voltage proportional to the temperature. They usually don’t require any external calibration and signal conditioning, and as such their output can be directly fed to the input of an ADC for digital processing. A few examples of such sensors are LM34, LM35, TMP35/36/37, and MCP9701. If you are having any trouble using any of these sensors in your project, here is a quick way to test if your sensor is working or not.

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