Items Tag › RIT Make Club Idea Stream

I posted to hackaday.com

LEDs invade coffee table crevice

http://hackaday.com/2010/03/08/leds-invade-coffee-table-crevice/

That’s a lot of LEDs, and a little bit of glass cleaner. [Tobias] spiced up his IKEA coffee table by adding 6144 LEDs. This is a larger realization of SparkFun’s LED coffee table which used 64 8×8 modules. [Tobias] sourced three display boards from Sure Electronics for a total of 96 8×8 modules. These boards are addressed through a serial interface; four serial lines for each board but a shared data bus for each of the row select pins and the data/latch/clock pins. This method uses 19 of the 20 pins on the Arduino that drives the display. After the break you can see a demonstration. If this is more than you need there’s always the 112-LED and 81-LED table projects that can produce a full color range.
- Tags:
- home hacks
- led
- ikea
- led hacks
- coffee table
- 8x8
- sure electronics
March 8 2010, 3:44pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Lava lamp centrifuge

http://hackaday.com/2010/03/08/lava-lamp-centrifuge/

Like many projects, this one started with a harmless question. “Will lava lamps work in a high-gravity environment such as Jupiter?”. Well, as it turns out, this harmless question was not so easily answered. The only real solution was to test and prove for sure. To do this, [Neil Fraser] built a centrifuge in his living room. At 10 feet across and roughly 50 kilograms, this is no small toy. The end with the lava lamp is set to pivot, so at a stand still, it is positioned vertically and at full speed it is positioned horizontally. The whole process is recorded on video for proof. So, does a lava lamp work in high gravity? Watch the video or read the article to find out.

[via Makezine]
- Tags:
- cellphones hacks
- home hacks
- centrifuge
- lava lamp
March 8 2010, 10:06am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Time delay door alarm

http://hackaday.com/2010/03/06/time-delay-door-alarm/

Ever accidentally left your front door ajar and had a pet escape? [BlackCow] came up with a simple solution to this problem. The circuit is fairly rudimentary but a great example of using the basics to get the job done. Now, instead of having an alarm that sounds as soon as the door is open, he has a 30 second delay. This helps avoid the “boy who cried wolf” effect also known as the “vista security warning” effect of being bothered too many times for a non issue. We also have to say that we like his taste in blog layouts.

[via Hacked Gadgets]
- Tags:
- home hacks
- security
- alarm
- classic hacks
March 6 2010, 6:38pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Shiftbrite coffee table

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/25/shiftbrite-coffee-table/

Here’s a project we’ve been wanting to do for a while. Over at macetech.com they’ve posted an LED coffee table that uses a 9×9 RGB LED grid. For the LEDs, they used the shiftbrite modules we’ve seen before. The table is capable of displaying pre written patterns as well as accepting patterns from a computer via bluetooth. They’ve set it up to connect to a twitter feed and display to a live cam on their site. Though we would love to reproduce this, we need a little more justification than “ooooh, shiny” for the funds involved. Anyone want to donate 100 shiftbrights?
- Tags:
- home hacks
- led
- shiftbrite
- arduino hacks
- led hacks
February 25 2010, 8:57am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Controllable LEDs spice up the living room

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/21/controllable-leds-spice-up-the-living-room/

[Sprite_tm] brings us another great hack by lighting up the living room. Unsatisfied with just replacing incandescent bulbs with an LED alternative he went with strips of LEDs to illuminate the length of a wall. Starting with a seven-meter strip of the lights, he cut it down to fourteen pieces in order to make the RGB devices individually controllable. [Sprite_tm] whipped up a design for controller boards using RS-485 to communicate with each, and sourcing an ATtiny2313 for the PWM necessary to generate any color. As you can see in the video above, the finished project is brilliant. Oh, and the Lounge Music as a background is nice too.
- Tags:
- home hacks
- led
- rgb
- led hacks
- rs-485
- incandescent
February 21 2010, 10:01am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Rube Goldberg FTW

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/20/rube-goldberg-ftw/

This video was on its way to a links post until we saw the game of chess right in the middle of it (bishop to H5). [Tom] and [Ben] put their Master of Manufacturing Engineering degrees to use by jam-packing every conveyance method possible into a Rube Goldberg machine. There’s violin bows, a polo mallet, a rolling candle, a ball-popping umbrella, texting cell phones, toppling jewel cases, and plenty of ball-on-tracks implementations. All of that setup and all that the device does is… well, you’ll have to see for yourself.

