electronics

Teagueduino: making things really simple

[6 Sep 2011 | No Comment | 3,971 views]

A brief intro:
We love making interactive things and want to help more people join in the fun!
Teagueduino is an open source electronic board and interface that allows you to realize creative ideas without soldering or knowing how to code, while teaching you the basics of programming and embedded development (like arduino). Teagueduino is designed to help you discover your inner …

We present the candidature of Mr. Felice Pascarelli.
I propose my candidature for TiDiGino contest with an automation project of gardens made with Arduino interfaced to a PC via Bluetooth communication 100m (Class 2).
The idea was born a few days ago, I was a guest of a friend in his new villa with pool (lucky him!).
While we were strolling around the …

Water Tank level display with Arduino

[28 Aug 2011 | One Comment | 3,400 views]

We present the candidature of Mr. Danilo Abbasciano that is proposed for the realization of the firmware for the TiDiGino project and that presents us an application with Arduino: Display the level of a tank.
The project reads and displays the height of water level in a well or a cistern.
We will use the open source Arduino hardware device, an ultrasonic …

Arduino typewriter

Patel Sohil Sanjaybhai wants to partecipate to our iniziative “TiDiGino Contest”, sent us his application with Arduino to demonstrate his skills in this field: an Arduino Typewriter.
This project shows how to recycle an old PS2 keyboard and a dot matrix printer (DB25) to make a typewriter.
How works:
The idea is connect the keyboard to the printer with a basic and cheap …

Remote-controlled fiber-optic Ceiling Light with Arduino

Mauro Alfieri, who wants to partecipate to our iniziative “TiDiGino Contest”, sent us his new application with Arduino to demonstrate his skills in this field: a Remote-controlled fiber-optic Ceiling Light.
Mauro decribes himself:
Today my work is focused on open-source systems, supporting networking (CCNA) and scripting language programming, in small and mid-sized companies that use Linux/Aix.
Since I was 10 years old, I …

Real-Time Energy Monitor with Arduino and LabVIEW

[19 Aug 2011 | One Comment | 2,293 views]

We present the candidature of Mr. Michele Mancini for the TiDiGino Contest. He proposes us a recent application with Arduino: Real-Time Energy Monitor
This is a simple power meter to analize the current consuming in a house using the led indicator of a house energy meter.
Reading the red led of a home energy counters the system detects the corrent consumption in …

Arduino Moni

We present the candidature of Mr. Daniele Denaro for the TiDiGino Contest. He presents us a recent application with the Arduino: the Arduino Monitor.
This is a monitor that displays on the PC analog and digital values ​​read from Arduino. In short, a sort of display and keypad for Arduino made ​​with a computer. The use of a program in Java makes the application easier than a program written in Processing language and also lighter than the use of the protocol Firmata. At the end of the presentation you will find the files for the application on your …

The project TiDiGino
We developed a new GSM remote control called TiDiGino. The name recalls the initials (TDGxx) of our previous GSM remote control and is also based on the Arduino project. All the details of this circuit can be found below, but no the sketch, because this is your assignment.
The contestYou have to write the firmware for this project.  The device must perform all the functions of the past GSM remote control: TDG133 (remote 2IN 2 OUT), TDG134 …

A very interesting feature of Arduino is the great avalaibility of library that make the developer work very simple and fast.
Make a Web Server, a Web Client or post a Tweet haven’t difficulty.
Try to do the same application with the Microchip’s Stack TCP/IP…. It’s not impossible but for beginner developpers is of course hard.
With the Ethernet shield or WiFi shield …

Arduino Motor Shield

[25 Jun 2011 | No Comment | 2,143 views]

We are not the first to make an Motor Shield for Arduino.  But could be that we are the first that make a Motor Shield with a minimum of flexibility.
We are studing a WiFi robot with camera controlled by Arduino. The robot will be controlled by browser. But we find a problem with an existing shield: the pin SPI to …

Mini GSM localizer without GPS

It’s no the first time that we present a localizer without GPS. We remake the old device with the cheaper SimCom module SIM900. In the previous post we present the GSM section and now we can present the complete localizator.
Introduction
This system allows for localization without directly using GPS technology; we are able to locate the desired object fairly precisely by

Garden lights and antitheft control with Arduino via bluetooth

We present the candidature of Mr. Felice Pascarelli.

