MAR17
Circuit simulator and PCB design software - EasyEDA
EasyEDA is a free, no-install, cloud-based EDA tool, designed to give electrical engineers, educators, engineering students and electronics hobbyists an Easier EDA Experience. It is easy to use circuit design, circuit simulator and PCB design app that runs in your web browser.
Features of EasyEDA: Cool Schematic Capture - draw schematics quickly using the available libraries on browser. Seamless automatic upgrades; Circuit Simulator - verify analog, digital and mixed signal circuits with spice subcircuits and models; Online PCB Design - with multiple layers and thousands of different pads for smooth PCB layout.
OCT25
PCBs for Inductive Vehicle Loop Detector available for sale
I am happy to announce that professionally made PCBs for project Inductive Vehicle Detector are available for sale at Elecrow website.
For those who do not know: Inductive Loop Detector works by detecting an inductance change in wire loop (coil) that is buried in road. It does that by measuring the frequency of the internal oscillator which powers the mentioned coil. When a metallic object moves over the coil it changes its inductance and that in turn changes the oscillator frequency which is measured by the microcontroller. It is used for vehicle access control at door and barrier controls, for monitoring the occupancy and for vehicle counting in parking garages, for traffic light installations and traffic controllers, for direction and speed detection of vehicle traffic (if dual channel version is used), in car-wash plants, etc.
Purchase link: http://www.elecrow.com/inductive-loop-vehicle-detector-v21-pcb-board-p-1458.html
OCT2
Liquid level measurement using capacitive sensor
Capacitive liquid level sensors work by measuring capacitance of the probe which is immersed into the liquid or even placed around the tank (which in that case must be non-metallic). Depending on amount of liquid between probe electrodes, the resulting capacitance will be different which can be detected by electronics and used to calculate level or volume of liquid inside a tank.
This project is based on Arduino board and the probe is made with kitchen aluminium foil which is in this case wrapped around a plastic bottle. It uses CapSense library which needs just one resistor and two microcontroller pins. After calibrating and taking measurement, the resulting value is calculated to either height or volume of liquid.
Source: Vadim S
SEP28
Morse Code Generator with Arduino
Nothing takes us back to the old days of HAM like Morse Code. Whether you just want to practice it, tutor someone or even learn it yourself to be prepared for the zombie apocalypse - it is a fun project to build and use.
This device is based on Arduino and can generate numbers, letters (and mixed) in groups of 5 and play them to connected speaker. Users can configure the speed and character spacing. The characters are displayed on screen during generation for easier learning.
This takes me back to when I was learning Morse Code on and old GMZ (Morse Code Generator) made in Yugoslavia for my HAM license.
Source: M0TGN
SEP21
WiFi enabled Nixie clock using ESP8266
It was a about time someone mixed Nixie tubes and ESP8266 in their project. This clock is not just a clock, it also displays weather forecast and it is all packed nicely in a cool looking retro enclosure.
The interesting thing about this project is that there is no additional microcontroller - it is all powered by ESP8266 WIFI SoC with code written in Arduino 1.6.5. Yes, ESP8266 can run Arduino code also! Tubes are driven by HV5622 which is actually four 74HC595 shift registers in single package.
All in all, it is a very well done project!
Source: SonikTech
SEP18
Retro video gaming console on Arduino
Arduinocade is an 8-bit retro video console which is based on an overclocked Arduino (ATmega328p) which generates video, audio and has IR input for user controls.
Arduino is overclocked to 28.6363 MHz (which is 2 times the frequency of NTSC signal) and in combination with a delay or two in the video-generation routines it enables us to generate a palette of 27 colors on the screen. Along side with Arduino there are just a few other components so it is very easy to assemble this device on breadboard. Currently implemented games are: Ballblaster, Jowst, Caverns of Titan and of course good old Pacman.
Source: rossumur
SEP17
Arduino burglar alarm system DIY
This Arduino based burglar alarm system is not just an alarm system, it is a part of home automation project. Not only it will keep your home secure, but it can be used to monitor home temperature or even control window shutters.
It is based on Arduino Mega 2560 and contains GSM modem, temperature and humidity sensors, Ethernet module and PIR sensors. As if that was not enough, there are also RFID and NFC readers embedded so that system can be activated/deactivated by cards or key fobs. The system can also be accessed remotely via smartphone as it can be connected to your home network or even the Internet.
Source: IngGaro
SEP16
How to control 8x8 LED matrix with Arduino
LEDs are a lot of fun, but when it comes to controlling large number of LEDs things get a bit confusing for beginners. One of problems is how to physically connect all those LEDs to microcontroller that does not have enough IO pins and second one is how to control it in software/firmware.
Besides multiplexing methods that we implement in code, digital chip manufacturers made our job much easier by developing chips that multiplex LEDs on their own. One of those chips is MAX7219 that we have seen in use for Word Clock is also used in this tutorial. Code for this tutorial is written for Arduino and is tested on Intel Edison Kit. Of course, you could use your own Arduino or any other microcontroller - the principle is the same.
Source: push_reset