[Thanks Phil via DVICE]
- Tags:
- home hacks
- rube goldberg
February 20 2010, 1:15pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

CueCat, meet Arduino

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/10/cuecat-meet-arduino/

Have you ever felt like you needed a portable barcode scanner around the house? No? Well, [Mkanoap] did, so he made one. He has hooked his CueCat up to his Arduino to capture barcode data and store it on an SD card. He is using it as an inventory tool for his personal library. Where before he had to carry a laptop around to do his scanning, or lug the books to his desk, he now just scans wherever he pleases.

You may notice some silly sounds dubbed over the video. Take note, these are the actual sounds it plays. The camera didn’t pick them up well enough, so he dubbed them in. You wouldn’t want to miss out on the entire experience would you?
- Tags:
- home hacks
- arduino
- arduino hacks
- scan
- cuecat
February 10 2010, 8:29am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

GuruPlug, the next generation of SheevaPlug

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/08/guruplug-the-next-generation-of-sheevaplug/

Meet GuruPlug, an all-in-one server that is now available for pre-order. This is the next generation of the popular SheevaPlug that features some added goodies. The base model sells for the same $99 and appears to have the same specs as the original but for $30 more, the GuruPlug Server PLUS moves to 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports, one eSATA connector, and built-in WiFi and Bluetooth. All of this for $129 and it only pulls 5 watts? Wow.

Update: Thanks to [Foerdi] and to [Phil Burgess] for the pointing out that the hardware diagram on the features page shows WiFi and Bluetooth for both models.

[Thanks Chris]
- Tags:
- home hacks
- pcs hacks
- Linux
- server
- sheevaplug
- GuruPlug
February 8 2010, 2:42pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

ez430 home automation

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/08/ez430-home-automation/

[Oliver] has been doing some work to use his TI ez430 Chronos wristwatch for some home automation. He’s working with a RF controllable lightbulb adapter which operates in the 433 MHz band. A dirt-cheap breadboard-friendly transmitter is available from Seeed Studios and he uses this in conjunction with a computer and an Arduino. Before the trolls get to their thing, YES, this is incredible overkill. But remember that he’s prototyping. We hope that if he intends to actually use this setup he’ll migrate to something like an ATtiny2313 running V-USB. Better yet, you should be able to tap into the watch’s companion receiver and cut the computer out completely.

If you’re easily amused you’ll appreciate the video of a light turning on and off after the break. If you’re a little harder to please then take a look at Oliver’s methods of using Python processing for the watch’s data.

Ok, now we’ve seen this watch turning on lights and unlocking doors. What else ‘ya got?
- Tags:
- home hacks
- arduino
- texas instruments
- ti
- RF
- 433
- ez430
February 8 2010, 1:07pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Pipe heating with an ATMega8

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/05/pipe-heating-with-an-atmega8/

[Viktor] wanted a system to keep his pipes from freezing. The common method of using heat tape works pretty well, but can be wasteful. Many people just turn it on for the entire winter. [Viktor] wanted to automate the heat tape’s power so that it only activated during times that the pipes could actually freeze. To do this, he rigged an ATMega8 to a temp probe and is using it to control an ATX power supply. Pretty slick [Viktor].

[via HackedGadgets]
- Tags:
- home hacks
- atmega
- heat
- pipes
- thaw
February 5 2010, 1:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Snow blower robot

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/01/snow-blower-robot/

For those of us who are stuck in the middle of a cold and snowy winter, this project will seem like a stroke of genius. [Jimmy Bui] has put together this robotic pushing platform. While it is seen in the video (on the linked page) pushing a snow blower, it seems to be simply bolted on. This means it could push pretty much anything, such as a lawn mower. The platform itself looks like a common layout. He’s using the base of a motorized wheel chair, and some scavenged bits to protect the circuitry. He says that he built it after seeing elderly people having a hard time shoveling their driveways in his neighborhood. They don’t say if he loans it out to them now, but we suspect that he does.

[via Robots Dreams]
- Tags:
- home hacks
- robots hacks
- snow
- mower
- blower
February 1 2010, 9:11am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

120v switching

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/31/120v-switching/

[Kenneth] built a 5v controlled power outlet inside of a junction box. We’ve seen plenty of projects that can switch 120v outlets using 5v logic for refrigerator controllers, lighting controllers, or grow systems, but they almost always use solid state relays to facilitate the switching. This iteration uses mechanical relays along with the necessary protection circuitry. The project is housed in an extra deep single-gang box and allows for individual switching of the two outlets. You can see this connected to an Arduino switching two lamps after the break.

