AddOhms

DIY Arduino PCB Pryamiduino (Video)

Pyramiduino KiCad PCB Desgin

Continuing the DIY Arduino tutorial series, this AddOhms episode shows how to create a PCB in KiCad. I make a joke that the original design was a rectangle, which I found boring and pointless. So instead, I designed a triangle to give the board 3 points. Get it? Puns! I am calling it the Pryamiduino. To be honest, I found not having a constraint to be a problem. By forcing a specific board size and shape, many decisions were more manageable.

First design – Boring!

In the end, the video ended up more edited than I planned. KiCad is just so finicky and crashy that I could not make a coherent start to finish tutorial. At least, I could not work with a board at this level of complexity. Something simple like a 555 flasher would be easier to show from start to finish. I am planning some immediate follow-ups with quick tips on using KiCad. It is a frustrating suite of applications, but the results can be quite nice.

AddOhms Pyramiduino Show Notes
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Blog

Debug SONOFF AC Relay with a Thermal Camera

My recent SONOFF WiFi Switch experience reminded me of something from high school. I attended an off-site electronics class with my best friend. As teenage boys, we were prone to doing stupid things. One of our favorite games was to see who could handle the highest voltage. Our bench had a variable AC supply that went from 0 to 120 volts. So we would grab the alligator clips while the other person slowly turned the knob up. John once made it to 50 volts. I seem to recall my tolerance around 30 volts. First, DO NOT do this. It was stupid. Second, I think this game is why handling AC makes me so uncomfortable.

While I am not an electrician, I do know the basics about wiring mains AC circuits. So when one of my studio lights needed a new switch, I was okay to replace it. Mains AC does not scare me when it is off. I did not have a mechanical switch available. Instead, I opted for a SONOFF WiFi Switch. I did not intend to connect WiFi, at least not yet. I just wanted to control the light with the manual push button.

The clever solution seemed to be clever, at least for a few minutes. Suddenly the light turned off. I thought maybe there was a timeout for the manual button. Annoying, but workable. The lamp remained off for about another 2 minutes when I started to smell that unmistakeable burning plastic odor. Touching the case of the SONOFF identified the culprit immediately.

Great. So I have an AC mains switch that isn’t working, but I do not want to go poking my multimeter into it. What do I do?

Turns out, that SONOFF module was defective. I wanted to debug it, but I did not want to measure anything while connected to AC. Here’s how I used a thermal camera to debug my SONOFF.

What is a SONOFF?

See the ESP8266 and Antenna?

The SONOFF WiFi switch is an inexpensive AC relay. Internally it has an ESP12 chip, which became popular with the ESP8266. There is even an unpopulatd serial header which can be used to reflash the firmware. Among hackers, these modules are a popular way to get an AC relay that is easily programmed.

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Blog

Circuit Python adds Python to Microcontrollers

Back in 2013, a Kickstarter ran for a project to put a python interpreter on a microcontroller. At the time I could not see the benefit. Cool project, but I asked myself: “why?” On my last Adafruit order, I received a free Circuit Playground Express. The board comes with CircuitPython pre-installed. After playing with Circuit Python, or CP, I finally “get it.”

For Valentine’s Day, I made an animated LED heart for a new love in my life, Circuit Python. Well, love is a bit of a strong word. The past couple of weeks I have been learning Circuit Python, and I am excited by what it offers.

What is Circuit Python?

It is a Python implementation that runs on microcontrollers. The code exists on the microcontroller as text. The interpreter runs the code from that text file. Circuit Python is built on, or based on, MicroPython. Adafruit is designing it to teach programming. It is easy to get started, just open up the code.py file from the auto-mounted drive and start typing. When you hit save, the code runs. That’s it.

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Arduino

Hologram.io connects Adafruit FONA

While the buzzword “IoT “is relatively new, there has been a long time “internet of things” in operation. Those devices are called the far less sexy term “M2M” or machine-to-machine. These devices, around since the 90s, contain a microprocessor, some sensors, sometimes electromechanical hardware, and a cellular radio. These M2M devices were (and still are!) the early “Internet of Things.” Thanks to Hologram.io, you can join this new/old trend for free.

I decided it was time to up my IoT game with a GPRS, or 2G, data radio. In this post, I show the hardware I am using to create a 2G-based GPS tracker. It includes a Teensy 3.2 (Arduino) connected to a SIM808 Module (FONA) using a Hologram.io Developer SIM. It transmits GPS coordinates to an Adafruit.io Dashboard, which displays them on a map.

This post is not going to be a tidy tutorial. Instead, it is all the steps (and notes) I went through. I will cover:

  1. Hardware pieces I am using
  2. How to verify SIM808 (FONA) module is connected through Hologram via Serial Commands
  3. How to send HTTP/POST requests (including SSL) with the SIM808 (FONA)
  4. My (brute force) changes to the Adafruit FONA Library
  5. Code for sending MQTT payload (GPS Coords) to a dafruit.io dashboard

When done, you will be able to build something like a battery powered GPS Tracker, that updates over cellular. If you are in a rush, grab all the code from the FONA GPS Tracker Github Project.

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Around The Web

Signetics Write Only Memory 25120 Datasheet

Signetics started as an IC manufacturer. In 1975 they were bought by Philips Semiconductors, which is now NXP. Interestingly the address in the datasheet, I think, was the original site. Today, it’s home to a Lowe’s Home Improvement Store. According to this Wikipedia article, it was created by John “Jack” Curtis. Apparently, it was included in a real Signetics catalog as a joke! Imagine that happening today. Additional information about the joke is available on sigwom.com. (Which may be written by Jack himself, not entirely sure.)

Download Signetics 25120 WOM Datasheet

 

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