NEW PRODUCT – UP501 Breadboard-friendly 66 channel GPS module w/10 Hz updates. When we saw this breadboard-friendly module used in the Coobro Geo kit, we were excited to carry it as a separate product. It’s a no-nonsense, high-quality GPS module that can track up to 22 satellites on 66 channels, has an excellent high-sensitivity receiver (-165 dB tracking!), and a built in antenna. The chipset is the latest MTK3329 which can do up to 10 location updates a second for high speed, high sensitivity logging or tracking. Of course the icing on the cake is the use of 6 x 0.1″ spaced holes on the side which make it trivial to add to any breadboard or perf-board project. This has the same chipset as what we’re using for the FLORA GPS module.

The only thing you’ll need to watch for is that the module is designed to run at about 3.3V, and shouldn’t be powered by 5.0V. If you’re using an Arduino, simply connect the GPS power pin to the 3.3V pin. If you want to configure the module, you’ll want to put a 10K resistor divider on the RX pin so you don’t put 5V on the data pin. We include these resistors, as well as a 6 pin header you can solder to the module in order to plug it into a breadboard.

Get started in a jiffy: after soldering together the module, follow our wiring diagram to connect it to your Arduino or other microcontroller. Then run our example sketch which will allow you to quickly set the update rate and select which NMEA sentences you want to have spit out.

• Satellites: 22 tracking, 66 searching
• Update rate: 1 to 10 Hz
• Position Accuracy: 1.8 meters
• Velocity Accuracy: 0.1 meters/s
• Warm/cold start: 34 seconds
• Acquisition sensitivity: -145 dBm
• Tracking sensitivity: -165 dBm
• Operating voltage: 3.0-4.2VDC
• Operating current: 25 mA current draw during navigation
• Output: NMEA 0183, 9600 baud default
• WAAS/EGNOS supported
• Weight: 9 grams
• Dimensions: 22mm x 22mm x 8mm

In stock and shipping immediately.

NEW PRODUCT – High Temp Waterproof DS18B20 Digital temperature sensor + extras. This is a pre-wired and waterproofed version of the DS18B20 sensor made with a PTFE wire cable. Handy for when you need to measure something far away, or in wet conditions. This sensor is a little more expensive than the other waterproof version we have with a PVC cable because this one can be used up to 125°C – the limit of the sensor itself.

Because the sensor signal is digital, you don’t get any signal degradation even over long distances! These 1-wire digital temperature sensors are fairly precise (±0.5°C over much of the range) and can give up to 12 bits of precision from the onboard digital-to-analog converter. They work great with any microcontroller using a single digital pin, and you can even connect multiple ones to the same pin, each one has a unique 64-bit ID burned in at the factory to differentiate them. Usable with 3.0-5.0V systems.

The only downside is they use the Dallas 1-Wire protocol, which is somewhat complex, and requires a bunch of code to parse out the communication. If you want something really simple, and you have an analog input pin, the TMP36 is trivial to get going.

We toss in a 4.7k resistor, which is required as a pullup from the DATA to VCC line when using the sensor. We don’t have a detailed tutorial up yet but you can get started by using the Dallas Temperature Control Arduino library which requires also the OneWire Library.

Cable specs:

• Stainless steel #306 tube 6mm diameter by 40mm long
• Cable is 5 ft long / 150cm long
• Contains DS18B20 temperature sensor
• Three wires – Brown connects to 3-5V, Black connects to ground and Blue is data.

DS18B20 Technical specs:

• Usable temperature range: -55 to 125°C (-67°F to +257°F)
• 9 to 12 bit selectable resolution
• Uses 1-Wire interface- requires only one digital pin for communication
• Unique 64 bit ID burned into chip
• Multiple sensors can share one pin
• ±0.5°C Accuracy from -10°C to +85°C
• Temperature-limit alarm system
• Query time is less than 750ms
• Usable with 3.0V to 5.5V power/data

In stock and shipping now!

Noetic Brainwaves: Adafruit arcade buttons. Ben writes -

I’ve written up a description with pictures of the Adafruit translucent arcade buttons. I wanted to see if I could mount an LED inside of them for a project, but I couldn’t really find any good resources or examples of how that might work out (except for the music keyboard project on the Adafruit blog). So after buying them I made sure to write up some hopefully useful information. Thanks!

Arcade Buttons- 30mm Translucent Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Pink and Clear. A button is a button, and a switch is a switch, but these translucent arcade buttons are in a class of their own. They’re the same size as common arcade controls (often referred to as 30mm diameter) but have some nice things going for them that justify the extra dollar.

First, they look fantastic, all 6 colors have a crystal translucent glossy look. Although they do not have LEDs built in, we’re confident that sticking a diffused LED into the body would make it light up very nicely. They are also shorter than cheap arcade controls, and snap into place, so you only need 1.5″ of depth (1.25″ if you bend the contacts over). The button action is smooth, without a strong click, yet you can definitely feel when the button is pressed. A tiny micro-switch is pre-installed, with gold plated contacts.

Arcade Button – 30mm Translucent Red
Arcade Button – 30mm Translucent Green
Arcade Button – 30mm Translucent Blue
Arcade Button – 30mm Translucent Yellow
Arcade Button – 30mm Translucent Pink
Arcade Button – 30mm Translucent Clear

In stock and shipping now!

NEW PRODUCT – Weatherproof TTL Serial JPEG Camera with NTSC Video and IR LEDs. This weatherproof camera module is a classy upgrade to the basic camera module we already stock in the shop. The main differences is that this one comes in a nice metal case with a mounting hinge, a 1 meter long cable with the TTL & NTSC signals brought out, and it has an automatic IR LED system for night time photos. When the onboard photo-cell detects that it is too dark for the camera to take a photo, it turns on a ring of 12 IR LEDs that illuminate the nearby area for night-vision shots.

This camera was designed to be used in security systems and does two main things – it outputs NTSC video and can take snapshots of that video and transmit them over the TTL serial link. You can snap pictures at 640×480, 320×240 or 160×120 and they’re pre-compressed JPEG images which makes them nice and small and easy to store on an SD card. Perfect for a data-logging, security, or photography project.