[Thanks Mightysinetheta]
- Tags:
- home hacks
- power
- tool-hacks
- switching
January 31 2010, 2:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Hacking a digital bathroom scale

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/31/hacking-a-digital-bathroom-scale/

[Micah] was inspired by projects he had seen of people using the Wii balance board as an input. He realized the balance board was overkill, and pricey for many applications. Since it is basically just 4 weight sensors, he thought, why not just use a scale? Often, only one sensor is needed and they’re really cheap from big box stores. He picked up a digital scale and cracked it open. As he moved forward, he wanted to keep this pretty simple. There are other ways of getting the information from a scale, but they have been generally more complicated than what he had in mind. He ended up bypassing the internal unknown microcontroller and just connecting the analog sensors to his parallax setup. You can read all about the process an download some source code on his site.

[via Flickr]
- Tags:
- home hacks
- parallax
- scale
January 31 2010, 1:04pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Recycled cat feeder

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/31/recycled-cat-feeder/

I find that I do a lot of fun projects but I’m very bad about documenting them when I’m done. Holidays are for hacking (in my mind) so I usually plan ahead and do something cool during my time off. This project, which I loving call the Autodine-2009, was a spontaneous event over Thanksgiving that I’m just getting around to writing about.

Our cat’s want to be fed at 6am and are very insistent about it. Like most folks, I’d rather be sleeping at that time of day so I built an automatic cat feeder. Now we sleep while the cats eat. We don’t want to rely on a hack to feed our cats when we’re away so I didn’t go the route of an Internet-enabled multiple-dose feeder. Instead, I used parts on hand to create a single-serving dispenser on a timer. A servo rotates a false bottom to gravity-feed the cat food. The servo doesn’t have control circuitry so it is controlled through an h-bridge (I did have to buy 2 transistors for that) by an AVR ATmega8 microcontroller. There are two salvaged tactile switches to set the time and timer, and a serial LCD display that I’ve had sitting around for years. Power comes from an old cell phone charger a friend had just given me that spawned the feeder idea when I asked myself “hmmm, what can I use this for”?

I’ll demonstrate this recycled device for you in a video after the break. This wasn’t as hardcore as my AVR Tetris build but I’m much happier now that I can sleep in a bit.
- Tags:
- home hacks
- servo
- cat
- atmega8
- h-bridge
- autodine
- feeder
January 31 2010, 11:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Another take on roasting those beans

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/29/another-take-on-roasting-those-beans/

[Andrew] takes his coffee very seriously and like any hardcore aficionado he wanted to do the roasting himself. The coffee roaster design uses a heat gun for the roasting and sources an old bread maker as a vessel. As part of the automatic bread making process there’s a little agitator arm inside which keeps the beans moving while the heat is applied. A computer controls the heat gun, adjust with feedback from a temperature sensor. We had a bit of a laugh reading about melted temperature sensors, but design flaws aside this computer interface allows rather strict control of the roasting profile.

Reader [Youseff] tipped us off about this after seeing the Popcorn Coffee Bean roaster from last week.
- Tags:
- home hacks
- coffee
- roaster
- bread maker
- heat gun
January 29 2010, 2:54pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Salty LEDs

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/29/salty-leds/

[Davross] pulled off an LED lighting build for his coral aquarium. The module consists of a wooden body holding a 3×16 grid of LEDs. They are mounted to heat sinks which themselves have cooling fans to help keep those puppies from melting. The system is controlled by an Arduino which allows for almost limitless lighting options. The photo above shows the LEDs running at 50%. He’s also taken some photos of the tank in “moonlight” mode. It’s a long and detailed forum thread but you can skip to some nice photos of the coral under the lights or details about the build.

[Thanks Passmadd]
- Tags:
- home hacks
- tank
- light
- led hacks
- aquarium
- coral
January 29 2010, 1:24pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Face tracking with x10

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/25/face-tracking-with-x10/

If you are looking to do some face tracking and don’t know where to start, this explanation of how to do it with X10 modules could be pretty helpful. Aside from having, what some could consider to be, the absolute most annoying website ever for a company, X10 also makes modular systems for home automation. X10 also refers to the industry standard for home automation, so sometimes just saying you did something with X10 can get confusing. He is using the SDK to write custom code for the tracking, which you can download from the project page.

