Page 842 – Electronics-Lab.com

Two books for makers that you should read!

Posted on 23 July, 201623 July, 2016 by mixos

educ8s.tv uploaded the last video of this season and it’s a different one!

The first one, is this: Practical Electronics for Inventors. Since I studied computer science and not electronics engineering at University, I needed to find a good book to study electronics myself. After a lot of search I concluded that this book was the ideal book for me. This is a fantastic book at a fantastic price! It costs less than 30$ and I think this book should be on the shelf of every electronics hobbyist or engineer. It is a big book, it is almost 1.000 pages long and covers a wide variety of topics in circuit analysis and design, from basic theory to Arduino. Each chapter includes an overview of the theory and big ideas of the subject, plus practical information for those looking to implement the ideas.

Two books for makers that you should read! – [Link]

Entry Level auto-ranging Digital Multimeters reviewed

Posted on 23 July, 201623 July, 2016 by mixos

If you want to buy a digital multi-meter for under $50 then this article is for you. It compares 8 models fitting the certain criteria.

With the current DIY/Maker movement in full swing, one thing that almost all of us need is a good Multi-meter. When shopping for one, it was decided right away that a good entry-level multimeter for beginners had to be:Digital, Auto-ranging under $50.

Entry Level auto-ranging Digital Multimeters reviewed – [Link]

Bridging ISM radio and wifi for lunch money

Posted on 23 July, 201623 July, 2016 by mixos

Johan discuss about ISM/Wifi bridge using RFM69, code and schematics is available on github.

The ESP8266 has taken the maker community by storm and the hype is well deserved. Before the ESP we had the HopeRF ISM radio RFM12 and its successor RFM69. So is the ESP8266 an RFM69 killer?

I would say no. Hell no even 🙂 The RFM69 is still very well suited for certain applications and the ESP8266 will not run for 2+ years on a set of AA batteries. The two can however play nicely together as a low cost ISM/wifi bridge. I did a custom PCB for this in the shape of a somewhat large USB stick, dubbed “Espism”.

Bridging ISM radio and wifi for lunch money – [Link]

ARM bought by Japanese Softbank for 32 billion dollars

Posted on 23 July, 201623 July, 2016 by mixos

by Jan Buiting @ elektormagazine.com:

Confirmed last Monday (18 July 2016): 100%-thinkware-firm-and-brilliant-bunch-of-Cambridge-mathematicians/computer-scientists, ARM, is to be bought by Japan’s Softbank for £24 bn ($32 bn). In official words: the board of ARM is expected to recommend shareholders to accept the offer — which is around 43% up on its closing market value of £16bn8 last Friday. Softbank is said to pay in cash also “using” a long term loan from Japan’s Mizuho Bank.

ARM bought by Japanese Softbank for 32 billion dollars – [Link]

“Chipiplexing” efficiently drives multiple LEDs using few microcontroller ports

Posted on 22 July, 201622 July, 2016 by mixos

by Guillermo Jaquenod @ edn.com

Actual microcontrollers have powerful bidirectional I/O ports, and you can use different techniques to fully exploit such capabilities. Recent Design Ideas described the “Charlieplexing” method as an effective way to drive M=N×(N–1) LEDs using only N bidirectional I/O ports and N resistors (reference 1 and reference 2). Unfortunately, using Charlieplexing allows you to drive only one LED at a time, so, when using a large number of LEDs, only a tiny slice of time is available to multiplex each LED: T_DRIVE=T/M, where T is the PWM excitation period. As a consequence, to obtain a given average current and bright LEDs, you must excite them with a current M times higher, and you can’t usually obtain such peak currents from the microcontroller port.

“Chipiplexing” efficiently drives multiple LEDs using few microcontroller ports – [Link]

TV Tuner IR remote with a PIC16F684

Posted on 22 July, 201622 July, 2016 by mixos

Tahmid built a TV tuner IR remote with a PIC16F684:

I then proceeded to write an IR transmitter using the PIC16F684 (using the MPLAB X IDE and XC8 compiler), following the timing information from the extended NEC protocol. In order to connect all the keys, I connected them in matrix keypad form.
In order to power the remote off 2xAA batteries, it is necessary to use sleep mode – otherwise the battery will be drained extremely quickly. So, in order to detect when a button is pressed, an interrupt is used. After the IR command is sent, the microcontroller goes to sleep. The interrupt wakes up the microcontroller when a button is pressed. Debouncing is achieved using simple software delays. When a button is held down, the NEC command repeat sequence is not sent. Instead, the remote relies on releasing the button and pressing it again.

TV Tuner IR remote with a PIC16F684 – [Link]

Homebrew Multimode Digital Voice Modem adapter

Posted on 22 July, 2016 by mixos

Florian Wolters made his own version of MMDVM adapter:

During experiments with digital voice mode in hamradio I discovered a nice project describing an adapter for D-Star, DMR and other digital modes based on an Arduino Due and a little PCB to be put on top. This unit is called the Multimode Digital Voice Modem or MMDVM (see [1]). It seems that this is getting quite popular because hard- and software is Open Source.

Homebrew Multimode Digital Voice Modem adapter – [Link]

Not a battery or a supercap, but a ‘thin laminate energy device’

Posted on 21 July, 201622 July, 2016 by mixos

Murata’s UMAL is a low-profile high capacity energy device. Designed to meet the demand for a slim high capacity energy source with a maintenance-free extended life cycle in wireless sensor nodes, the UMAL has charge/discharge and life-cycle characteristics superior to conventional secondary batteries. By Graham Prophet

The UMAL has a nominal voltage of 2.3 VDC, can supply 12 mAh with a maximum discharge current of 120 mA and is able to withstand load fluctuations. It has a low internal resistance of 200 mOhm and can operate over the temperature range of – 20C to + 70C.

Not a battery or a supercap, but a ‘thin laminate energy device’ – [Link]

Accurately simulate an LED

Posted on 21 July, 2016 by mixos

Jon Roman and Donald Schelle have a design idea on how to simulate a high power led to test your driver circuit.

Testing the driver circuit using LEDs, although easy, yields only typical results because the tests don’t factor in worst-case LED parameters and often generate undesirable light and heat during driver debugging. Although using a constant resistance might seem to be an appropriate approach, a resistor approximates an LED load at only one point on the current/voltage curve. An electronic load may prove to be a more useful approach. The control loops of the driver circuit and the electronic load, however, often result in system instability and oscillations.

Accurately simulate an LED – [Link]

Adjustable HV Power Supply for Stompbox

Posted on 21 July, 201621 July, 2016 by mixos

This SMPS can be powered with low input voltage, from 5 VDC to 15 VDC and provided adjustable Output Voltage: + 92 Vdc to +340 Vdc.

Can be used too, as power supply, for the Xenon Lamp, Nixie tube Clock, VFD display, Magic Eye, Neon, and too many others electronics circuits who need HV power supply to work. Is great to use with many models of Nixie tube. It can drive 6 Nixie tubes, in multiplex mode, from 180 to 200V. Powered with low voltage from 5VDC to 15 VDC. With this SMPS you can power 250V @ current of 7.5mA! *In all case above, important note, DC and AC filters must be improved, if is desired reducing present HF frequency noises at output! Another fact, informed before, the RF energy is irradiated as magnetic and electric field, shielded assembly could be necessary!

Adjustable HV Power Supply for Stompbox – [Link]