One nice thing about this particular camera is all the ‘extras’ that come with it. For example it has manually adjustable focus, auto-white-balance, auto-brightness and auto-contrast taken care of for you as well as motion detection built in! That means you can have it alert your project when something moved in the frame.

Using the module is pretty easy and only requires two digital pins (or a TTL serial port) – by default it transmits at 38400 baud but the baud rate can be adjusted if you need to transmit the images faster. Of course we wouldn’t just leave you with a datasheet and a ‘good luck’, we even spent a lot of time researching the module and DSP to make a really nice Arduino library with example code that shows how to change the image size and compression quality, detect motion, control the video output stream, etc. We also have a very detailed tutorial that will help get the most use out of your camera.

Example photo 1 (outside street) & example photo 2 (inside person).

• Metal Housing size: 2″ x 2″ x 2.5″
• Weight: 150 grams
• Image sensor: CMOS 1/4 inch
• CMOS Pixels: 30M
• Pixel size: 5.6um*5.6um
• Output format: Standard JPEG/M-JPEG
• White balance: Automatic
• Exposure: Automatic
• Gain: Automatic
• Shutter: Electronic rolling shutter
• SNR: 45DB
• Dynamic Range: 60DB
• Max analog gain: 16DB
• Frame speed: 640*480 30fps
• Scan mode: Progressive scan
• Viewing angle: 120 degrees
• Monitoring distance: 10 meters, maximum 15meters (adjustable)
• Image size: VGA（640*480), QVGA（320*240), QQVGA（160*120）
• Baud rate: Default 38400, Maximum 115200
• Current draw: 75mA without IR LEDs on. 250mA extra for IR LEDs
• Operating voltage: DC +5V
• Communication: 3.3V TTL （Three wire TX, RX, GND）

In stock and shipping now!

What do open sensor networks mean for journalism? @ Javaun’s Ramblings.

If you’re a data journalist or a community activist and you haven’t heard of Pachube (pronounced “PATCH bay”), you should look them up. They’re trying to answer a question that no environmental group or government agency can answer right now: at any given time, how clean is the air in my neighborhood?

Pachube is about to pilot citizen-led air quality sensor networks in New York and Amsterdam. Pachube’s business is to become a data hub for the “internet of things” — internet connected objects and ambient sensors — allowing citizens to share meaningful data and learn from one another. Civic engagement is part of their mission.

The granular air quality data they’re attempting to capture doesn’t exist anywhere– you candownload a snapshot of air quality data from the U.S. EPA, but there’s no real-time stream and the closest EPA sensor is likely miles from your home. Or at least much farther than a DIY sensor you can mount outside your window.

Wireless Remote Goes Bling Bling… Mikey writes -

We use a $7 wireless remote to turn on our hot spring pump. The remote has been melting away in the New Mexico sun for nearly two years. At this point the buttons and batteries have also failed. I decided to tear out the circuit board from our failed remote and give it a new bling bling home. I used a $8 outdoor electrical box and a pair of Adafruits blue LED buttons. I also used my CNC to cut some text into the cover plate and make a little circuit board to reduce the number of connections. It took about three hours to make everything.

Waterproof Metal Pushbutton with Blue LED Ring [16mm Blue Momentary]. These chrome-plated metal buttons are rugged and waterproof and look real good while doing it! Simply drill a 16mm hole into any material up to 1/2″ thick and you can fit these in place, there’s even a rubber gasket to keep any water out of the enclosure. On the front of the button is a flat metal actuator, surrounded by a blue plastic LED ring. On the back there are 3 contacts for the button (common, normally-open and normally-closed) and 2 for the blue LED ring (+ and -). Connect 3 to 6V to the LED to have it light up nicely, there’s a built in resistor! If you want to use this with a higher voltage, say 12V or 24V, simply add a 470 ohm resistor in series with the LED connection to keep the LED current at around 20mA.

This button is a momentary push button, when you press it the ‘normally-open’ contact shorts to the common contact. When you release it, the contacts open up again.

• Drill hole diameter: 16mm
• Switch rating: 3A / 250VDC
• Switch contacts: 1 NO, 1 NC
• Material: Chrome plated brass
• Grade: IP40/IP67
• Contact resistance: < 50 mOhm
• Insulation resistance: > 1000 Mohm
• Temperature: -20 C to +55 C
• Mechanical life: > 500,000
• Electrical life: > 50,000
• Panel thickness: 1-13mm
• Operating pressure: 1.5 – 2.5 N
• Operating stroke: 2mm
• Lamp rated voltage: 6V

In stock and shipping now!

We’ve added 3 more metal pushbuttons, in red, white and green to complement the blue metal button we have. These are beautiful waterproof buttons, with a built in LED ring. A perfect mix of form and function!

These chrome-plated metal buttons are rugged and waterproof and look real good while doing it! Simply drill a 16mm hole into any material up to 1/2″ thick and you can fit these in place, there’s even a rubber gasket to keep any water out of the enclosure. On the front of the button is a flat metal actuator, surrounded by a plastic LED ring. On the back there are 3 contacts for the button (common, normally-open and normally-closed) and 2 for the LED ring (+ and -). Connect 3 to 6V to the LED to have it light up nicely, there’s a built in resistor! If you want to use this with a higher voltage, say 12V or 24V, simply add a 470 ohm resistor in series with the LED connection to keep the LED current at around 20mA.

This button is a momentary push button, when you press it the ‘normally-open’ contact shorts to the common contact. When you release it, the contacts open up again.

The switch and LED are separated, so you could wire it to turn on when pressed or vice versa or whatever you wish! Check the tech details for information!

Waterproof Metal Pushbutton with Red LED Ring – 16mm Red Momentary
Waterproof Metal Pushbutton with White LED Ring – 16mm White Momentary
Waterproof Metal Pushbutton with Green LED Ring – 16mm Green Momentary

Birth of the global mind @ FT.com. By Tim O’Reilly, great piece…

This is man-computer symbiosis at its best, where the computer program learns from the activity of human teachers, and its sensors notice and remember things the humans themselves would not. This is the future: massive amounts of data created by people, stored in cloud applications that use smart algorithms to extract meaning from it, feeding back results to those people on mobile devices, gradually giving way to applications that emulate what they have learned from the feedback loops between those people and their devices.