I propose my candidature for TiDiGino contest with an automation project of gardens made with Arduino interfaced to a PC via Bluetooth communication 100m (Class 2).
The idea was born a few days ago, I was a guest of a friend in his new villa with pool (lucky him!).
While we were strolling around the garden, we receive a call from another friend who tells us that for a few minutes was out of the gate with another large group of people (we were waiting for a while) who tried in every way (bell and trumpeted the horn) to “notify” their presence.
Once open the gate each of the newcomers has proposed a solution to replicate the sound of the bell, who has proposed to install a siren, who to include strobe lights like a disco and I proposed to replicate the bell, and maybe even open the gate on the computer.
At this point the owner, with an ironic tone, he asked me if I could do better and that the circuit have to be able to control the lights in the garden and irrigation system and check the status of microwave sensors installed to protect the garden.
After returning home I started thinking about how to resolve the issue.
I decided to design a software to run on PC that communicates via Bluetooth with a unit built around the Arduino and interfaced to the main power panel.
This led to the project “Automation Garden”.

Of course I designed the software and firmware for Arduino, although perfectly functional, but should be optimized, for lack of time (August 31 is the deadline for submissions), I send it anyway.
Let me explain briefly how it works:
the PC software communicates via Bluetooth (of course the PC must be equipped with built-in Bluetooth or USB) with another Bluetooth/RS232 HandyWave module connected to Arduino using the UART serial lines available on the pins 0 (RX) and 1 (TX).

To interface Arduino to the electrical panel I used some relay, and for interfacing it to alarm bells I used a circuit with optocouplers to avoid possible problems of shocks and surges that could destroy the Arduino.
I drew the schematic, but due to time constraints, I decided to temporarily mount it all on protoboard.

Before you start the software “Automazione_Giardino” on the PC, we associate, using the appropriate utility on the PC, the PC with the Bluetooth module mounted on the Arduino.
Once paired the Bluetooth and start the software, just select the checkbox associated to Bluetooth serial port and press the “Connect” button in the lower (see the location of these controls in the picture).
At this point, just click on the icon of the light bulbs to activated or deactivated the corresponding relay on the interface connected to the Arduino.
For the gate relay I planned pulse operation. Each time you press the icon associated with the relay opening the gate closes for 1s and then reopen.
To notify the alarm or intervention, even when the software is minimized, I provided a window that opens automatically when the event occurs and overrides any other application open on the PC.
Then just click on it to close.
The firmware installed on the Arduino does nothing more than to receive incoming commands on the serial port, interpret, active o deactive the relay and re-send the new state of the outputs or inputs. As mentioned previously the firmware should be optimized and maybe insert a checksum on the serial communication routines. But it works anyway.
You can use any other Bluetooth module perhaps with TTL output. Using a module with TTL output can eliminate RS232/TTL converter (MAX232 and boundary components) added to interface Arduino with Bluetooth HandyWave.
For those who haven’t a Bluetooth transmitter and want to try the circuit can without problems use Arduino connected via USB to the PC on which you installed the software and select the COM port assigned to the serial of Arduino.
Code

// Sistema Di Automazione Giardino
// Felice Pascarelli 2011
// fpascar@tiscali.it
long ritardo =300;
byte rxrs232;
String ricezione = "";
String rele = "0";

String bufferrx = "0";
String uscite = "K";
String rel = "0";
String rel1 = "a";
String rel2 = "b";
String rel3 = "c";
String rel4 = "d";
String rel5 = "e";
String rel6 = "f";
String in1 = "2";
String in2 = "4";

void setup()
{
  pinMode(2, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(3, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(4, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(5, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(6, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(7, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(8, INPUT);
  pinMode(9, INPUT);
  pinMode(10, INPUT);
  pinMode(11, INPUT);
  pinMode(12, INPUT);
  Serial.begin(19200);
}

void loop()
{
  if (Serial.available() > 0)
    ricevirs232();
    ingressi();
  delay(ritardo);

      if(rel == "1")
      {
        if (rele == "A")
        {
          rel1 = rele;
          digitalWrite(2, HIGH);
        }
        if (rele == "B")
        {
          rel2 = rele;
          digitalWrite(3, HIGH);
        }
        if (rele == "C")
        {
          rel3 = rele;
          digitalWrite(4, HIGH);
        }
        if (rele == "D")
        {
          rel4 = rele;
          digitalWrite(5, HIGH);
        }
        if (rele == "E")
        {
          rel5 = rele;
          digitalWrite(6, HIGH);
        }
        if (rele == "F")
        {
          rel6 = rele;
          digitalWrite(7, HIGH);
          delay(1000);
          digitalWrite(7, LOW);
          rel6 = "f";
        }        

        if (rele == "a")
        {
          rel1 = rele;
          digitalWrite(2, LOW);
        }
        if (rele == "b")
        {
          rel2 = rele;
          digitalWrite(3, LOW);
        }
        if (rele == "c")
        {
          rel3 = rele;
          digitalWrite(4, LOW);
        }
        if (rele == "d")
        {
          rel4 = rele;
          digitalWrite(5, LOW);
        }
        if (rele == "e")
        {
          rel5 = rele;
          digitalWrite(6, LOW);
        }
        if (rele == "f")
        {
          rel6 = rele;
          digitalWrite(7, LOW);
        }        

        rel = "0";     