[via HackedGadgets]
- Tags:
- home hacks
- peripherals hacks
- facial recognition
- x10
- face tracking
January 25 2010, 11:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

iPhone look-alike on your kitchen wall

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/23/iphone-look-alike-on-your-kitchen-wall/

[Ryan] and his wife wanted to have a touchscreen interface in the kitchen to store their recipes and for various music, video, and Internet entertainment. We know where they’re coming from, we’re quite tired or cleaning flour (or worse!) off of our palm pilot screen after baking. The display you see on the wall is just the interface, a computer is stored in the cabinet below the counter. He’s running Windows 7 and using a custom graphic interface which is intended to mimic the looks of the iPhone. He’s sharing the UI as open source and has just started a forum for those interested in trying it out and adding to the available features.

One thing we noticed in his writeup, he prototyped this with an old 2 GHz computer but upgraded the hardware because it was too slow. This pushed to total build price to about $1350 USD. We can’t help but mention that using a Linux based system may have saved him from the upgrade. We know there’s some extremely powerful media software that runs on light hardware specs.

[Thanks Hannah]
- Tags:
- home hacks
- iPhone
- touchscreen
- Recipe
- ikitchen
January 23 2010, 12:50pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Ideas based on photo frame clock

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/23/ideas-based-on-photo-frame-clock/

[Mahto] bought a digital picture frame but the image quality turned out to be terrible. He decided to turn it into a clock in a unique way. He loaded up 720 images, one for each minute in a twelve hour period. He then used an Arduino to simulate a button once a minute, cycling to the next image.

This is a simple solution and it works. Visions of hardcore hacks danced through our head when we first looked at this. We’re wondering if there is a way to inject image data into the frame’s memory? How about rewriting the SD card location where the image file that’s currently being displayed is stored, then having the frame reload the picture? Those are projects for a snowy weekend, but we’re sure that [Mahto] finished this hack long before we would have because he kept it simple.

Sooner or later we’re going to need a category for all of these clock hacks.

[Thanks Drone]
- Tags:
- home hacks
- arduino
- sd
- clock
- arduino hacks
- bare bones
- digital frame
January 23 2010, 8:45am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Hack together a Coffee Roaster

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/22/hack-together-a-coffee-roaster/

For most people, making coffee entails taking a couple scoops out of a can of pre-ground coffee, adding water, and pressing “Go” on the drip machine. To others coffee brewing is an artform, and want as much control over the process as possible. For those without an overflowing bank account for a home roasting machine, Evil Mad Scientist Labs have put together a general guide for throwing together a Coffee Bean Roaster and cooler (which is apparently just as important as roasting) from a low cost hot air popcorn popper. The home roasting scene is even big enough to warrant its own Wikipedia page, which also mentions using a popcorn popper as a bean roaster.

The guide includes some great simple circuit diagrams to keep in mind when hacking your own, as well as a good explanation why you shouldn’t just clip out the heating coil for cooling mode.
- Tags:
- home hacks
- evil mad scientist laboratories
- coffee
- cooler
- roaster
January 22 2010, 12:35pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Coded entry using your wristwatch

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/21/coded-entry-using-your-wristwatch/

[Ziyan] and [Zach] built a door entry system that uses a code entered from your wristwatch. They’re using the TI eZ-430 Chronos that we saw in November. There is a project box mounted over the deadbolt lever. Inside, the wireless fob waits for the watch to connect. When a watch has connected and the correct code is received (using 128 bit encryption) the fob actuates a servo to turn the lock. On the user side of things the code is entered by tapping the watch. The built-in accelerometer picks up these taps and relays them to the door unit.

It’s a heck of a project! Check out their demonstration video after the break. We’d like to see a mechanical option for escaping the apartment in case the door unit fails but otherwise we think this is perfectly executed. We’re looking forward to seeing more projects that tap into this TI hardware.
- Tags:
- home hacks
- security hacks
- lock
- ti
- door
- watch
- wristwatch
- ez-430
January 21 2010, 11:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Buzzle: a morse code puzzle box

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/21/buzzle-a-morse-code-puzzle-box/

