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Revised dual power supply boards are back in stock

Posted on February 22, 2014 by R-B Leave a comment

We have added a 500mA PTC fuse to our dual (5.0V/3.3V) power supply regular board in the new version. This power supply regulator board provides constant 3.3V and 5.0V outputs from an unregulated DC input (6.5-10V). The DC outputs are accessible through a 3-pin terminal block. It is small in size (1.9″X1.0″) and can be easily enclosed inside a project box along with the project circuit board. The board doesn’t have any ON/OFF switch, because it may not be useful if this board is enclosed inside the project box. We have included two through-hole pads on the board if you want

nrf24l01+ RF module and ATtiny85

Posted on February 17, 2014 by R-B One comment

Ralph Doncaster writes, Nrf24l01+ modules are a cheap and low-power option for MCU wireless communication. Libraries are available for Arduino, and for arduino compatible MCUs like the ATTiny85. Controlling the nrf modules usually requires power plus 5 pins – CE, CSN, SCK, MOSI, & MISO. With pin-limited MCUs like the ATtiny85, 5 pins is a lot to tie up. On something like the Digispark, with PB3 and PB4 hard-wired to USB+ and USB-, using the nrf24l01+ modules might seem impossible. Another issue is that although the nrf inputs are 5v tolerant, Vcc must be between 1.9 and 3.6V. I’ve designed

RetroWatch: A DIY Smartwatch using Arduino

Posted on February 16, 2014 by R-B Leave a comment

RetroWatch is an open source project to let you make a smart watch using the Arduino platform. This instructable describes the details of this project in step by step. The hadware design is based on the Arduino Pro mini and the HC-06 Bluetooth module. Watch the RetroWatch in action in this video.

This serial LCD module gets power and data through one wire

Posted on January 30, 2014 by R-B Leave a comment

I found this interesting post on EDN by Benabadji Noureddine about driving an HD44780-based LCD module serially through one wire. It receives the display data as well as power supply through the same single wire connected to the UART TX pin of the host microcontroller. The LCD module itself uses a PIC12F508 microcontroller that receives the serial data from the host MCU and transfers it to the LCD in 4-bit mode. The clever trick in this design is during idle condition, the UART TX output from the host MCU remains high, which is used to supply power to the PIC12F508 MCU and the LCD.

DIY USB travel charger

Posted on January 30, 2014 by R-B Leave a comment

This DIY USB travel charger is powered by two NiMH rechargeable batteries in series (2.4V DC) and uses the LT1302-5 DC-to-DC booster to derive +5V, 500mA output. The output is accessible through an USB port so that mobile devices can be simply plugged in for charging.

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