      }
        Serial.print(rel1);Serial.print(rel2);Serial.print(rel3);Serial.print(rel4);
        Serial.print(rel5);Serial.print(rel6);Serial.print(in1);Serial.print(in2);
}

void ingressi()
{
  if (digitalRead(8) == 0)
  {
    in1 = "1";
  }
    if (digitalRead(8) == 1)
  {
    in1 = "2";
  }
    if (digitalRead(9) == 0)
  {
    in2 = "3";
  }
    if (digitalRead(9) == 1)
  {
    in2 = "4";
  }
}

void ricevirs232()
{
  if (Serial.available() > 0)
  {

    rxrs232 = Serial.read();

    if (isDigit(rxrs232))
    {
      ricezione += (char)rxrs232;
    }
    if(rxrs232 =='A' || rxrs232 =='B'|| rxrs232 =='C'|| rxrs232 =='D'|| rxrs232 =='E'|| rxrs232 =='F'
    ||rxrs232 =='a'|| rxrs232 =='b'|| rxrs232 =='c'|| rxrs232 =='d'|| rxrs232 =='e'|| rxrs232 =='f')
     {
      rele = rxrs232,BYTE;
      rel = "1";
     }
  }   

}

BOM

| C1         100nF
| C2         100uF
| C3         0,33uF
| C4         0,33uF
| C5         0,33uF
| C6         100nF
| C7         47uF
| C8         0,33uF
| C9         0,33uF
| C10        1uF
| C11        1uF
| C12        100nF
| C13        100nF
| D1         1N4007
| D2         4,8V
| D3         4,8V
| D4         1N4007
| D5         1N4007
| D6         LED
| D7         LED
| D8         LED
| D9         LED
| D10        LED
| D11        LED
| J1         DB9
| K1         RELAY_G5V-2
| K2         RELAY_G5V-2
| K3         RELAY_G5V-2
| K4         RELAY_G5V-2
| K5         RELAY_G5V-2
| K6         RELAY_G5V-2
| K7         CONN_3_V
| K8         CONN_3_V
| K9         CONN_3_V
| K10        CONN_3_V
| K11        CONN_3_V
| K12        CONN_3_V
| P1         CONN_6
| P2         CONN_8
| P3         CONN_2_V
| P4         CONN_8
| P5         CONN_2_V
| P6         CONN_2_V
| R1         10K
| R2         10K
| R3         270
| R4         270
| R5         470
| R6         470
| R7         300
| R8         300
| R9         300
| R10        300
| R11        300
| R12        300
| U1         7805
| U2         PHDARL
| U3         PHDARL
| U4         MAX232
| U5         ULN2803A

Download

	Software
	Arduino sketch
	PCB design (Kicad)

Toolbox Review: Circuit Sidekick

My colleague Collin Cunningham has an iPad app called Circuit Sidekick which consists of several tools for assisting electronics aficionados with their work.
Let’s start with the Resistor Values function, pictured above. It helps you determine the value of a resistor by selecting the color bands you see on the actual resistor. The image also demonstrates how Circuit Sidekick looks in portrait mode… I like it much better landscape.


The second tool is the Capacitor Values function, which helps you interpret the sometimes cryptic markings on the component. You can also get a sense of the landscape view of the app in this pic; I like it because you can see the menu at all times rather than having to hit a drop-down menu.

The next two functions help you determine the overall capacitance or resistance of a group of capacitors or resistors. It essentially plays the role of a calculator, letting you type each separate resistor or capacitor’s value and find the total number.

By contrast, the LED Resistor Calculator offers a more clear value since, in essence, it helps you design an actual electronic assembly. You choose the number of LEDs and voltage/current, and the tool tells you how much resistance you need to provide to protect the circuit.