[lucasfragomeni] built the Buzzle after being inspired by the reverse geocache puzzle. The Buzzle was built as a gift to a friend. It’s a tricky gift too. His friend can’t open it until he decodes the words being displayed in morse code via an LED. A word is chosen at random, so you would have to decode it each time you want to open the box. That’s a pretty neat security feature. Sure it’s not the most secure, but it would keep casual peepers out. Unfortunately, the box was empty when his friend received it.
- Tags:
- home hacks
- security hacks
- arduino
- morse
- arduino hacks
- puzzle
January 21 2010, 9:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

SheevaPlug PBX

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/20/sheevaplug-pbx/

[Greg] has been working on a version of Debian/ FreePBX/ Asterisk for people to be able to drop onto a SheevaPlug. If you haven’t seen it, the SheevaPlug is a tiny computer housed in a wall plug. They made some waves when they were announced last year, and we’ve spoken of them several times. [Greg] is offering up the operating system in a pre configured format for SD cards so you can just download it and drop it in your SheevaPlug. Yeah, there’s a little bit of work to do before it will boot, which you can see in the video above. Thanks for sending this in [Greg], keep up the good work.
- Tags:
- home hacks
- pcs hacks
- Linux
- phone
- sheevaplug
- linux hacks
- pbx
- phone hacks
January 20 2010, 7:28am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

The most complicated, and simplest binary clocks.

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/18/the-most-complicated-and-simplest-binary-clocks/

We were going to take a break from posting clocks. Really we were. This one came in the tip line today though, and we just couldn’t pass it up. [Alex] has built, what might be the most complicated clock we’ve seen. At least, it would appear that way initially. This Binary clock shows Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Days, and Months. He started with a picaxe, but eventually settled on an Mbed. Yes, he knows it is overkill, but it worked out pretty well.

As for the simplest, that came into our tip line as well. [Toby] sent this in, and agrees with us that it is hardly worthy of being called a hack. However, in light of the complicated one above, we didn’t see any harm in posting its opposite. Check it out after the break.

That’s right, he just printed a new face. Like we said, it doesn’t get much simpler.
- Tags:
- home hacks
- clock
- PICAXE
- mbed
January 18 2010, 2:11pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Wine glass time keeper

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/16/wine-glass-time-keeper/

We’ve seen a glut of time-keeping projects lately. We guess time was the original motivator for technology so we’re okay with it (but we’re not calling ourselves Clockaday quite yet). This clock, or more appropriately this timer, is a homemade hourglass that [Andrei] put together. The finished look is simple but he put some real time into its production.

The glass portion is a combination of two wine glasses. He removed the stems, ground the bottoms flat, then drilled holes to allow the sand to pass. He used plumbers putty around the top of the upturned reservoir to create a temporary bowl of water which cooled the glass during drilling. This prevented cracking by keeping the friction generated heat at bay. Working with the glass took a total of around five hours.

To assemble, he epoxied the two wine glasses together, routed out a ring in the wood bases for the lips, and used dowels to connect the two ends. [Andrei] concluded that the gentle slope at the bottom of the wine glasses is not the ideal shape as some sand can get stuck in them. Perhaps champagne flutes for his next build? At any rate, we think it’s a unique, non-automated hourglass build.
- Tags:
- home hacks
- clock
- drill
- timer
- grind
- hourglass
- sand
- wine
January 16 2010, 2:26pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Volt meter clock

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/16/volt-meter-clock/

The Volt meter clock continues our recent slew of interesting clock projects. Though considerably easier to read than the resistor clock, it is in the same frame of mind. Set up to look like the face of an analog volt meter, it almost looks like something official or scientific. Since [Jon] couldn’t simply drop a clock mechanism in, he used a PIC microcontroller. The circuit is pretty simple, but he deserves some credit just for the unique layout.
- Tags:
- home hacks
- pic
- meter
- clock
January 16 2010, 9:11am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Know your resistors… tell the time

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/15/know-your-resistors-tell-the-time/

[Darren] built a clock that uses a resistor to display the time. Well, it really uses a model of a resistor. This extremely tardy entry in the Hackaday design challenge houses all of the electronics on a PCB the size of a business card. Four RGB LEDs shine up through holes in the wooden base to light bands on an acrylic tube. The colors correspond to the values used in the Resistor Color Code. In the picture above the clock is displaying 5:26 (that’s supposed to be a red band but the camera didn’t pick it up too well). The band in the center fades up over 60 seconds to signify AM, and down to show PM.

