This is an Arduino porting of the excellent work by Markus Frejek. The final aim is to create an economic component tester using Arduino and a few passive components;
photos by Pipe Yanguas via thisiscolossal. We know we might overshare Miami artist Federico Uribe‘s work, but he’s at it again, this time making an oriental rug out of discarded computer parts, and the results are stunning.
Don’t let your luddite pet claim she never benefitted from human technology. Commercially available automatic cat feeders have been on the market for a while, but when Jonathan Foote was disappointed by the available selection, he rigged a jelly bean dispenser to release some kibbles to his favorite feline while he was out. Following instructions from EvilMadScientist, he attached a relay board to a remote control on a timer and voila! kitty gets fed on time, even if he’s gone to Timbuktu.
NEW PRODUCT! E1115 PS/2 Keyboard to TTL Serial Converter – The E1115 PS/2 Keyboard to ASCII Converter is a single chip solution dedicated to producing a single TTL ASCII character on the “press” of a keystroke. It is designed to offload the process intensive complex keyboard decoding of PS/2, allowing the host microcontroller to better allocate its resources. The output is a selectable TTL serial or a clocked serial data with interrupt signal.
Plug in a PS/2 Keyboard in one end, and you can type away, with 57.6K or 115.2Kbaud (pin-selectable) TTL spit out of the TX pin. This can make adding a UI much easier for many projects where you can’t sit around and wait for the interrupts from the keyboard port. Please note that we’ve tested it and it works great with our PS/2 keyboard but it does not work with our PS/2 Magstripe reader or the PS/2 Touchpad.
Comes as a ready-to-go pre-soldered and tested module.
NEW PRODUCT – Copper Foil Tape with Conductive Adhesive – 25mm x 15 meter roll – Copper tape can be an interesting addition to your toolbox. The tape itself is made of thin pure copper so its extremely flexible and can take on nearly any shape. You can easily solder to it, and the tape itself can carry current just like a wire. On the back is an electrically conductive adhesive. The adhesive can’t carry significant current but it is very handy for sensing applications where you don’t want to solder the copper tape.
Comes in a roll 15 meters long, this tape is 3mils/0.07mm thick, 1″/25mm wide and has conductive adhesive on one side and a protective paper backing over the adhesive.
We’ve seen such tape used for EMI shielding, working with EL, making capacitive touch pads, ultra-thin wiring needs, etc.
I sometimes feel pretty stunted in the creativity department — I’m a lot more logical than I am creative, though there’s obviously some overlap in any complex problem solving. That said, I’m still pretty visually oriented, and I’m always interested in the details that go into things, and learning how to look at things different. This 40-minute video by Inge Druckrey — Teaching To See — might be interesting if you’re in the same boat yourself.
I saw a post from Adam Wolf on Google+ today about the UN opening up an icon collection, and it jumped out at me right away. I love icons. They’re hard to do well, and a great way to communicate basic information, whether on a sign or on your PCBs. It was a nice reminder to me as as well since I actually started my career at the UN — in OCHA even (Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs), the same branch behind these icons — and it was one of the more memorable moments in my life for the opportunities it offered me down the road, and the people I met (including my wife!). The UN icon collection is licensed under a creative commons license and they can be seen on thenounproject.com with a lot of other interesting icons if you’re interested.
NEW PRODUCT – USB MicroSD Card Reader – microSD / microSDHC / microSDXC. This is the cutest little microSD card reader – but don’t be fooled by its adorableness! It’s wicked fast and supports up to 64 GB SDXC cards! Simply slide the card into the edge and plug it into your computer. No drivers are required, it shows up as a standard ‘Mass Storage’ device under any OS. You can swap cards while the USB port is kept plugged in.
Comes with a handy little cord so you can attach it to your datalogger project. Also has a little plastic cover for the USB A connector part so it won’t short against nearby electronics.
Max read speed is 16 Mb/sec, max write speed is 6 Mb/sec – most microSD cards are not this fast so the bottleneck will be the card, not the reader
Does not come with a microSD card! We do carry microSD cards in the shop that go great with the reader.
Reader Specifications:
Dimensions — 0.984″ x 0.478″ x 0.104″ (24.99mm x 12.14mm x 2.64mm)
Operating Temperature — 0° to 60° C / 32° to 140° F
Storage temperatures — -40° to 85° C / -40° to 185° F
Russm shares his write-up on repairing the Extensible Firmware Interface of a Macbook with the aid of the Bus Pirate.
In my tinkering with EFI I attempted to flash some backdoored firmware to a test MacBook that was kindly donated to science by a friend of mine. This resulted in the bastard doing the S.O.S. beeps and not booting, and it didn’t seem to be recoverable using the Firmware Restore CDs from Apple. I decided that since it was dead anyway I might as well try and recover it by re-flashing the firmware manually using the nifty Bus Pirate that I impulse-bought not long ago, and a copy of flashrom.
Adafruit is happy to be a distributor for the Bus Pirate. You can pick yours up for $30 in the store.
