When my wife and I moved into our current home a few years back, it didn’t have a doorbell. We live on a quiet cul-de-sac, so it really wasn’t a problem as we had few callers. After a while, I installed a wireless doorbell that lasted about three years. Recently, after writing the series of articles on “A Digital Analog — When a PIC Can Replace a 555,” I decided to make one using a PIC.
This fun, elegant, and useful project pulls data from the Internet so a series of useful displays can show all kinds of cool info in real time from your mantel or bookshelf in this impressive platform.
In our previous article, we discussed the circuit and code for each of the core components for our Weather Gauge. We took a deep dive on how the stepper is wired up and the node.js code that drives it. Now, it’s time to put it all together and light it up in this final installment.
This fun, elegant, and useful project pulls data from the Internet so a series of useful displays can show all kinds of cool info in real time from your mantel or bookshelf in this impressive platform.
In this first article of a two-part series, we’ll discuss the circuit and code for each of the core components for the weather; take a deep dive on how the stepper is wired up; then learn about the node.js code that drives it.
The Macchiato is a build-it-yourself/do-it-yourself (DIY) miniature eight-bit, polyphonic, digital music synthesizer kit. Derived squarely from the circuitry roots that are deeply entrenched in the pioneering work of American synthesizer maestro, John Simonton of PAiA fame and the legendary analog 1980s Pro-One synthesizer from Sequential Circuits, this offering from Zeppelin Design Labs is much more than just a kit.
I find medical instruments like an ECG-EKG unit really fascinating. To be able to watch the electronic firing signals of a heart is mesmerizing and informative. For parts costing less than $50, I built a unit that plugs into my laptop computer’s microphone input jack and displays stunningly clear ECG waveforms. The unit worked beautifully when I tested it on myself, my wife, and friends.
Want to be sure you’re playing musical chords correctly? This unit will tell you if you are and display a light show in the process. I stumbled upon this circuit while trying to design a custom frequency tuner for my guitar and is hands down the best sound to light device you could ever build.
This unique timekeeper will have you seeing stars ... even the same skies the Spanish missionaries observed back in the 1600s!
This article shows you how to build a really cool 3D cube with a 4 x 4 x 4 monochromatic LED matrix which has a total of 64 LEDs.
As an experimenter, I use wall warts all the time to power circuit boards, microcontroller boards, and even finished projects. However, during the checkout phase of a new circuit, wall warts present a problem. How do you measure their output when they’re plugged into a board or project box?
So, my wife volunteered me for “Science Day” at my son’s elementary school — an annual half day program where moms and dads taught mini-courses on everything from rocketry to zoology to chemistry. But what could I teach the kids? No sooner did the thought cross my mind, did I get the answer: build a video game!