NEW PRODUCT – Geiger Counter Kit Case. Protect your Geiger counter kit and keep accidental fingers from touching the high voltages with this handsome acrylic laser-cut case. Once you’ve assembled and tested the Geiger kit, you can easily install these two cover plates on using the included screws and standoffs.

This is just for the case parts, batteries and Geiger counter kit are not included!

In stock and shipping now!

Geiger Counter Kit – Radiation Sensor. Detect particles and/or make a cool random number generator with this handsome Geiger counter kit. This easy-to-make pack of parts turns a simple Geiger-Muller tube (included) into a portable blink, beeping radiation detector. You can also connect an FTDI friend to the header, to get serial output for datalogging on your computer.

We put this kit together in a couple of hours and hand lots of fun bringing it around and listening for ticking sounds near our smoke detectors, bananas, countertops, Brazil nuts, chunks of Uranium, etc. It includes all components (PCB, tube, & parts) but you will need basic soldering tools and two AAA batteries to complete it.

Get one!

Yay! RobotGrrl has written up an awesome instructable detailing the process of making your very own RoboBrrd robot! She writes:

RoboBrrd is an robot / animatronic character whose purpose morphs to mirror that of the virtual world. It is designed to be used as a tangible real world interface to virtual world learning applications. As a standalone robot, RoboBrrd is an entertaining platform that can be used to learn about robotics, Arduino, circuits, and programming.

This Instructable will guide you through creating a RoboBrrd- all the way from the circuits to programming to the felt decorations. We will also include reasoning behind our design choices to further enlighten the Instructable.

This is a great robot project for kids and parents to build together — it’s low-cost and doesn’t require any special tools. Having seen it in person, I can also attest to how charming it is.

You can also check out this mini-interview I did with RobotGrrl at the Open Hardware Summit, in which she talks about Learning Pet, a smaller version of RoboBrrd:

Awesome work, RobotGrrl!

Partial parts list:

Standard Servos, Micro Servos, Arduino Uno, Proto Screwshield, Photocells, Hookup Wire

Main Page – Isomorphic Keyboard Research.

This video is an original composition and performance (Steven Maupin) using the Rainboard. The Rainboard is a DIY dynamic isomorphic keyboard. It can interface the Musix iOS app in order to change layouts and adjust settings. As well, it can be played on its own after a layout is set. More details can be found at http://rainboard.shiverware.com

Uses our clear 30mm arcade buttons

Hack a Toaster Oven for Reflow Soldering. Frank writes -

As I get more serious into my electronics hobby, I need to work with more SMD components. Some component packages are very difficult or impossible to solder with a traditional soldering iron. To solve this problem, I decided to hack a toaster oven to become a reflow soldering oven.

Basically, to perform reflow soldering, solder paste is placed on a printed circuit board, and the components to be soldered is placed on top of the solder paste. When the oven heats the solder paste past the melting temperature, the solder paste melts and solders the component to the circuit board.

To control the oven’s temperature, I created my own reflow toaster oven controller circuit. This circuit uses an ATmega32U4 microcontroller to monitor the oven’s temperature using a thermocouple and AD595AQ, and then control the oven’s heating element using a solid state relay. The controller features USB logging/debugging, USB bootloading, a graphic LCD display, and 3 buttons. The firmware features tweaking for all settings, manual temperature control, manual heating element control, and automatic temperature profile control (with a nice temperature history graph display). This circuit will plug into a wall outlet, and the oven will plug into this circuit, while the solid state relay basically acts as a switch between the wall outlet and the oven’s heating element. Safety is the main design objective (but some things were limited by cost), and ease of use is the second objective.

Miles O’Brien profiles the crowdsourced Safecast effort on tonight’s Rundown:

We officially launch a new feature today we’re calling “Science Thursday.” Each week, we’ll feature an online-exclusive multimedia piece on a topic in the world of science and technology.

Here’s what’s up first. On Thursday’s NewsHour, science correspondent Miles O’Brien reports on a grassroots group called Safecast that is measuring and mapping data on radiation contamination from locations around Japan after this year’s devastating earthquake.

While in Tokyo, Miles spoke to Hari Sreenivasan about his trip with Safecast workers into the voluntary exclusion zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, where they detected levels reaching the equivalent of six X-rays per day.

He also filled us in on his conversations with Japanese officials working in evacuated areas and Japanese residents eager for more information about the consequences of the nuclear accident.

Nice to see PBS start this “Science Thursday” segment, and even better that they’re kicking it off with a feature on something as cool as Safecast. The segment will air tonight at different times depending on your local station. Check the local listings. I just watched it on NJ’s PBS station, and it airs about 28 minutes into the program.

CAndrian DevelopingTheFuture » GSM/GPRS Autonomous Weather Station (Tracking System).

Autonomous live tracking weather station. It takes (analog/digital) measurements and sends them to a web server over GPRS. Adding a battery and a solar station you can make it fully autonomous. It supports up to 3 inputs Analog or Digital. The main brain is the PIC 16F877A which also drives the SIM900/300 GSM module which is placed in the back of the PCB.

The main purpose of this project is to take wind flow measurements of different locations and store them in a database remotely. By this you know if the locations are appropriate for future installation of wind generators.

The data send from GSM to Web server with GET requests which isn’t the safest and best way but its an easy way to make it work. The example code you can find at the github is a very simple example and has no security responsibility.

digidrench. Great use of our eTape liquid level sensors!

digidrench is an interactive video installation in which the user controls video playback by filling and draining three tanks. As the water level rises, the video plays forward; as it lowers, the video reverses. The user gets to interact with the very same materials that are used on screen. As the user pours, liquid falls on screen. There is a direct correlation between the user’s action and the video content, allowing for more playful and meaningful engagement with the project.

