I’m starting with this post the description of a new project, project that comes from a request by my friend Marco, who builds spectacular custom cases for PCs: build a thermometer to measure the temperature of a CPU liquid cooler and display it using nixie tubes. Instead of describing the final project, I had the idea to write…
I recently brought from Banggood 3 NFC tags, for about 4 euros. Tags are adhesive and round shaped; the package also contains three colored stickers labeled please touch it to cover the tags: A NFC (Near Field Communication) tag is a passive device (it does not contain batteries or any other power sources) that, when located near to a reader,…
Recently, I received some Arduino clones, mostly from chinese webstores, that use the CH340G chip as USB-to-serial converter instead of the more common (and I suppose more expensive) FTDI chip: Windows natively does not support that chip, which is not automatically recognized: You must download the driver from the manufacturer’s website. Once unzipped, you can update the driver…
The project I’m going to describe today it’s a sort of proof of concept that will demonstrate the possibility to remote control sensors and actuators (for example a couple of relays) via Telegram. Telegram is an instant messaging application, similar to the famous Whatsapp. Last June, the Telegram developers announced that a new set of APIs were available to…
Today I received from SeeedStudio a BeagleBone Green. Here’s the unboxing video: For those who may not know this board, it’s an embedded computer, that is a board that can run Linux O.S. (or Android). BeagleBone Green is the result of a collaboration between BeagleBoard.org and SeeedStudio: it’s based on the open design of the BeagleBone Black board – manufactured by BeagleBoard…
Increasingly you may need to connect to your Arduino devices that operate with 3.3V. Lowering the integrated circuits’ operating voltage has in fact several advantages: [checklist] allows to realize smaller transistors requires a lower heat dissipation allows faster state changes (the voltage difference between a logic state LOW and HIGH is lower) [/checklist] this is why…
I found that Troniqa webshop sells a membrane potentiometer named SoftPot (datasheet): This potentiometer, that is available in lengths of 10 and 20cm, changes its resistance depending on the point on which pressure is applied. The connection to Arduino is very simple and doesn’t differ from what is explained in the official tutorial for a “normal” potentiometer: I connected 5V to pin…
Irrighino is a complete watering system, based on Arduino Yun. The main features are: [checklist] a configurable number of solenoid valves an AJAX web interface a weekly schedule manual activation / deactivation [/checklist] Here’s a short video that describes the project: How it works An Arduino Yun – the “brain” of irrighino – is connected to the switch panel…
On the market you can now find leds that also include a control chip (WS2811, WS2812, APA106…). The main advantages of this kind of leds are: [checklist] you can control them using just one digital pin they can be connected in cascade but still individually controlled they can be supplied with 5V without the need of…
One of the most common errors when you start writing your sketches for Arduino is the excessive use of the delay() function. This function, as explained in the official documentation, pauses the program for the specified number of milliseconds. Let’s see an example: you connected to your Arduino a button and a led: when you press the button, the led…