BACK IN STOCK – Powerswitch tail 2! The Power Switch Tail II is a smart alternative to slicing apart power cords to wire up your own relays. Its a compact 120V 3-pronged extension cord, with a relay board embedded in the middle. Connect to the relay using two screw terminals and activate by providing a 3 to 12V signal (3mA current draw at 3V, 30mA at 12V). The relay can switch 15 Amp resistive loads such as heaters, small skillets, lights, etc. An LED indicator above the terminals will help you with debugging.
Ideal for people making their own controllable lights, SMT reflow plates, boilers or heaters, coffee roasters, home automation projects, etc.
The Power Switch Tail II is opto-isolated so you don’t need a transistor or protection diode. The input acts like an LED so its safe for use with any microcontroller or logic pin.
Please note, this is a safer alternative to wiring up your own relays but still requires common sense and knowledge of electrical circuits. Stay within the rated limit of the relay and de-rate properly when not using resistive loads. Do not leave DIY electrical projects unattended or where they can get wet! This product is intended to be used by advanced hobbyists who are comfortable working with power supplies.
NEW PRODUCT – Smart Cord – A2DP Bluetooth, 120v 10amp 1200 Watt Extension Cord. This is Zsmart’s patent pending electrical extension cord with manual and Bluetooth® wireless technology control. The Bluetooth wireless range of 30 feet or more, depending on environment. Does not require line of sight. This is an inexpensive way to control on/off power via Bluetooth from a variety of devices. We like using these to turn on and off hard-to-reach projects high up or put inside structures without easy access. Since it uses an almost universal way of accessing it (A2DP Bluetooth) there are a lot of projects possible. Please visit the http://www.thesmartcord.com/ site for more information.
Features:
3 Prong Plug and Outlet.
Interior use only.
~4 Feet in Length.
Controls up to 1200 watts.
120v / 10 amp / 1200 watts.
FCC ID: A4B-ZC30 Bluetooth Compliant
APP Name = Smart Cord
ZSmart technology works on ANY A2DP Bluetooth capable Phone, Computer or Tablet, including the following mobile operating systems:
iPhone 3G and beyond, iPad
Android 2.2+
Windows Mobile 7.1+
Blackberry 4.5+
The Zsmart Smart Cord works on ANY A2DP Bluetooth capable Computer or Tablet with audio playing capabilities, including:
NEW PRODUCT – Adafruit Perma-Proto Super Pack! Pick up a super pack of our Perma-Proto PCBs, perfect for professional prototyping projects! This super pack contains 3 each of our 3 sizes – 9 PCBs total. You’ll always have the right size for whatever you’re working on.
NEW PRODUCT – Adafruit Perma-Proto Full-sized Breadboard PCB – 3 Pack! Customers have asked us to carry basic perf-board, but we never liked the look of most basic perf: its always crummy quality, with pads that flake off and no labeling. Then we thought about how people actually prototype – usually starting with a solderless breadboard and then transferring the parts to a more permanent PCB. That’s when we realized what people would really like is a proto board that makes it easy!
This proto-board is the PCB you always wish you had, but never realized it! We took the basic layout of a full-sized breadboard and turned that into a beautiful PCB. The top side has a while silkscreen, and the same markings you’re familiar with, to make transferring components easy. The bottom has the 5-hole pad design that matches a classic breadboard, with 4 power bus lines on the sides, and no mask so you can easily cut traces when necessary. We used 1.2mm diameter drill holes so even parts with big leads will fit. All holes are thru-plated for strength – these wont peel off with rework. The finish is a gold plate – you won’t get oxidation like with bare copper perf! There are also three mounting holes so you can attach the PCB to your project box.
These are so handy, we decided to put them in a pack of 3. Once you use a Perma-Proto board, you’ll never go back!
NEW PRODUCT – Adafruit Perma-Proto Quarter-sized Breadboard PCB – 3 Pack! Customers have asked us to carry basic perf-board, but we never liked the look of most basic perf: its always crummy quality, with pads that flake off and no labeling. Then we thought about how people actually prototype – usually starting with a solderless breadboard and then transferring the parts to a more permanent PCB. That’s when we realized what people would really like is a proto board that makes it easy!
This proto-board is the PCB you always wish you had, but never realized it! We took the basic layout of a quarter-sized breadboard (basically, a ‘tiny’ breadboard plus power rails) and turned that into a beautiful PCB. The top side has a while silkscreen, and the same markings you’re familiar with, to make transferring components easy. The bottom has the 5-hole pad design that matches a classic breadboard, with 4 power bus lines on the sides, and no mask so you can easily cut traces when necessary. We used 1.2mm diameter drill holes so even parts with big leads will fit. All holes are thru-plated for strength – these wont peel off with rework. The finish is a gold plate – you won’t get oxidation like with bare copper perf! There are also two mounting holes so you can attach the PCB to your project box.
These are so handy, we decided to put them in a pack of 3. Once you use a Perma-Proto board, you’ll never go back!
Printable catalog (PDF) or (EPUB)
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