Our assignment was to develop a media controller. Early in our brainstorms, we chose water as the project’s theme and instrument of control. After hours of discussion, we settled on using fluid levels to control the video playback. The user can manipulate both the speed and direction of playback. The faster you pour the water into the tank, the faster the video plays. Draining the tank reverses the footage. The tank’s design mirrors the aspect ratio of the video screen. The inspiration for the video clips came from researching slow motion video of fluid.

The digidrench tanks are made from sheets of acrylic, which were bent and affixed with PVC cement. Some pieces were cut manually with a band saw and others were laser cut. Plastic water cooler spigots allow the tanks to drain.

Inside the tanks, fluid level sensors relay water levels to an Arduino, which in turn passes those values along to a computer running Maxwith Jitter. Max uses the data from the Arduino to “scrub” the video playheads back and forth.

8″ eTape Liquid Level Sensor + extras. The eTape Liquid Level Sensor is a solid-state sensor with a resistive output that varies with the level of the fluid. It does away with clunky mechanical floats, and easily interfaces with electronic control systems. The eTape sensor’s envelope is compressed by the hydrostatic pressure of the fluid in which it is immersed. This results in a change in resistance that corresponds to the distance from the top of the sensor to the surface of the fluid. The sensor’s resistive output is inversely proportional to the height of the liquid: the lower the liquid level, the higher the output resistance; the higher the liquid level, the lower the output resistance.

This is a very unique sensor, we haven’t seen anything else that is affordable and accurate for measuring liquid level. This sensor seems like it would be a handy addition to an hydroponics, aquarium, fountain or pool controller, or perhaps measuring a rain tube. This particular sensor is the 8″ model, we also include a 3-pin connector and 470 ohm resistor. The connector is so you don’t have to solder directly to the delicate pins: instead, just solder to the connector and plug it onto the sensor.

Since the sensor is resistive, it is easy to read it using a microcontroller/Arduino ADC pin. Check the tutorials tab for a quick-start pointer.

• Sensor Length: 10.65″ (297 mm)
• Width: 1.0″ (25.4mm)
• Thickness: 0.015″ (0.208 mm)
• Resistance Gradient: 55Ω / inch (22Ω / cm), ± 15%
• Active Sensor Length: 12.6″ (320.7 mm)
• Substrate: Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)
• Sensor Output: 700Ω empty, 85Ω full, ± 15%
• Actuation Depth: Nominal 1 inch (25.4 mm)
• Resolution: 1/32 inch (0.794 mm)
• Temperature Range: 15°F – 140°F (-9°C – 60°C)

In stock and shipping now!

New features built into a new transparent skin-like pressure sensor @ Printed Electronics World via twitter.

Using carbon nanotubes bent to act as springs, Stanford researchers have developed a stretchable, transparent skin-like sensor. The sensor can be stretched to more than twice its original length and bounce back perfectly to its original shape. It can sense pressure from a firm pinch to thousands of pounds. The sensor could have applications in prosthetic limbs, robotics and touch-sensitive computer displays.

NEW PRODUCT – Conductive Rubber Cord Stretch Sensor + extras! Measuring stretch forces isn’t easy – unless you have some conductive rubber cord! This cord is 2mm diameter, and 1 meter long, made of carbon-black impregnated rubber. Usually this material is used for EMF gasketing, but its also very fun to play with.

In a ‘relaxed’ state, the resistance is about 350 ohms per inch. As you pull on it, the resistance increases (the particles get further apart). As you stretch it out, the resistance increases linearly. So lets say you have a 6″ piece – thats about 2.1 Kohms. Stretch it to 10″ long and now it is 10″/6″*2.1K = 3.5 Kohms. You can stretch the rubber about 50-70% longer than the resting length, so a 6″ piece shouldn’t be stretched more than 10″. Once the force is released, the rubber will shrink back, although its not very ‘fast’ and it takes a minute or two to revert to its original length.

This stuff is fun, so we give you a full meter and also two alligator clips (to connect to the cord) and a 10K resistor. Together, you can use these to make a simple voltage divider. Then use our handy Thermistor tutorial to measure the analog voltage and convert that back to resistance.

In stock and shipping!

The 7400 Logic Electronic Etch-a-Sketch!. Daniel writes -

I humbly acknowledge that my entry into the Dangerous Prototypes Open 7400 Logic Contest has placed in the 2nd Prize Winners category!

I am happy to share this with the Adafruit Team because front-and-center in my project are two of your products- the Bi-color 8×8 Matrix (4), and Rotary Encoder (3).  The display was especially lovely, and performed perfectly. It is the most attractive display of this type I have ever seen.

Of course, I also want to thank Adafruit Industries for their generous support of this fun, educational and exciting event!

Thank you and congrats!

NEW PRODUCT – Analog 2-axis Thumb Joystick with Select Button + Breakout Board. This mini-kit makes it easy to mount a PSP/Xbox-like thumb joystick to your project. The thumbstick is an analog joystick – more accurate and sensitive than just ‘directional’ joysticks – with a ‘press in to select’ button. Since it’s analog, you’ll need to analog reading pins on your microcontroller to determine X and Y. Having an extra digital input will let you read the switch.

The pack comes in three parts – the joystick itself, a soft-touch rubber ‘hat’ and a nicely designed breakout board. We designed the breakout so that you can attach the joystick to a panel easily – every other breakout we wanted to carry had the mounting holes so they were in the way of the joystick movement! A 5 pin 0.1″ spaced header makes it easy to connect either in a perfboard/breadboard setting or free wiring. You’ll need to solder the joystick into the PCB using a soldering iron and solder, but its very simple and will only take a minute.

In stock and shipping now!

Balloon Input Device.

“The balloon contains a pressure sensor and a microphone, and it recognizes input actions from the data those devices obtain. It detects the distinctive sound of stroking the balloon, or the change in pressure when the balloon is squeezed, to recognize each action.”

“The system can’t recognize where the balloon was stroked. But it can recognize the type of interaction; for example, whether the balloon was hit hard, stroked gently, or poked.”

“We think this system could be used as a communication medium. When communicating with someone at a distance, the user could express affection to the other person by stroking the balloon, or get their attention by poking it. So we think the system could be used as an input device for communicating with other people.”

