Adafruit on Bald Engineer

Arduino EEPROM stores any datatype

Wed, 20 Jun 2018 13:00:46 +0000

Funny how a simple idea can spider out into multiple paths. Arduino EEPROM seemed like a straightforward concept. A few a years ago it was as easy as having either 512 or 1024 bytes of flash memory. The Arduino IDE offered an EEPROM library which let you read and write a single byte. Today, however, with many different processor architectures saving data to EEPROM varies. It is now possible to save any datatype to EEPROM but not on all boards and not all using the same method.

Circuit Python adds Python to Microcontrollers

Wed, 14 Feb 2018 14:57:09 +0000

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 l earning Circuit Python, and I am excited by what it offers.

Hologram.io connects Adafruit FONA

Thu, 08 Feb 2018 03:00:18 +0000

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.

Adafruit Feather Review and Selection Guide

Wed, 24 Jan 2018 14:04:17 +0000

Four days ago, I found out I needed to make a piece of a costume. The idea was to combine a TFT LCD with a microcontroller and Bluetooth Low Energy. I checked my microcontroller bin and found some Adafruit Feather Boards. In this post, I will introduce the feather family and provide a decision chart for choosing the right one for your project. adafruit-feather-layout The Feather board have a standard footprint and pinout. Most(All?) have a USB connector, a microcontroller, two rows of pins, and a battery charger. They measure 50.80 by 22.86 mm, which is 2.0 by 0.9 inches.

Adafruit Temperature Sensor Comparison

Wed, 27 Jul 2016 15:00:32 +0000

Getting back to my IoT projects, I decided to pick up a temperature sensor. While looking through the Adafruit breakout boards, I found they offered nine different digital temperature sensors! This list is in addition to the analog TMP36 temperature sensor, so that’s ten. I needed an Adafruit Temperature Sensor comparison. With so many options, I quickly found myself getting lost between the various modules. The 10 I found all measured temperature and provided an I2C interface. Except for the MCP9808 board, they all made at least one other type of measurement. The MCP9808 is the cheapest digital temperature sensor breakout that Adafruit offers, and also the most accurate.

Switching Voltage Regulator Tutorial

Wed, 13 Apr 2016 13:00:04 +0000

A switching voltage regulator is one of my favorite circuits. In school, they were the first circuits I built where I understood how transistors worked. In fact, they were the first circuit I saw an inductor being useful! Switching regulators are incredibly efficient when designed properly. Of course, this detail about design is important. They are not as simple as a linear regulator, which is basically an IC and two caps.

Arduino to ESP8266, 5 reasons to switch

Wed, 02 Mar 2016 16:00:04 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I posted four things to know about the ESP8266 before using one. The biggest surprise from that post is people seem to think I do not like the ESP8266! This idea is not the case; the ESP8266 is awesome. I like them so much that my Adafruit Feather HUZZAH with ESP8266 has become my go-to Arduino board. Wait what? James uses something other than Arduino? Yes, I do! I have many different boards and have used most of them for one task or another.

MQTT Tutorial for Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and ESP8266

Wed, 24 Feb 2016 16:00:45 +0000

This week’s MQTT Tutorial connects a Raspberry Pi, ESP8266 (or Arduino), and a PC together. Remember last week’s post provided an overview of message brokers and MQTT. We learned that MQTT is a hub and spoke protocol for sending messages between IoT devices. Clients can subscribe or publish messages to a central server, called a broker. Now it’s time to connect our IoT devices together! For this MQTT tutorial, I have three main elements: • My Computer, which will act as the broker. • Raspberry Pi running Python • ESP8266 controlling an LED

Raspberry Pi GUI Tutorial

Wed, 03 Feb 2016 17:58:53 +0000

My favorite Raspberry Pi add-on is the PiTFT from Adafruit. With it, you easily get a Raspberry Pi GUI interface and touch screen. The PiTFT software install is just a few things and it is good to go. Adafruit PiTFT - Click for more info This screen is what I needed for my IoT project. The Pi+Screen will act as the primary controller for all of my things. The problem is I didn’t know much about writing GUI applications in Linux. So what could I do to create a Raspberry Pi GUI?

Four ESP8266 Gotchas and a tip for a first time users

Wed, 02 Dec 2015 16:00:13 +0000

Adding WiFi to any project can be difficult. There are a few off the shelf options that make it easier. One option is the official Arduino WiFi shield. This full-featured shield uses its integrated microcontroller to handle the WiFi protocol, security, and the TCP/IP stack for you. From “plug it in and go” perspective, this is an awesome option for Arduino-based projects. Plenty of example code supports the nicely designed hardware. The main downside to some people is the price.

Which Arduino Starter Kit is the Best?

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 13:00:33 +0000

The other day my friend called me up. He told me how much he missed building circuits and wanted to start again with the Arduino. So he asked me “which Arduino starter kit is the best to buy?” At which point, I drew a long breath. Easy question, not always an easy answer. Picking out an electronics kit depends on a number of factors. You should consider: Your budget What you already have What you want to do #1 and #2 are probably pretty easy to figure out. For many beginners, it’s “not much” and “nothing.” When you don’t know #3, what you want to do, then it gets trickier. Coming back to my friend, what did I do? Well, I went out and bought each one of the kits in this post. I put myself in his shoes and maybe these are your shoes as well.

AddOhms #6: Analog and Digital

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 12:52:09 +0000

It isn’t always clear what is meant by calling a device or a signal “analog” and “digital”. This AddOhms tutorial explains the difference between analog and digital by using an analogy to clocks. Old-school clocks with hands are a great example of “analog” while alarm clocks with digits as their display are an excellent example of “digital”.

Minor updates to the Open Source Reflow Oven Project

Tue, 03 Sep 2013 00:06:06 +0000

The next stage of the reflow oven project is moving to a custom PCB for the controller electronics. Overall the board is based on the ATmega32u4 with a DS3231 RTC. The LCD module is intended to be driven by one of Adafruit’s Serial backpacks. There is an area of LED indicators (something I learned from a previous project) and some extra VCC/GND pins sprinkled about. Screenshot of the controller board laid-out.