Inspired by the numerous door openers out there, I decided I’d give it a shot (ok, really, I was just looking for something to do with my spiffy Parallax RFID reader). At first I was hoping I could use the RFID tag that opens the entrances to my apartment building; however, those turned out to [...]
Today, a whole new topic in DIY electronics – audio. Audiophiles (or just anyone looking to get good sound quality) can spend hundreds or thousands of dollar on systems whose parts may only cost a tiny fraction of the retail cost. So the DIY community has stepped up to the plate, with many extremely knowledgeable [...]
The new USB Power Shield boards (rev. 2.0) have just arrived from BatchPCB! As always, they were quick, great quality, and they even sent me a few extra! Awesome service. Version 2.0 has some major revisions since v1.0, including: Smaller Size – cost is determined by size, so I brought it down to the bare [...]
My Bus Pirate v2go just arrived this morning and I was eager to try it out. There is some documentation on Hack-a-Day on how to use the bus pirate with HyperTerminal. However, all of my electronics stuff is on the other side of the room from my Windows desktop. I use my MacBook for programming [...]
Just in time to test the USB Power Shield, it’s a Woot-off! I’ll post some pics of the lights in action tomorrow, but for now, head over to the Woot Tracker to keep up with all the items.
So you have a USB Power Shield (or anything that uses a latching relay). How do you control it in an Arduino Sketch? Normal relays are pretty simple – supply voltage/current to the coil and it generates a magnetic field, which pushes the switch to the ON position. You only need one pin to run [...]
A special envelope arrived yesterday from BatchPCB – the envelope containing the prototype board for the USB Power Shield v1.0. Or should I say prototype boards – they were kind enough to produce two, even though I only ordered one. Consider me a happy customer, especially because the boards work. That’s right, the very first [...]
Things have been quite here lately – but think of it as the lull before the storm! Coming soon to a blog near you: USB Power Shield Prototype The PCB has finally been produced and is on the way. Expect to see a fully functional (*fingers crossed*) version in the next few days! If the [...]
After toying with the relays and Arduino I found that the diodes weren’t necessary – especially since the relay is latching, and current will be flowing both ways, so putting a diode in each direction would just create a short. As such, I made some modifications to the board and put it into Gerber files [...]
So I “caved”. I bought a Mac. I’ve used Windows for years, from our first computer running 95, to the screaming gaming desktop I built by hand and continue to upgrade to the latest and greatest. Windows has always treated me well. As long as you’re semi-competent, it’s easy enough to deal with its occasional [...]
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