The sixth tool on Circuit Sidekick is an Ohm’s Law calculator. You enter two of voltage, amperage, and resistance and the app fills in the third. Like other aspects of the app, Circuit Sidekick shows you the formula and tells you how it arrives at the answer, which will surely help people learn the stuff on their own. The last two tools are a binary/decimal/hex/octal/ascii number converter and a PDF reader that manages component datasheets.
Circuit Sidekick costs $2.99, a great value if you’re a beginning electronics hobbyist or simply want a ‘tronics-focused app for helping you with your computations. It’s a well-designed and slick app with the potential to save time and keep the magic smoke inside your components

A History of the Hackerspace Movement, Circa 2008

In 2008, an eternity ago in the hackerspace world, Bre Pettis, Astera Schneeweisz, and Jens Ohlig solicited entries from hackers around the world to create a book about hackerspaces. They’ve finally put it out!

This book documents where the hackerspace movement was in December of 2008. In that way it’s a bit of a time capsule. It’s not an exhaustive book, but we hope there are enough stories in here to show that all your excuses for not starting up a hackerspace are invalid. Each group faced down their own dragons to bring their hackerspace into existence including floods, rats, and drama. If they can do it, so can you.

In addition to profiles of hackerspaces there is Bre’s history of the CCC from the NYC Resistor blog, Club-Mate recipes, and coverage of the now-legendary Design Patterns speech Ohlig and collaborator Lars Weiler gave at CCCamp ’07.
It’s super cool! If you’re at all interested in the history of the hackerspace scene, check it out.

“We urge Microchip to give something significant back to the community they’re tapping”

@ Dangerous Prototypes Ian has a fantastic article “Editorial: Our friend Microchip and open source”…

It’s great that Microchip invested in the Arduino open source IDE. Unfortunately the contributions seem to stop with support for their product. Parts of chipKIT toolchain are still closed-source, and Microchip isn’t contributing open source drivers for the highly-advertised USB and Ethernet features of the chipKIT Mega.
We buttressed this editorial by saying we’re huge fans of Microchip stuff. It’s their time-honored right to deal in closed source software – most companies do! With the chipKIT, however, Microchip wants to tap the Arduino buzz. They want promote products using the work of an open source community, but they’re not participating in the spirit of that community. It’s not illegal, it’s being a bad neighbor.
We urge Microchip to give something significant back to the community they’re tapping. Open source drivers for the chipKIT shield would be a great first step.

Read more…
I have a much larger article on this topic coming out later, but I wanted to say I think it’s great to see Microchip coming in to the open-source hardware world and I’m really looking forward to them addressing some of the issues Ian outlined. Disclosure, I’m fairly certain Micrchip has sponsored MAKE in the past, present and future – at this time Maker Shed does not sell the chipKit(TM) Uno32(TM).

by Sean Michael Ragan

In September of last year, Matt Mets blogged about Visual 6502, an in-browser simulation of the landmark MOS 6502 microprocessor, produced by San Francisco hacker Greg James and Montreal brothers Barry and Bryan Silverman.
Recently, the July/August issue of the American Institute for Archaeology’s Archaeology featured an interesting article about the story behind Visual 6502. It provides a concise overview of the 6502′s historical significance, and then goes on to cast the team’s reverse-engineering project in terms of “digital archaeology,” emphasizing the “excavation” metaphor: Like physical archaeologists, James and the brothers Silverman “dig” into the chip package, itself, to recover lost knowledge of our history.

Back in 1974, the original schematic for the 6502 was sketched out by hand on a drafting board. (In contrast, today’s design methodology has hundreds of engineers working on hundreds of computers creating archived digital files of their work when collaborating on today’s microprocessors.) The creator of the 6502’s schematic doesn’t know where that document is today, and very little information on how the chip was created survives. Further, in the more than 35 years since its design, the understanding of how this remarkable chip performed its functions was lost.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/makezineonline/~3/UKc0KJId_1g/fabfi-cnced-wifi-antennae.html

FabFi is an open-source, FabLab-grown system using common building materials and off-the-shelf electronics to transmit wireless ethernet signals across distances of up to several miles. With Fabfi, communities can build their own wireless networks to gain high-speed internet connectivity—thus enabling them to access online educational, medical, and other resources

