I’ve been putting off home automation for a long time, but recently the planets aligned and I’ve built something. The main ingredients are Raspberry Pi 3B, Arduino Mega, MQTT and OpenHAB. RPi because WiFi, huge software support, Linux, file system, etc. Arduino Mega because low power, many, many libraries, huge I/O and cheap. Continue reading “Internet of House”
Category: Hardware
Cobwebb Antenna
I built a Cobwebb 5-band antenna for HF. Here are my notes which should hopefully help anybody else heading down the same path. Continue reading “Cobwebb Antenna”
Xiaomi XiaoYi “Ants” WiFi IP Camera – HowTo
If you frequent Banggood, AliExpress, etc. you have probably come across the very reasonably-priced Xiaomi XiaoYi “Ants” IP cameras that come in at around €25-30 delivered depending on the model. However, they’re not without their snags. I’ve compiled some notes on making best of these cheap Nest clones.
Continue reading “Xiaomi XiaoYi “Ants” WiFi IP Camera – HowTo”
Capacitive Battery Charger
Let’s start with the disclaimer. What follows is a Bad Idea, you could get blinded, burned, electrocuted or have your house burn down. This is not an exhaustive list. Really, I can’t recommend you try this yourself. The upside is a potential big saving in rechargeable batteries that you’d normally toss in the recycling. Continue reading “Capacitive Battery Charger”
Power Connector Adaptor for Raspberry Pi With RGB LED
I’m building a cluster using Raspberry Pi derivative boards (Banana Pi). Jeff Geerling gave me the idea to make a little PCB with RGB LED and also a 5.5mm DC barrel-style power connector. Continue reading “Power Connector Adaptor for Raspberry Pi With RGB LED”
ESP8266 ESP-01 Module With Ubuntu
Here are a few notes on working with the uber-cheap ESP-01 WiFi microcontroller module with Ubuntu.
Continue reading “ESP8266 ESP-01 Module With Ubuntu”
Fake TV Security Light
This gadget steps up the game from leaving a light on at home when you’re out. Place it near a window to make it look like somebody’s at home watching TV.
Arduino-Based Geocache Finder Toy
For fun I made a dedicated geocache toy from an Arduino, GPS receiver and electronic compass modules and neopixels (RGB LEDs).
Continue reading “Arduino-Based Geocache Finder Toy”
DigiSpark With 64-bit Ubuntu
DigiSpark is one of the cutest Arduino-related widgets around. It’s about the size of a postage stamp, plugs straight into your USB port and will probably cover most of your microcontroller project needs. The problem is that it doesn’t seem to play nice, out-of-the-box with 64-bit Ubuntu Linux. Continue reading “DigiSpark With 64-bit Ubuntu”
Programming Ramp Output on Rigol DP832
This is just a quick note to help those who might have trouble interpreting the instructions from Rigol for their awesome DP832 Programmable Power Supply Unit in order to get a ramp voltage. Continue reading “Programming Ramp Output on Rigol DP832”