“Currently, the balloon itself is used as the input device. But we’d like to combine it with an output device, to make the system two-way. And we want to make the system easier to use, by utilizing a more durable object like a beach-ball. We’d also like to try using the kind of balloons you see in balloon art.”

BACK IN STOCK – Geiger Counter Kit – Radiation Sensor. Detect particles and/or make a cool random number generator with this handsome Geiger counter kit. This easy-to-make pack of parts turns a simple Geiger-Muller tube (included) into a portable blink, beeping radiation detector. You can also connect an FTDI friend to the header, to get serial output for datalogging on your computer.

We put this kit together in a couple of hours and hand lots of fun bringing it around and listening for ticking sounds near our smoke detectors, bananas, countertops, Brazil nuts, chunks of Uranium, etc. It includes all components (PCB, tube, & parts) but you will need basic soldering tools and two AAA batteries to complete it.

In stock and shipping!

NEW PRODUCT – Geiger Counter Kit – Radiation Sensor. Detect particles and/or make a cool random number generator with this handsome Geiger counter kit. This easy-to-make pack of parts turns a simple Geiger-Muller tube (included) into a portable blink, beeping radiation detector. You can also connect an FTDI friend to the header, to get serial output for datalogging on your computer.

We put this kit together in a couple of hours and hand lots of fun bringing it around and listening for ticking sounds near our smoke detectors, bananas, countertops, Brazil nuts, chunks of Uranium, etc. It includes all components (PCB, tube, & parts) but you will need basic soldering tools and two AAA batteries to complete it.

Best of all, it’s 100% Open Source Hardware!

In stock and shipping now!

NEW PRODUCT – Small Arcade Joystick! This snappy 8-way joystick beckons you to play with it! It is rugged, and not too large, reminiscent of a Pac Man arcade cabinet. Unlike the potentiometer-based 2-axis and mini thumbsticks, this joystick uses 4 snap microswitches so it’s good if you want a directional control but not the best choice if you want proportional output (that is, its either on/off not sensitive to small movement changes).

In stock and shipping now!

NEW PRODUCTS – Arcade Buttons- 30mm Translucent Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Pink and Clear. A button is a button, and a switch is a switch, but these translucent arcade buttons are in a class of their own. They’re the same size as common arcade controls (often referred to as 30mm diameter) but have some nice things going for them that justify the extra dollar.

First, they look fantastic, all 6 colors have a crystal translucent glossy look. Although they do not have LEDs built in, we’re confident that sticking a diffused LED into the body would make it light up very nicely. They are also shorter than cheap arcade controls, and snap into place, so you only need 1.5″ of depth (1.25″ if you bend the contacts over). The button action is smooth, without a strong click, yet you can definitely feel when the button is pressed. A tiny micro-switch is pre-installed, with gold plated contacts.

Arcade Button – 30mm Translucent Red
Arcade Button – 30mm Translucent Green
Arcade Button – 30mm Translucent Blue
Arcade Button – 30mm Translucent Yellow
Arcade Button – 30mm Translucent Pink
Arcade Button – 30mm Translucent Clear

In stock and shipping now!

NEW PRODUCT – Waterproof Metal Pushbutton with Blue LED Ring [16mm Blue Momentary]. These chrome-plated metal buttons are rugged and waterproof and look real good while doing it! Simply drill a 16mm hole into any material up to 1/2″ thick and you can fit these in place, there’s even a rubber gasket to keep any water out of the enclosure. On the front of the button is a flat metal actuator, surrounded by a blue plastic LED ring. On the back there are 3 contacts for the button (common, normally-open and normally-closed) and 2 for the blue LED ring (+ and -). Connect 3 to 6V to the LED to have it light up nicely, there’s a built in resistor! If you want to use this with a higher voltage, say 12V or 24V, simply add a 470 ohm resistor in series with the LED connection to keep the LED current at around 20mA.

This button is a momentary push button, when you press it the ‘normally-open’ contact shorts to the common contact. When you release it, the contacts open up again.

• Drill hole diameter: 16mm
• Switch rating: 3A / 250VDC
• Switch contacts: 1 NO, 1 NC
• Material: Chrome plated brass
• Grade: IP40/IP67
• Contact resistance: < 50 mOhm
• Insulation resistance: > 1000 Mohm
• Temperature: -20 C to +55 C
• Mechanical life: > 500,000
• Electrical life: > 50,000
• Panel thickness: 1-13mm
• Operating pressure: 1.5 – 2.5 N
• Operating stroke: 2mm
• Lamp rated voltage: 6V

In stock and shipping now!

NEW PRODUCT – Waterproof Metal On/Off Switch with Green LED Ring [16mm Green On/Off] . These chrome-plated metal buttons are rugged and waterproof and look real good while doing it! Simply drill a 16mm hole into any material up to 1/2″ thick and you can fit these in place, there’s even a rubber gasket to keep any water out of the enclosure. On the front of the button is a flat metal actuator, surrounded by a green plastic LED ring. On the back there are 3 contacts for the button (common, normally-open and normally-closed) and 2 for the blue LED ring (+ and -). Connect 3 to 6V to the LED to have it light up nicely, there’s a built in resistor! If you want to use this with a higher voltage, say 12V or 24V, simply add a 470 ohm resistor in series with the LED connection to keep the LED current at around 20mA.

This button is an on/off switch button, when you press it the ‘normally-open’ contact shorts to the common contact and the button stays ‘pressed’. When you press it a second time, the button springs open, and the contacts open up again.

• Drill hole diameter: 16mm
• Switch rating: 3A / 250VDC
• Switch contacts: 1 NO, 1 NC
• Material: Chrome-plated brass
• Grade: IP40/IP67
• Contact resistance: < 50 mOhm
• Insulation resistance: > 1000 Mohm
• Temperature: -20 C to +55 C
• Mechanical life: > 500,000
• Electrical life: > 50,000
• Panel thickness: 1-13mm
• Operating pressure: 1.5 – 2.5 N
• Operating stroke: 2mm
• Lamp rated voltage: 6V

In stock and shipping now!

