I bought my son a electronics snap kit about 2 years ago, and quickly completed some projects that were in the included book. This was fun for us, a good start, but there was more. I began teaching him about series and parallel circuits, passive components, and different types of sensors. I then said, “Without looking at the book, build a flashlight. OK, good, now build a fan with a switchable light. OK, now build a…” Continue reading
Category Archives: Cool Stuff
Quietish Ray Gun
Hi everyone! I had an idea a while ago to modify this toy ray gun my kids have. The problem you ask? Noise. Too much noise. The bribe? more blinky in exchange for less noise. Here I will take a toy noise gun, upgrade the lighting, reduce the noise, and save parental brain cells! It’s a win win operation. So why the motivation to do this today? Because I gave it back to them this morning..
Schematic PDF here (if you don’t have Eagle)
RGB LCD Arduino Intervalometer
I am getting ready to sell some kits and wanted a good way to photograph the assembly without fumbling around trying to hold a camera in one hand and a project in the other. The answer? An intervalometer. A device that can send an IR signal to my Nikon, triggering the shutter. The video above explains all of the features including; automatic delay calculation, auto stop, multiple LCD and LED feedback options, Li-Po charging, FTDI headers, and manual control via button or plug-in foot switch.
This project will work with most Nikon DSLR cameras without changing anything, but can easily be adapted to work with Canon, Sony, or any camera that will accept an IR remote.
You can get nice RGB LCD’s, as well as the foot switch at Adafruit Industries. They even have positive character, negative character (the one used in this project), positive graphic, and negative graphic versions!
Eagle intervalometer schematic (Eagle format)
Eagle intervalometer schematic (PDF format)
Intervalometer Parts List (Numbers format)
The DSO Nano v2 Pocket Oscilloscope Explained
Hi everybody! I have had a few request for information about the small portable pocket scope I’m using in a few of my videos, so I’m going to share it with you. In this video, I’ll walk you through installing the BenF Firmware as well take you through the menu structure and functions of the device. Seeed Studio did a fantastic job with this little device, it really is an awesome portable tool. Compared to the stock firmware, the BenF firmware has better navigation, features, and the SD card features work a lot smoother.
The Nano (DSO Nano v2) is a great tool for a great price! You can get them for under $100, they come with a case, 2 sets of probes, a stand, and it’s open source!
Below is the feature summary from the manual and the links to the scope product page, firmware manual, firmware and firmware install tool.
*UPDATE: Adafruit now sells this scope! 🙂
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Fun with a few 9V batteries. (244 of them)
So I needed a break from working on a project again, and I remembered that I had a bunch of 9V batteries and thought, ‘I wonder if that would be enough voltage to hold an arc?‘. The answer is yes, it would. So I made a little video of melting some alligator clips and crispifying some LED’s, a CD, and a cap. Or at least trying to blow up the cap, that was one tough cookie..
I used 244 9V batteries, that were not new, but not dead. When you do the math, this should be 2,196 Volts, but that is when they are new. I measured (in blocks) 2,000 volts total. Lots of sparky..
DISCLAIMER:
Do not try this at home. You might get shocked. I am not responsible for anything or anyone that gets damaged if you try to recreate this. Again, just to be clear, do not try this at home. Ever.
Now, enjoy the video. 🙂