It may be late, but it’s a clever design. It looks sleek and it uses no buttons for an interface. [Darren] sourced the LEDs themselves as light sensors to display the date, and enter time setting mode.
- Tags:
- home hacks
- led
- clock
- sensor
- led hacks
- Hackaday design contest
- HackadayDesignContest
- light sensor
- resistor color code
January 15 2010, 2:08pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Google bike hack, quick and dirty

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/14/google-bike-hack-quick-and-dirty/

Many of the projects we post are so well thought out and engineered, they could hardly be called “hacks”. This one, however, falls neatly into the hack category. [Dave] wanted his very own exercise bike hooked to Google maps. Instead of setting up a control system and writing software to control Google maps, he simply hacked a USB game controller. He wired a magnetic switch directly into the board, where the “up” button is. Then he mounted the switch so that it would be triggered each time he rotated the pedal. Though he only has the forward movement done right now, it would be pretty easy to set up a couple more switches at the base of the handle bar for left and right.

While the experience may not be quite as nice as the more complicated one, aside from head tracking, it isn’t that far off.
- Tags:
- google hacks
- google
- home hacks
- bike
- maps
January 14 2010, 9:01am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Weather clock

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/11/weather-clock/

[Sean_Carney] build this clock that tells the weather instead of the time. The two hands display the current conditions and the temperature. Forty below zero seems amazingly cold if you’re on the Fahrenheit scale but [Sean's] from Winnipeg so he’s operating on the Celsius side of things.

Two servos move the hands to match the data scraped off of the Internet. An Arduino does the scraping with the help of an Ethernet shield. This reminds us of the Harry Potter clock that tells a persons location.

[via Flickr]
- Tags:
- home hacks
- clock
- arduino hacks
- weather
- harry potter
- weather clock
- winnipeg
January 11 2010, 5:35pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Steampunk Nixie clock

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/11/steampunk-nixie-clock/

This single-digit Nixie clock is a thing of beauty. You might hate Steampunk or you might love it, but you have to respect projects where the design gets equal (or more) consideration compared to the function. The electronics used in the project build upon an existing single Nixie design. Instead of hiding the guts inside the clock the PCB has been laid out to augment the design. We think [Blue Metal] hit it out of the park with this one!
- Tags:
- home hacks
- steampunk
- clock
- nixie
- nixie tube
- classic hacks
January 11 2010, 2:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Cold climate solar water heater

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/11/cold-climate-solar-water-heater/

Here’s a solar water heater setup that augments your home’s water heater instead of replacing it. The system monitors a solar collector panel on the roof for temperature. If the temperature is warm enough, a photo voltaic cell powered pump circulates cold water through the system. The heated water returns to the top of the home’s water heater. Unlike the warm-climate solar heater we saw earlier, this one can withstand freezing because it uses silicone tubing in the collector.

[Thanks Marius]
- Tags:
- home hacks
- solar
- green hacks
- silicone
- water heater
- freezing
- hot water
January 11 2010, 8:35am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Meat smoker from 55gal drums

http://hackaday.com/2009/12/31/meat-smoker-from-55gal-drums/

[Joel] wanted to use his newly acquired welding skills to make something useful. With tasty flesh in mind he put together this meat smoker. What resulted is incredible, but the fact that he then gave it away as a gift is just amazing.

A curved joint between two pipes is known as a ‘fish mouth’. They can be a hassle, as with the pirate wheel project, but [Joel] used his noggin to make things easier. He first modeled two 55 gallon drums in CAD. The intersecting curve was then generated by the software, printed out on paper, and stenciled on the drum to be cut out with a jigsaw.

[Joel's] writeup is greatly detailed and shares many pictures. He makes every part of this smoker, including the wood handles and the stainless steel grates. The guy really knows how to build stuff, but we should have known that after seeing the Crushtoberfest.
- Tags:
- home hacks
- welding
- Crushtoberfest
- smoke
- weld
December 31 2009, 2:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Twitter based Christmas ornaments update

http://hackaday.com/2009/12/31/twitter-based-christmas-ornaments-update/
When we introduced you to the Twitter Christmas tree ornaments, sadly we had very little information about the project. Luckily [Rob] made contact and clued us in on the inner workings. It even turns out we were wrong about the usage of Arduinos! We invite you to check out all the juicy inner workings after the break.

