Electronics-Lab.com Blog

Peter, from Rossum’s Posterous writes:

Can you make an iPhone out of an AVR? No. Can you get a surprising amount of functionality out of a humble 8 bit processor and a cheap touch LCD? Yes. The iPhone runs more than 30 times faster (417Mhz ARM vs 12Mhz AVR) and has more than 30,000 times as much ram RAM (128M vs 4k) yet this frumpy little device can ape some of the iPhones neater tricks. [via]

8-bit AVR homebrew touch-sensitive handheld – [Link]

Based on the idea from http://www.josepino.com/pic_projects/?timebase I have created a 1Hz Clock Generator. I use PIC12F675 as it’s available locally. Its price is just about US$1.
The concept is using 32.768kHz crystal as a clock for the PIC. Therefor, the internal instruction clock is 32768/4 = 8192 Hz. By using the 16 bit Timer1 to count the instruction clock cycles, the interrupt will occur every 8 second. This period can be reduced by setting initial value of the Timer1 (TMR1H:TMR1L).

1Hz Clock Generator using PIC12F675 - [Link]

Pinguino is an Arduino-like board based on a PIC Microcontroller. The goal of this project is to build an integrated IDE easy to use on LINUX, WINDOWS and MAC OS X. Arduino is a powerful tool with some defaults. One of its inconveniences are a no native USB interface on the chip and its code length.

The IDE of Pinguino is built with Python. An integrated preprocessor translates specific Arduino instructions directly into C. This preprocessor reduces the code length and the execution speed. Pinguino hardware is based on a 18F2550. This chip has an integrated native USB module and an UART for serial link.

Pinguino – [Link]

This project is a 2 channels amp meter. Those channels are completely isolated up to 2000 volts.It provides auto detection for AC or DC current. The main part of this project is the current sensor ZMC10 a cool DIP 14, which supports up to 10 A. The current is measured inside by hall effect sensor and display data using a graphic LCD of the read current and max peek value, DC or AC

Digital 2 channel 10 Amp Meter - [Link]

The purpose of this project was to design and implement a reliable and cost effective wireless temperature sensing system for the recreational spa industry. This wireless product has potential applications in many other areas including, salmonid enhancement hatcheries, private/public tubs, and indoor/outdoor pools. [via]

Wireless Spa Temperature Sensing System - [Link]

Here is an interesting LED binary clock by instructables user ElevenOf9. I really like the single sided PCB, and the way the LEDs are arranged. It just looks cool! [via]

This is the second revision of my PIC based LED binary clock. The original version was the first PIC project I attempted, it used a PIC16F84A to do both the timekeeping and control the display matrix, unfortunately it didn’t keep good enough time and gained about a minute every week.

LED Binary Clock – [Link]

There are some 89Sxx development board, here is another one. I have designed this single side development board to be used as a tool for learning MCS-51 Microcontrollers, and for easy microcontroller project development.

The 89Sxx development board features :

• 89Sxx 40-DIL based design, 89S51/52/53
• In System Programming (ISP) through the 6-pin header
• RS-232 and RS-485 serial port (shared pin) for communicating with serial devices like PC
• HD44780 compatible alphanumeric LCD connectivity with backlight control
• 4 on-board tact switch
• 16 general purpose IO port pins on 5×2 header (Port0 and Port2)
• 24Cxx I2C EEPROM
• DS1302 serial Real Time Clock (RTC) with battery backup
• On-board supply rectifier and voltage regulator

• Single sided PCB design

89Sxx Development Board - [Link]

ian writes:

Schematic & layout for an updated JDM2 PIC Programmer. Includes clock & data filter, Vpp voltage divider for modern PIC microcontrollers (eg USB PIC 18F2455/4455).

After seeing all the cool projects people were doing with Microchip PICs, I HAD to have a PIC programmer. About a year ago I made my first PIC programmer based on the uJDM design. This programmer uses 6 common components. Though the link says ‘16F84(a)’ only, I used it for the more modern (and cheaper) 16F628(a) processors without problems. This programmer has served me extremely well, but it is limited to (less than) 18 pin PICs with a programming Vpp of 13 volts.

JDM2 based PIC Programmer - [Link]

These tiny controller boards are build to provide a quick start for projects with 8 and 20 pin AVR microcontrollers, e.g. ATtiny13, ATtiny45, ATtiny85 and ATtiny2313. They don’t include any fancy stuff, they are just as simple as possible. Eagle schematics are included.

ATtiny breadboard headers - [Link]

An embedded Internet Radio based on an ARM Cortex-M3 Mikrocontroller and VS1053 Audio Codec. The Radio can be powered through PoE (Power over Ethernet). Supported Audio Formats: MP3, AAC, WMA, Ogg, FLAC

ARM Cortex – M3 WebRadio - [Link]