How-To: Car Battery Welding

Welding! Welding is a glorious, mystery-infused, thoroughly bad-ass way to stick things together. Welders move in their own cloud of mythos and danger – they are dirtier, tougher, and sexier than other kinds of makers, and the things they build are big and strong and hold our world together. This positive stereotype permeates at all levels of pop culture: if a character is introduced while welding, you immediately know that they will be some kind of blue-collar superhero, or some kind of cliched contradiction – the welder quoting Hegel after winning the bar fight, or the classic trope of seeing a welder at work, and then, they flip off their helmet, and OMG IT’S A GIRL! A GIRL WELDING!
Over on Make: Projects, I’ve written a welding tutorial to get you started with barely any gear at all – simply three car batteries and some jumper cables give you the ability to perform basic stick (arc) welding.
Popout
Meg Allan Cole welds at my shop in this CRAFT Video about a typecase table with an homage to Flashdance.
Who doesn’t want to get in on this skill set?  Soldering makes electronic magic happen, knitting keeps you warm, but knowing how to weld will make attractive people of whatever orientation you are into swoon. Everyone wants to know how to weld. The biggest problem, for most people, is that you need access to a welding machine.
There are a few options here: you can borrow someone’s welding rig. I suppose welders are common on farms, but only 2% of Americans live on farms, and if you are one of them, you were probably out welding the cows and milking the corn within minutes of birth (I have only a vague idea of what goes on at farms, as you can see. Something with dirt, right?) If you live in the grittier, more industrial parts of cities, there are welding shops all over the place, but they are dark, scary places (part of their appeal) and if you were to walk into one, expecting to find dedicated tradesman open to the DIY spirit and eager to teach a snot-nosed kid, you will quickly discover that welders are dark, scary, busy people, bribe-able with beer, maybe, but not usually interested, at all, in teaching.
You can buy a welder. You can pick up a cheap 110v stick welder for about a hundred bucks (check big hardware stores, Amazon, or Craigslist) or a bare-bones, break-in-a-couple-of-hours MIG (wire feed) machine for under $150 (just saw some for that much, and lower, on Amazon. Do not buy them. They are garbage), but I know that many, many people cannot even afford that.
Also, if you are not sure about the whole welding thing and want to try it out, or just need to do a day of welding to finish that one big project, or need to repair things every now and then, buying a new piece of equipment is probably not the best course of action, especially since when it comes to welders (as it is with pretty much everything else), you get what you pay for.
The final option, and best for the poor or non-committed-to-welding maker, is to build a welder. There are many ways to do this, ranging from impressive feats of DIY electrical engineering all the way down to the easiest, simplest one: wiring together some car batteries. It is quick and uses stuff you either have lying around or can pretty easily obtain. Follow the instructions, and you can go from zero to welding in under an hour.
Caveats, cautions, and all that
Welding is dangerous! Even if you take every possible safety precaution, you will occasionally burn and cut yourself, and electric shocks and retinal burns are very common, even if you know what you’re doing — and you probably do not. Skimp on safety and you can blind yourself, suffer injuries that will make hardened ER doctors puke, and die in any number of closed-casket ways. When you’re starting out, wear a good, rated helmet, thick gloves, non-flammable natural fiber clothing (as much leather as possible), and boots. Later, when you have a couple of hundred hours of welding experience and the scar tissue has rendered you insensitive to pain (and pleasure — a downside of welding), you can do the weld in a T-shirt or gloveless bit, but at that point, you will know what you’re getting into (and trust me — UV-burned armpits suck).
One important bit of information that other welding tutorials leave out: At first, you will be horrible at this. There is a good chance you will not even be able to strike an arc, or if you do, you will not be able to maintain one. Or, if you can maintain one, you will burn through the things you are trying to weld or not really weld them at all. People tend to not document their failures online, and it is easy for the person who’s new at welding (or skateboarding, or juggling, or pretty much anything) to forget that the thing they are trying to learn is hard, and that the flaw is not in the instructor, but in the student. The flaw is in the student, but not in the way that you might think — remember that worthwhile things are hard and people do not document their learning curve or all of their countless failures. You will fail, but just keep trying and you will eventually get it right. It will just likely take longer than you think.
Lastly, welding is really not the be-all/end-all panacea for fabrication. It is difficult to do on anything except for steel, welded things are hard to take apart, and the heat tends to distort small or thin parts.
With all that said

Manhattan-Style Circuit in a Copper Cladding Chassis

Yesterday, we posted about a technique used in ham radio to solder together project boxes/radio chassis using PCB copper cladding. Some folks, in comments and on the twitters, were wondering how well this works. Take a look. Here’s a lovely Wheatstone Bridge Regenerative (WBR) Receiver built inside of such a chassis using the Manhattan-style circuit construction technique (using small pads as connecting points on a conductive surface).
As somebody said in the comments to the chassis piece, imagine some lovely copper etching on the faceplate.
BTW: Here are some MeSquares and MePads you can get for easy Manhattan circuit building. We’ve mentioned them here before. [Thanks, Roy Roberts!]