Here’s how to build your own TinyG “EZ-Connect”, for LitePlacer or other pick and place/G-code-controlled machines. The system’s advantages over a straight-up connection to the TinyG are mainly that it: decouples the TinyG from the machine (remove, replace or share the TinyG with other installations with only two cables to muck with); hosts a few…
Powering your breadboard: Options, Reviews and Caveats
- by: Pat Deegan
- On
Though most of my projects wind up with their own regulators on-board, the breadboard is the go-to of choice when it’s time to just try something out. Since pretty much everything I play with needs juice, this will be a little review of some of the options I’ve used, and what I’ve learned in doing…
ReliableSPI: Ensuring reliable communications under difficult circumstances
- by: Pat Deegan
- On
To do anything interesting, we need reliable communication across machines (e.g. over bluetooth) and oftentimes within as well, between components working together within a device. In one of my last projects, I wound up dealing with mounds of unreliable comm and here I’ll go over how I got around it and a few of the…
Real world Kicad project postmortem and more tips
- by: Pat Deegan
- On
As a follow-up to my intro/tutorial, I’ll go over a few more lessons learned using Kicad including some tips that should be of help to anyone embarking on a similar journey. The power module project was selected for a first adventure using Kicad as it was relatively small while being non-trivial. The circuit holds around…
Why (and how) you should start using XMEGAs
- by: Pat Deegan
- On
I love the Arduino platform, especially for prototyping, and have been playing with the Atmel ATmega chips for a long while. Once you’ve designed your project, some of the smaller derivatives (like the Ardweeny I’ve mentioned before) are cheap enough to leave embedded everywhere and, in any case, you can always move from an Arduino…
Controlling High Voltage Loads Using a Microcontroller
- by: Pat Deegan
- On
A while back, I had a project that required high-side switching of a set of pneumatic valves by a microcontroller. Because the loads were inductive (solenoids) and required a good deal more voltage than the microcontroller supply to activate (24V), I needed some kind of middleware between the Arduino and the valves. I created a…
LED the sunshine in
- by: Pat Deegan
- On
I loooove LEDs: they’re easy to use and really efficient. I’ve always wanted to use light-emitting diodes to feed, or at least supplement, my plants because you can get a lot of lumen without using many Watts and also because you can target the frequencies usable by chlorophyll (in the red and blue parts of…
Getting to know the Digispark
- by: Pat Deegan
- On
A few months ago, I funded my first kickstarter project for production of the Digispark: a tiny (less than a square inch) Arduino-compatible device based on the AVR ATtiny85. Plugged-in Digispark Though I received the occasional progress update email, I pretty much forgot about the Digispark. Until last week, that is, when I received a…