Magnetogram from Sept 3, 2012
Last night my magnetometer recorded a nice magnetic storm. It came as a bit of a surprise – it was much more intense than I was expecting from the size of the the coronal mass ejection (CME) that sparked it. The most interesting part of the storm also happened during the local night here, so I was able to get a nice and smooth record without much noise caused by things moving around.
[ Go to the magnetometer's project page ] [ Real-time magnetogram data ]
Here comes is a neat little project – a DIY electrocardiogram (EKG, also sometimes ECG) machine. For all the hypochondriacs out there – “enjoy”!
[ Go to project ]
LED Cylinder Project
Here is a nice and colorful DIY for the holidays – a LED cylinder project. ATMEGA168-20PU microcontroller makes 95 RGB LEDs arranged in a 3D cylinder shape look really cool.
[ Go to project ]
Battery Tester
Almost everywhere I go I have my Garmin GPS with me – hiking, biking, or just driving around. And this thing eat batteries, so I use a lot of rechargeable ones. Recently I got really tired of my attempts to keep track of which battery is full and which needs recharging, and which one doesn’t hold charge well and needs recycling, so I came up with this very simple battery tester.
It is nothing special, but it takes just a few hours to build and works just fine.
[ Go to project ]
Microcontroller - Ethernet interface card
When I post to this blog I try to alternate my posts – one post about something practical, another one for something cool (even if not particularly useful). It’s time for the practical post, so here comes the Ethernet Arduino compatible controller board. It’s a neat, relatively simple, and quite useful little gadget that can be used to bridge that gap that always bothers me – how to get the computer and microcontroller to talk to each other? The good thing is you can just pull a network cable to the board and you can connect from anywhere on your home network, or even anywhere on the world. With some tweaking I believe the project can be made to use Microchip PIC microcontroller too.
(Well, the easiest option for me is still the good old RS-232 interface, but with RS-232 you are pretty limited as to what is the maximum distance between your project and the computer.)
[ Go to project ]
PARIS
If you are not following TheRegister’s PARIS mission, now is the time to start because the launch date is nearing fast. PARIS stands for Paper Aircraft Released Into Space and is the ultimate DIY project.
As described on The Register’s site, PARIS is high-altitude ballooning project, aiming to reach new heights in paper-based aeronautical technology. The mission consists of the main payload (with video + still-image cameras and GPS tracker) that will release Vulture 1 – small plane constructed almost entirely from paper. Vulture 1 contains a miniature still-image camera and GPS tracker that sends updates via the GSM network.
You can review the mission summary here (PDF) and follow the latest developments in the dedicated PARIS section of TheRegister.
In the last year or so I spent significant amounts of time trying to figure out why this or that part of whatever elecrtonics project I’ve been tinkering with is not working properly. This convinced me that I really need to get an oscilloscope. Several visits to my favorite electonics stores turned up two kind of oscilloscopes: (a) small and very expensive, and (b) cheap and very big. Since I am a stingy apartment dweller neither of these options worked for me.
So, I started digging through the Net, searching for oscilloscopes that are both relatively small and relatively inexpensive, checking out specifications and reading reviews and comments. At the end I narrowed down the choice to the following three options:
 DSO Nano (approx $90.00) DSO Nano |
 HPS10 (approx. $170) HPS10 Handheld Oscilloscope |
 NKC DIY oscilloscope kit (approx. $50) DIY osciloscope kit from NKC Electronics |
Today I ordered one of these scopes (I’m not telling which one!). When it arrives and when I get to play with it for a while I’ll write a short review. Stay posted for updates.
A fun weekend DIY project presented by Make magazine – a DIY AM-radio. It can be built from scratch in a couple of hours and, believe it or not, it works:
Today I found this neat SIM-card reader/writer project. Can access information on SIM- and smart-cards. Interesting toy to play with.
The site says that the project can be used to “backup/restore stored SIM card data, recover deleted SMS’s and phone contacts, examine the last phone numbers dialed, etc.”. The most intriguing – and not necessarily legal – possibility is the “etc.” part.
DIY Infrared Camera
Here is another project I like – a DIY infrared camera. The part list reads like something you took from the trash bin – I mean this as a compliment. Read for yourself:
Check the project here.
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