NEW PRODUCT – VCNL4000 Proximity/Light sensor. The VCNL4000 sensor is a nice way to add a small-distance proximity sensor to your microcontroller project. For longer distances (in the range of cm, you can use a SHARP IR distance sensor, but those are only good if the object is over 10 cm away. The VCNL4000 is designed for much shorter distances, no more than 200mm (about 7.5″) and under our experimentation we found it worked best at distances of about 10-150mm. It would be good for say detecting when a hand moved nearby, or before a robot smacks into a wall. The sensor also has an ambient light sensor built in.

This sensor is easy to use with any microcontroller that has i2c capability. It is 5 volt compliant so you can use it with 3.3V or 5V logic with no risk of damage. There is an onboard 3.3V ultra low dropout regulator so you can power it with 3.3 to 5.0V. However, if you can give it 5.0V that is ideal since the VIN voltage powers the IR LED and the higher the voltage you can give it, the more powerful it is.

In stock and shipping now!

NEW PRODUCT – 12″ eTape Liquid Level Sensor + extras. The eTape Liquid Level Sensor is a solid-state sensor with a resistive output that varies with the level of the fluid. It does away with clunky mechanical floats, and easily interfaces with electronic control systems. The eTape sensor’s envelope is compressed by the hydrostatic pressure of the fluid in which it is immersed. This results in a change in resistance that corresponds to the distance from the top of the sensor to the surface of the fluid. The sensor’s resistive output is inversely proportional to the height of the liquid: the lower the liquid level, the higher the output resistance; the higher the liquid level, the lower the output resistance.

This is a very unique sensor, we haven’t seen anything else that is affordable and accurate for measuring liquid level. This sensor seems like it would be a handy addition to an hydroponics, aquarium, fountain or pool controller, or perhaps measuring a rain tube. This particular sensor is the 12″ model, we also include a 3-pin connector and 470 ohm resistor. The connector is so you don’t have to solder directly to the delicate pins: instead, just solder to the connector and plug it onto the sensor.

Since the sensor is resistive, it is easy to read it using a microcontroller/Arduino ADC pin. Check the tutorials tab for a quick-start pointer.

• Sensor Length: 14.1″ (358 mm)
• Width: 1.0″ (25.4mm)
• Thickness: 0.015″ (0.208 mm)
• Resistance Gradient: 55Ω / inch (22Ω / cm), ± 15%
• Active Sensor Length: 12.6″ (320.7 mm)
• Substrate: Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)
• Sensor Output: 700Ω empty, 85Ω full, ± 15%
• Actuation Depth: Nominal 1 inch (25.4 mm)
• Resolution: 1/32 inch (0.794 mm)
• Temperature Range: 15°F – 140°F (-9°C – 60°C)

In stock and shipping now.

NEW PRODUCT – 8″ eTape Liquid Level Sensor + extras. The eTape Liquid Level Sensor is a solid-state sensor with a resistive output that varies with the level of the fluid. It does away with clunky mechanical floats, and easily interfaces with electronic control systems. The eTape sensor’s envelope is compressed by the hydrostatic pressure of the fluid in which it is immersed. This results in a change in resistance that corresponds to the distance from the top of the sensor to the surface of the fluid. The sensor’s resistive output is inversely proportional to the height of the liquid: the lower the liquid level, the higher the output resistance; the higher the liquid level, the lower the output resistance.

This is a very unique sensor, we haven’t seen anything else that is affordable and accurate for measuring liquid level. This sensor seems like it would be a handy addition to an hydroponics, aquarium, fountain or pool controller, or perhaps measuring a rain tube. This particular sensor is the 8″ model, we also include a 3-pin connector and 470 ohm resistor. The connector is so you don’t have to solder directly to the delicate pins: instead, just solder to the connector and plug it onto the sensor.

Since the sensor is resistive, it is easy to read it using a microcontroller/Arduino ADC pin. Check the tutorials tab for a quick-start pointer.

• Sensor Length: 10.65″ (297 mm)
• Width: 1.0″ (25.4mm)
• Thickness: 0.015″ (0.208 mm)
• Resistance Gradient: 55Ω / inch (22Ω / cm), ± 15%
• Active Sensor Length: 12.6″ (320.7 mm)
• Substrate: Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)
• Sensor Output: 700Ω empty, 85Ω full, ± 15%
• Actuation Depth: Nominal 1 inch (25.4 mm)
• Resolution: 1/32 inch (0.794 mm)
• Temperature Range: 15°F – 140°F (-9°C – 60°C)

In stock and shipping now!

Shwetak Patel @ MacArthur Foundation.

Shwetak Patel is a computer scientist who has invented a series of sensor technology systems for home environments with the goal of saving energy and improving daily life through a broad range of applications. Much of his work to date has focused on the development of low-cost and easy-to-deploy devices that can detect and measure household energy consumption without an elaborate network of expensive instruments. To allow residents to track their energy usage down to the level of individual appliances and fixtures, Patel’s distinctive approach leverages existing infrastructure — such as gas lines, electrical wiring, plumbing, and ventilation ducts — and requires only a minimal number of small, wirelessly connected sensors attached to the central hookup of each of these utility sources. When coupled with a machine learning algorithm that analyzes patterns of activity and the signature noise produced by each appliance, the sensors enable users to measure and disaggregate their energy and water consumption and to detect inefficiencies more effectively. In addition to the resource conservation applications of his sensor systems, Patel is also exploring their potential for home security or elder care, as they serve the related function of sensing human activity and monitoring movement throughout a building’s rooms. While envisioning cutting-edge new tools to address pressing social challenges and to make the buildings we live in more responsive to our needs, Patel devises elegant, simple solutions that dramatically reduce the cost of implementation.

Nice one!

NEW PRODUCT – PSP 2-Axis Analog Thumb Joystick. Add a tiny joystick to your project with this PSP thumbstick. This is a replacement component for PSP1000′s, but we think they’d make for a great little joystick/thumbstick add-on for a wearable, or portable project.