Lets jump right into the explanation,
So the controller uses a single Arduino connected to 3 74HCT595 shift registers. The ‘595 takes a clock bit and a data bit, and each leading edge (0-1 transition) of the clock bit shifts in a data bit. Then there’s an 8-bot latch, and the leading edge of another line captures the state of the shift register to the outputs. Each ‘595 stores 8 bits, can be chained, and there are three of them. This lets it control 24 lights with only 3 I/O lines. Each output is connected to a TIP31 transistor, in standard NPN configuration. The TIP31 can switch up to 3A, so they handle the 1A 6V lamps with no problem. This is pretty close to the schematic we’re using, except only 24 outputs:

Here’s the sketch I used to control the shift registers:
```
long count;
unsigned long val;
void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(9600);
  pinMode(10, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(11, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(12, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
  digitalWrite(10, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(11, LOW);
  digitalWrite(12, LOW);
  digitalWrite(13, LOW);

  count = 0x00;
  val = 0;
}

void loop()
{
  unsigned long i;

  if (Serial.available())
  {
    char c = Serial.read();
    if (c >= '0' && c <= '9') {
      val = val * 10 + (c - '0');
      Serial.print(c);
    } else if (c == '\n')
    {
      Serial.print("setting count to ");
      Serial.println(val);
      count = val;
      val = 0;
    }
  }

  unsigned long bv;
  digitalWrite(10, LOW);
  for (i=0, bv=1; i < 24; ++i, bv <<= 1)
  {
    byte bitval = LOW;
    if (count & bv)
      bitval = HIGH;
    //Serial.print("i ");
    //Serial.print(i);
    //Serial.print(" bit ");
    //Serial.println((int)bitval);

    digitalWrite(11, bitval);
    digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
    delayMicroseconds(50);
    digitalWrite(13, LOW);

    delayMicroseconds(50);
  }
  digitalWrite(10, HIGH);

    delay(10);
    //++count;
    //count &= 0x3ff;
}
```
I bit-banged the SPI protocol, since I was having trouble using the hardware SPI, and figured it was easier than fiddling with registers. I since discovered the breadboard was a bit flaky, and lowering the bit rate would have probably worked too, but that’s for V2.0 :-) It listens for a number on the serial port, and shifts that number into the 74595’s. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The other side is an old netbook, running a Processing sketch – since I didn’t write it, and forgot to ask for permission, I can’t attach it, but the essence is a loop that screen-scrapes Twitter’s search API, and sets the bits of a long corresponding to the words that it finds. I’m now updating it to blink faster or slower based on the frequency that a word occurs, since words like Christmas seem to appear frequently this time of year, who knew?

Rob D
There you have it. For those wondering, the schematic is actually for an upcoming light control shield [Rob] is working on. You can expect to get your own around April. For those that just can’t get enough Alpha One Labs goodness, be sure to join us for their regular UStream this evening at 7pm EST.
- Tags:
- news
- home hacks
- arduino
- christmas
- tree
- twitter
- ornament
- arduino hacks
- shift register
- 74HCT595
- alpha one labs
- Rob
- tip31
December 31 2009, 11:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Ikea Dioder hack

http://hackaday.com/2009/12/29/ikea-dioder-hack/

[Joseph] wrote in to tell us about his Ikea Dioder hack. The Dioder is a lighting system with a silly name from Ikea. It is basically 4 RGB LED bars that are connected to a controller that will cycle their colors in different manners. They aren’t individually addressable, and at $50 aren’t really that great of a deal for people who could build their own. [Joseph] thought that maybe, if the features could be extended, it could be a decent lighting system. He bought it and began searching. Disappointed by the lack of hacks available, he cracked it open and began brainstorming. Ultimately, he decided to interface it with his computer. He can now control it with software, so making an ambilight clone shouldn’t be too difficult.

He does mention that he thought of making 4 independent drivers so that each light bar could be a different color. We agree that this would be the next logical step, possibly even rewiring for individual access to each LED.
- Tags:
- home hacks
- led
- ikea
- led hacks
- ambilight
December 29 2009, 10:53am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

(Yet another) Twitter this controlling Arduino that

http://hackaday.com/2009/12/27/yet-another-twitter-this-controlling-arduino-that/

Christmas may be over, but we still have a couple of cool holiday related hacks for you. One being [Alpay's] Twitter based interactive Christmas tree ornaments.

We tried to dig up some more information, but it thus far appears a laptop running Processing searches Twitter for specific Christmas related words (like 1337, that’s Christmas-y), sends a buffer to one of three Arduinos which in turn light up a specific ornament. You can check out a live stream here.

