Friday, January 17, 2025

All-digital weather instrument

 

The outdoor readings come from a sensor in the back yard (currently indoors which explains the curiously high 20.0 during winter!). The forecasts come from an Environment Canada online web service.

Tuesday, June 11, 2024

New version of the battery op receiver

 

This one runs on a WIO-E5 processor/radio module and has super low current consumption, averaging about 9.7 microamps.



Thursday, December 21, 2023

Battery operated weather receiver

I was finally able to combine an e-paper display with a low power RF receiver to create a receiver that operates for 10 years on 2 AA cells. 



Friday, November 10, 2023

Saturday, October 14, 2023

Halloween Decoration

 This decoration has LEDs behind the eyes and mouth. The eyes pulsate red while the mouth sparkles in various colors.



The pumpkin face is based on a design by Kronos Robotics.





Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Temperature/humidity meter

 

This is a temperature and humidity meter based on an e-paper display like those used in Kindle e-readers. The project was a chance to learn about e-paper and play with a new microcontroller, namely the Microchip ATtiny1614, plus to try milling a PCB to accommodate an FFC connector with 0.5mm pad pitch.

It runs on a CR2032 3V coin cell which should last about 4 years. The average current draw is 5.9 uA.

The sensor is a Bosch BME280.

Thursday, February 23, 2023

First milled PCB for surface mount components

 


It's a little board to drive an e-paper display from an ATtiny1614 micro. Displays temperature and humidity and runs for years on a coin cell.