The joystick is a ‘self-centering’ analog-type. That means it basically acts like two 10K potentiometers, one for up/down and another for left/right. Connect one the VCC pin to your power supply (3 or 5V is best) and the ground pin to ground. Then read the two remaining pins with an analog pin each. As the joystick is moved around, the voltage will follow the motion. When you release the joystick it will center itself. There are 4 pads on the bottom, you are best off soldering 4 wires to these pins and then gluing the whole thing down.

In stock and shipping now…

Technology in the Appalachian Foothills: DHT22 Temperature/Humidity Sensor.

Here’s a little something I cobbled together from a DHT22 Sensor, an Adafruit DC BoArduino, and a 3-digit LED display. More to come!

An electric tambourine that is completely powered by the playing of the instrument. Yellow LED lights on the jingles light up when the corresponding piezo is rattled. The harder the tambourine rattles, the greater the voltage generated by the piezoelectric elements and thus the brighter the light. If the tambourine is rattled with enough force, blue and red LED lights on the band also light up. Thus, the player can both hear and see the music generated by this instrument – by Jie Qi.

via fashiontech.

The TSL2561 luminosity sensor is an advanced digital light sensor, ideal for use in a wide range of light situations. Compared to low cost CdS cells, this sensor is more precise, allowing for exact Lux calculations and can be configured for different gain/timing ranges to detect light ranges from up to 0.1 – 40,000+ Lux on the fly. The best part of this sensor is that it contains both infrared and full spectrum diodes! That means you can seperately measure infrared, full-spectrum or human-visible light. Most sensors can only detect one or the other, which does not accurately represent what human eyes see (since we cannot perceive the IR light that is detected by most photo diodes).

Read more…

NEW PRODUCT – Foot switch. Your friends probably tell you that you are “good with your hands,” but now you can also be good with your feet! This foot switch is made of rubbery plastic, is plenty strong to put up with any amount of stomping, and contains a snap switch. You can use the switch as either a “normally open” or “normally closed” type. Attached to the switch is a 2 meter long cable so you can wire it directly to your project.

In stock and shipping now!

We used a switch like this for out photo set up!

NEW PRODUCT – Membrane Matrix Keypad + extras [3x4]. Punch in your secret key into this numeric matrix keypad. This keypad has 12 buttons, arranged in a telephone-line 3×4 grid. It’s made of a thin, flexible membrane material with an adhesive backing (just remove the paper) so you can attach it to nearly anything. The keys are connected into a matrix, so you only need 7 microcontroller pins (3-columns and 4-rows) to scan through the pad. Check the tutorials tab for links to an Arduino library and example code.

We include a 7-pin extra-long header strip so you can plug this into a breadboard with ease.

In stock and shippin’ now.

This tutorial is for our new TTL serial camera module with NTSC video output. These modules are a nice addition to a microcontroller project when you want to take a photo or control a video stream. The modules have a few features built in, such as the ability to change the brightness/saturation/hue of images, auto-contrast and auto-brightness adjustment, and motion detection.

READ MORE!

RasterWeb! Logging the temperature and humidity…

Last November one of the Arduino-based projects I started working on was a temperature logger for the office. With winter coming up I wanted to see just how cold it got. (The office is in a converted attic, and the heating and cooling leaves much to be desired.)

I picked up a TMP36 – Analog Temperature sensor and got it wired up and wrote some hacky perl code to read the data and log it. I never really got it out of the experimentation stage, and ended up pulling the Arduino out for another project. (Isn’t that often the case!?)

So last month when Adafruit came out with the DHT22 temperature-humidity sensor I figured I should grab one, and maybe I’d get around to finishing the project.
My temperature (and humidity!) logger is still not done, but I did whip up something to run this week while Wisconsin is having a heat wave. The office has a window air conditioning unit, but it only runs when someone is in the office. When no one is there, it gets hot. How hot? Well, now we know….

This tutorial is for our new BMP085 Barometric Pressure sensor. We show how to wire it up to your microcontroller, read the current pressure and temperature from the chip. We also show how to calculate altitude and weather-corrected altitude.

The BMP085 is a basic sensor that is designed specifically for measuring barometric pressure (it also does temperature measurement on the side to help). It’s one of the few sensors that does this measurement, and its fairly low cost so you’ll see it used a lot. You may be wondering why someone would want to measure atmospheric pressure, but its actually really useful for two things. One is to measure altitude. As we travel from below sea level to a high mountain, the air pressure decreases. That means that if we measure the pressure we can determine our altitude – handy when we don’t want the expense or size of a GPS unit. Secondly, atmospheric pressure can be used as a predictor of weather which is why weathercasters often talk about “pressure systems”

Read more!

NEW PRODUCT – AM2302 (wired DHT22) temperature-humidity sensor + extras. The AM2302 is a wired version of the DHT22, in a large plastic body. It is a basic, low-cost digital temperature and humidity sensor. It uses a capacitive humidity sensor and a thermistor to measure the surrounding air, and spits out a digital signal on the data pin (no analog input pins needed). Its fairly simple to use, but requires careful timing to grab data. The only real downside of this sensor is you can only get new data from it once every 2 seconds, so when using our library, sensor readings can be up to 2 seconds old.

Simply connect the red 3-5V power, the yellow wire to your data input pin and the black wire to ground. Although it uses a single-wire to send data it is not Dallas One Wire compatible! If you want multiple sensors, each one must have its own data pin! We have written an Arduino library with example code

Compared to the DHT11, this sensor is more precise, more accurate and works in a bigger range of temperature/humidity, but its larger and more expensive

Comes with a 10K resistor, which you will want to use as a pullup from the data pin to VCC.

In stock and shipping now!

NEW PRODUCT – BMP085 Barometric Pressure/Temperature/Altitude Sensor. This precision sensor from Bosch is the best low-cost sensing solution for measuring barometric pressure and temperature. Because pressure changes with altitude you can also use it as an altimeter! The sensor is soldered onto a PCB with a filter capacitor and two pull-up resistors on the I2C pins.

Using the sensor is easy. For example, if you’re using an Arduino, simply connect the VCC pin to the 3.3V voltage pin, GND to ground, SCL to I2C Clock (Analog 5) and SDA to I2C Data (Analog 4). Then download our BMP085 Arduino library and example code for temperature, pressure and altitude calculation. Install the library, and load the example sketch. Immediately you’ll have precision temperature, pressure and altitude data.

