Open source, modular bench power supply

Posted on by One comment

Here’s a neat bench power supply design from a Hackaday user which offers very interesting features such as software calibration, programmatic control via USB Raw HID, etc at an affordable price. While this is still an ongoing project, the author defines his final goals of this project as: Modular power supply from 1 to 6 channels (I am planning on having 4: 3x positive, 1x negative) Each channel can independently be set from 0-12V (for positive channels) or -12-0V (for negative channels), and the output can go all the way to 0. Configurable set points for voltage and max current for

Read more

Automation of an old-school knob-turny style AC unit

Posted on by One comment

If you have an old-school knob-turny style window AC unit that is still in working condition, you might want to read this article from Phil Rowe who talks about how he reinvigorated his old AC unit to a fully automated AC system using Arduino. He writes, This article covers the development of an Arduino controlled air conditioning system. It converts an old school, in-window, air conditioner (AC) which was in a very hard to reach spot to an automatic system which can be activated and monitored from MegunoLink Pro at your desk. The system consists of an Arduino Uno, a servo driven mechanism

Read more

How to use HC-SR04 ultrasonic ranging module

Posted on by One comment

Samuel Alexander, a 10th grader from Surabaya, Indonesia, has posted an Instructable on how to use the HC-SR04 ultrasonic module with Arduino for simple distance ranging applications. HC-SR04 is a common choice among hobbyists for obstacle detecting in robotic applications, and his Instructable would be helpful for beginners to learn how to hook this ultrasonic ranging module in your Arduino project.

Read more

USB temperature logger using minimal components

Posted on by Leave a comment

This PIC16F1455-based USB temperature logger is one of the simplest designs I have ever seen and uses only 2-components, the PIC microcontroller itself and an USB connector. It uses PIC’s internal temperature indicator module for sensing the ambient temperature. The PIC16F1455 is a relatively new microcontroller that can do USB without an external crystal. It also has internal pull-up resistors for the USB data lines. These things mean no extra hardware is necessary for USB communication. I needed something useful to send over USB and I noticed that the PIC16F1455 has a Temperature Indicator Module. This peripheral will let you read

Read more

IoT enabled lawn mower

Posted on by Leave a comment

Michel from Quebec, Canada recently bought a EGO brand battery powered lawn mower to which he added an ESP8266 module along with a PIC MCU and a couple of hall sensors to make it an IoT-enabled mowing device that is now capable of sending tweets during its mowing session. To make sure I would not void my mower’s warranty I’ve used 2 Hall Effect sensors and a few magnets: one on the bail switch, five on a wheel. Three revolution of a rear wheel represent a distance of 245cm (~96½”). There are 10 spokes on the back of the wheel.

Read more
« Older Entries Recent Entries »