I have a SIM800L based data logging unit. This is part of a LilyGo T-Call 1.4 unit with an ESP32 controller. I wanted to find the location of the device using the GSM network and this post gives information relating to my attempts at doing this. Spoiler alert – you cannot easily get longitude and … more
I had obtained three samples of a DDM18SD DIN rail mounted energy meter unit. I got mine from a UK supplier on eBay, but they are available here at AliExpress and in many different places. The unit I obtained was a single phase unit for directly measuring up to 5A and 240V AC, but up … more
I’ve been designing a breakout board for the ACS758 hall-effect current sensor. The first few prototype boards came in and I decided to give them a quick test. The results were not quite as I expected so I thought I’d put write about them here, for others that might be using this IC. These current … more
I was asked to build a BIG LED display for a pedal powered cinema for a film group in Brussels (more about that in another post). I found these huge displays from Embedded Adventures and had wanted an excuse to have a play with one of them for a while. This is a post about … more
I’ve been wanting to play around with sending data via a mobile SIM card and, after needing to do it for another project, here is a short post on my attempts at getting it all going. I used an off the shelf GSM/GPRS module (the SIM900). I tried this using both the Arduino Uno and … more
I’ve been messing around with some 32 x 8 LED displays – as I have been wanting to create graphics. These LED displays are from Sure Electronics are available for around $13 and use the HT1632 LED driver IC, with an SPI-like control. I have previously used these displays for a couple of projects here … more
I have mentioned the Minimus AVR before on this blog. It is a very low-cost ATMEL micrcontroller board with a USB bootloader. This post describes using the device as a HID (Human Interface Device) such as a keyboard or mouse. A challenge was set by a friend to take serial commands and, depending upon the … more
Following on from my previous post on measuring humidity, I decided to test another couple of humidity sensors I had lying around. These were the DHT11 and the DYPTH01B. These are both low-cost capacitive sensors and both had been obtained when I put in an order with a Chinese supply website (Sun Tek Store). Neither … more
For a new project I am looking at measuring weather data in remote locations. This is for a low-cost, low-power wind data logging unit. The main parameter to record is, of course, the wind speed and I am doing this with ten minute averages from a pulse-output anemometer. While this data is useful, it would … more
For PCB design I use the open-source schematic and PCB design software KiCAD. Its a great program and has gotten a lot better recently. It is unlimited in size, components and number of layers and has lots of the features of very expensive professional PCB layout software. There are times when having just one schematic … more
Following on from the surface mount reflow oven I built, I thought I would report on its performance and my experiences with surface mount devices. I had designed a relatively complex board which had a number of devices which were only available in a surface mount package. So I decided to produce this board with … more
Accurately monitoring lead-acid battery state-of-charge would help with the long-term sustainability of off-grid renewable energy systems. There are a number of ready-built products already available, mainly for the recreational vehicle market (eg. boats) and are relatively high cost (too high to include within a small off-grid power supply system). There are also a number of … more