In stock and shipping now…

UPDATED PRODUCT – PIR (motion) sensor. PIR sensors are used to detect motion from pets/humanoids from about 20 feet away (possibly works on zombies, not guaranteed). This one has an adjustable delay before firing (approx 0.3-18 seconds), adjustable sensitivity and we include a 1 foot (30 cm) cable with a socket so you can easily reposition the sensor or mount it using the two drills on either side

Runs on 5V-16V power (if you need to run it off of 3V you can do that by bypassing the regulator, but that means doing a bit of soldering). Digital signal output is 3.3V high/low. Sensing range is about 7 meters (120 degree cone)

For a full tutorial with wiring diagrams, code examples and project ideas, PIR sensor tutorial page!

In stock and shipping now.

This tutorial covers the low cost DHT temperature & humidity sensors. These sensors are very basic and slow, but are great for hobbyists who want to do some basic data logging. The DHT sensors are made of two parts, a capacitive humidity sensor and a thermistor. There is also a very basic chip inside that does some analog to digital conversion and spits out a digital signal with the temperature and humidity. The digital signal is fairly easy to read using any microcontroller.

READ MORE.

NEW PRODUCT – DHT22 temperature-humidity sensor + extras. The DHT22 is a basic, low-cost digital temperature and humidity sensor. It uses a capacitive humidity sensor and a thermistor to measure the surrounding air, and spits out a digital signal on the data pin (no analog input pins needed). Its fairly simple to use, but requires careful timing to grab data. The only real downside of this sensor is you can only get new data from it once every 2 seconds, so when using our library, sensor readings can be up to 2 seconds old.

Simply connect the first pin on the left to 3-5V power, the second pin to your data input pin and the right most pin to ground. Although it uses a single-wire to send data it is not Dallas One Wire compatible! If you want multiple sensors, each one must have its own data pin! We have written an Arduino library with example code

Compared to the DHT11, this sensor is more precise, more accurate and works in a bigger range of temperature/humidity, but its larger and more expensive

Comes with a 10K resistor, which you will want to use as a pullup from the data pin to VCC.

In stock and shipping now.

NEW PRODUCT – DHT11 basic temperature-humidity sensor + extras. The DHT11 is a basic, ultra low-cost digital temperature and humidity sensor. It uses a capacitive humidity sensor and a thermistor to measure the surrounding air, and spits out a digital signal on the data pin (no analog input pins needed). Its fairly simple to use, but requires careful timing to grab data. The only real downside of this sensor is you can only get new data from it once every 2 seconds, so when using our library, sensor readings can be up to 2 seconds old.

We have written an Arduino library with example code

Compared to the DHT22, this sensor is less precise, less accurate and works in a smaller range of temperature/humidity, but its smaller and less expensive

Comes with a 10K resistor, which you will want to use as a pullup from the data pin to VCC.

In stock and shipping now!

NEW PRODUCT – Waterproof DS18B20 Digital temperature sensor + extras. This is a pre-wired and waterproofed version of the DS18B20 sensor. Handy for when you need to measure something far away, or in wet conditions. While the sensor is good up to 125°C the cable is jacketed in PVC so we suggest keeping it under 100°C. Because they are digital, you don’t get any signal degradation even over long distances! These 1-wire digital temperature sensors are fairly precise (±0.5°C over much of the range) and can give up to 12 bits of precision from the onboard digital-to-analog converter. They work great with any microcontroller using a single digital pin, and you can even connect multiple ones to the same pin, each one has a unique 64-bit ID burned in at the factory to differentiate them. Usable with 3.0-5.0V systems.

In stock and shipping now.

NEW PRODUCT – Magnetic contact switch (door sensor). This sensor is essentially a reed switch, encased in an ABS plastic shell. Normally the reed is ‘open’ (no connection between the two wires). The other half is a magnet. When the magnet is less than 13mm (0.5″) away, the reed switch closes. They’re often used to detect when a door or drawer is open, which is why they have mounting tabs and screws. But these also have a sticky-foam-tape back so you can also place them in locations you cant attach with screws.

DS18B20 Digital temperature sensor + extras. These 1-wire digital temperature sensors are fairly precise (±0.5°C over much of the range) and can give up to 12 bits of precision from the onboard digital-to-analog converter. They work great with any microcontroller using a single digital pin, and you can even connect multiple ones to the same pin, each one has a unique 64-bit ID burned in at the factory to differentiate them. Usable with 3.0-5.0V systems.

The only downside is they use the Dallas 1-Wire protocol, which is somewhat complex, and requires a bunch of code to parse out the communication. If you want something really simple, and you have an analog input pin, the TMP36 is trivial to get going.

We toss in a 4.7k resistor, which is required as a pullup from the DATA to VCC line when using the sensor. We don’t have a detailed tutorial up yet but you can get started by using the Dallas Temperature Control Arduino library which requires also the OneWire Library.

In stock and shipping now!

NEW PRODUCT – 10K 1% Epoxy Thermistor [3950 NTC]. Need to measure something damp? This epoxy-coated 10K thermistor is an inexpensive way to measure temperature in weather or liquids. The resistance in 25 °C is 10K (+- 1%). The resistance goes down as it gets warmer and goes up as it gets cooler. For specific temperature-to-resistance, check the lookup table.

These are often used for air conditioners, water lines, and other places where they can get damp. The PVC coating of the wires is good up to 105 °C so this isn’t good for very hot stuff.
We even toss in an additional 1% 10K resistor which you can use as calibration or for a resistor divider.

In stock and shipping!

NEW PRODUCT – Wii controller (Nunchuck / Wiichuck). This is a generic Wii Nunchuck controller, we haven’t tried it with a Wii but it does work great with the Video Game shield, and all the microcontroller code we tried. There’s a 3-axis accelerometer inside as well as a resistive 2-axis joystick and two buttons. You can grab the data over two i2c data lines. There’s tons of example code for all sorts of microcontrollers for these guys!

In stock and shipping now!