For those wanting a bit more information on Arduino and controlling holiday lights, check out [Alpay's] GE health care version of Twitter lights, or our previous post on controlling Christmas trees, or you might even try [Michael's] $10 Walmart light controller.
- Tags:
- home hacks
- arduino
- christmas
- tree
- twitter
- ornament
- arduino hacks
December 27 2009, 10:49am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Better temperature readings using an aspirated thermometer

http://hackaday.com/2009/12/17/better-temperature-readings-using-an-aspirated-thermometer/

Unlike regular thermometers that can get incorrect readings because of the sun’s heat, shading, and airflow, aspirated thermometers isolate the temperature sensor from precipitation and the sun, while providing constant air circulation. Take ten 1-wire T2SS boards and combine them with DS18B20s and you’ve got yourself the start of an aspirated thermometer. A foot of PVC pipe, fans, and the above mentioned parts and you’ll have accurate temperature readings in no time.

[Dave] made his to control a natural gas boiler, pumps, and 11 gas-fired unit heaters for a combined output of 5.3 million BTUs per hour – keeping his greenhouse nice and toasty.

Update: Thanks Firetech for pointing out our silly typo.
- Tags:
- home hacks
- misc hacks
- thermometer
- heat
- aspirated
- DS18B20
- t2ss
- tempurature
December 17 2009, 4:25pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Social Media HUD

http://hackaday.com/2009/12/15/social-media-hud/

After [Gregg Benjamin] read our story about a simple physical email notifier, he decided to test his skills and add some touches of his own. Rather than limiting his notifier to just email, he has added support for displaying Pandora Radio songs, Facebook notifications, and email all to a LCD. He even has included code for an optional motion detector, as well as support for text message notification. We always love it when our stories inspire our readers to bring their own various solutions to similar problems, so we hope some of you take the code he has supplied (written in python for desktop side, and Arduino sketches for the microcontroller side) and add support for your own interests. Might we suggest RSS feed support, or other social media such as reddit or Google Reader? Let us know if you add something cool, and we might do a follow-up!

[Gregg] doesn’t have a blog of his own, so we have posted the demo video to YouTube, and he has provided all of his related code and images to Megaupload (warning, file is ~115 MB). Sorry to anyone looking for a blog link.
- Tags:
- home hacks
- arduino
- arduino hacks
- hud
- Social Media
December 15 2009, 10:30am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Solar Water Heater

http://hackaday.com/2009/12/14/solar-water-heater/

[Jake] built himself a solar water heater. The system has an 82 gallon insulated water tank and uses a solar collection grid made of PVC pipe. As the water heats, it rises to the top of the collector and runs into the tank while pulling colder water from the bottom of the tank back into the collector.

A sunny day yields temperatures around 130 degrees Fahrenheit. On a cloudy day the water can still be heated to about 90 Fahrenheit. This is about 19 degrees cooler that one might desire but the difference is made up by an electric shower head that heats as the water comes out. [Jake's] system, seen in the video after the break, allows him to forgo the use of electricity on sunny days, and reduce its use by around half on cloudy days.
- Tags:
- home hacks
- PVC
- solar
- green hacks
- electric shower head
- water heater
December 14 2009, 11:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Bulbdial clock kit released

http://hackaday.com/2009/12/10/bulbdial-clock-kit-released/

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories has just released a Bulbdial clock kit. This has come a long way since their first prototype, featuring three PCBs to carry the 72 charlieplexed LEDs. For accuracy they’ve included an optional header for a ChronoDot precision RTC.

With a great looking face and laser-cut acrylic case available, this may soon adorn our mantle. Time to write that letter to Santa…
- Tags:
- home hacks
- led
- evil mad scientist laboratories
- clock
- led hacks
- rtc
- chronodot
December 10 2009, 12:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Homebrew Kodachrome

http://hackaday.com/2009/12/08/homebrew-kodachrome/

What do you do if you can’t find the film that your camera uses? The answer seems pretty simple, you just make it yourself. Making film is not a simple task. There are multiple stages involved and it all has to be done in complete darkness. This project is causing a bit of stir in its respective communities. Though not completely finished yet, it is already an impressive piece. Everyone is waiting eagerly for it to be completed. You can find a few of the discussion groups linked from the flickr page.

[via BoingBoing]
- Tags:
- home hacks
- camera
- digital cameras hacks
- analog
- film
- traditional media
- kodachrome
December 8 2009, 12:13pm | More »

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