SPI7SEGDISP4.40-1R LED displays are back in stock

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SPI7SEGDISP4.40-1R is a serial 4-digit seven segment LED display based on MAXIM’s MAX7219 device. This display module can be interfaced with any microcontroller that has 3 I/O pins available. If the microcontroller features a built-in hardware SPI, then the display module can be interfaced as a SPI slave device. In that case the SPI signal lines SDO (serial data out), SCLK (serial clock), and SS (slave select) from the microcontroller can be directly connected to the DIN, CLK, and LOAD pins labeled on the display module. CS is active low signal. In case the host microcontroller doesn’t have a hardware

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Making a digital color sensor using RGB LED and photo-cell

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Electronic color sensors find applications in many automated processes such as sorting objects by color, detecting presence of a color coating, etc to improve quality at production line speeds. The fundamental principle of color detection is very simple. You can use an RGB LED and a basic light dependent resistor (LDR) to construct a simple color sensor. The idea is to illuminate a sample material with three primary colors (red, green, and blue), one at a time, and measure the reflected amount of light using the LDR. Each material reflects different combination of red, green, and blue light. For example,

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Application of ambient light sensors (ALS) in portable electronics

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ROHM Semiconductors presents this white paper on the Applications of Ambient Light sensors in Portable Electronics. In portable electronic products, reducing the power consumption to provide the user with increased battery life is one of today’s critical design considerations. The liquid crystal display (LCD) and its associated backlighting are among the more (and frequently the most) power hungry loads in portable products. As a result, the use of an ambient light sensor (ALS) to optimize the operation of the backlight LEDs under a variety of environmental lighting situations is increasing while, at the same time, the preferred technology choices available

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Universal TV sleep timer project

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This TV-Go-Sleep timer turns off any TV after a preset delay time. This project is built around an Arduino microcontroller that uses an open source TV-B-Gone library. The hardware part consists of a pushbutton switch to set the delay time, which is shown on a 7-segment display. When the timer expires, the Arduino transmits “Turn OFF” codes for all known TVs through IR LED, and the TV shuts down.

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mbed powered automated Sun tracker

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Maximizing power output from a solar system is desirable to increase efficiency. One way of maximizing power output is by keeping the solar panels always aligned with the sun. This requires a means of tracking the sun. Here is an mbed powered solar tracker that continuously keeps track of the sun and points the solar panels directly towards the sun all the time. The project uses two smaller solar cells (besides the large solar pannels) placed right angle to each other. The alignment of the big solar panels and smaller solar cells is such that when the solar panels are directly facing

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