a new project is published on electro-labs.com, check it out:
Another DIY project designed with FabStream’s SoloPCB tool is ready to be shared with Electro-Labs community. This is an USB stick which measures the supply voltage of the USB port and current drawn by the device connected to the port over the stick. Then it calculates the power consumption of the device and displays the whole information with the help of the small OLED display on the board. The stick itself is also powered from the USB port.
The board is built around an Atmel ATMEGA328 microcontroller. To make the circuit as small as possible, the MCU is used in minimal configuration. Internal 8MHz oscillator is used. The voltage and the current are measured by the internal 10 bit ADC. To make the measurements more accurate, an external 2.5V voltage reference IC, Microchip MCP1525 is included. The current is converted to voltage on a 0.01R sense resistor and precisely amplified by LT6106 before read. The stick can measure up to 2.5A. Since the OLED display requires 3.3V supply voltage, L78L33ACUTR linear voltage regulator is used.
In this episode Shahriar gets a hold of a National Instruments VirtualBench! This instrument combines a mixed-signal oscilloscope, function generator, digital multimeter, programmable power supply and digital I/Os in one compact and portable unit. The teardown of the unit reveals a two-board construction with a core single processor which handles all instrument functionality simultaneously.
The unit software (which is embedded inside the instrument memory) is examined in detaile before performing any experiments. Using the VirtualBench, a Si5351 multi-synthesizer clock generator IC is characterized including output signal analyses and I2C decoding. Next by using the function generator and oscilloscope the response of a band-pass 15MHz filter is measured.
National Instruments VirtualBench Review, Teardown & Experiments – [Link]
it was one year ago that i have published the plant pot – world’s first stand alone smart plant pot that can email you when it’s thirsty, cold, hot, sleeping etc.
a lot has changed since the first release. today I would like to share with you our latest and most stable version yet.
This simple A2D (Analog to Digital) Converter Board can log upto 8 channel of analog signal with 8 bit resolution. This board uses the ADC0808 chip from National Semiconductor.
0 – 20V LED Voltmeter kit displays the voltage of the source using 20 LED’s. This projects is based on the famous LM3914 IC from National Semiconductor.
Power Supply Input: 5 VDC Max @ 30 mA in DOT mode and 300 mA in BAR mode
0 – 20V LED Voltmeter kit displays the voltage of the source using 20 LED’s. This projects is based on the famous LM3914 IC from National Semiconductor.
Power Supply Input: 5 VDC Max @ 30 mA in DOT mode and 300 mA in BAR mode
Specifications
Output: 20 LED’s
Range selectable with onboard preset
2 Types of display Bar and Dot selectable by a jumper
If you are looking for a touchscreen LCD display for your next project you should take a look at Riverdi LCD solutions. Their aim is to produce innovative, high quality LCD solutions at affordable prices. They were kind enough to send us a sample of a FTDI FT801 controller LCD display along with their Arduino TFT shield to test out. This LCD display has a build in video engine that accelerates performance over standard TFT displays when used with low power MCUs.
Therm is a very small PID controller with an OLED display, thermocouple interface, and USB port. It can switch an external solid-state relay for driving large loads, or a transistor for driving small loads. When attached to a computer, it enumerates as a USB serial port for easy control and logging of data. The design is based around a STM32F0 microcontroller and the MAX31855 thermocouple-to-digital IC (note: an RTD version of therm is in the works).
A loudspeaker without a membrane which can be mounted on any flat surface solves aesthetical and technical problems.
Fans of HiFi sound and similar „audiophils“ usually don´t cover their loudspakers and surely not their membranes. Firstly, to cover a beautiful top-class loudspeaker is almost a sin 🙂 and naturally all that stands in a way of sound usually influences it in a negative way.
However, totally different situation is in traffic, audio bells, industrial conditions, in various kiosks (POS) and other applications. Here a loudspeaker is usually mounted behind various covers so as to be protected from mechanical damage. For these applications we can use various industrial loudspeakers which are available in dust- and water-proof versions.
If we go even further, applications where even a perforated loudspeaker cover is undesirable – weather from aesthetical or a technical point of view. For these purposes German company Visaton offers elegant solution – “Exciter”. Visaton Exciter is in fact a loudspeaker without a membrane optimized to be mounted on a flat panel, where by a mechanical connection with a given surface a final “loudspeaker” arises. Continue reading “Visaton Exciter – an exciting loudspeaker”
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