Electronic Hacks

Etch a Sketch Temperature Logger

     This Etch a Sketch Temperature Logger uses a few stepper motors to turn the knobs of an Etch a Sketch. A temperature sensor is used to provide the input to a PICAXE 18M2 microcontroller. The temperature is then shown on the screen from left to right as the microcontroller commands the stepper motors to move the knobs to represent the current temperature.  

Lithium Polymer Internal Resistance Meter Project

  You have probably used some Lithium Polymer batteries in some of your projects or toys. They pack a bunch of power in a small package (they can also be a bit dangerous if not handled correctly).  Our friend Csaba has built a Lithium Polymer Internal Resistance Meter that will let you measure the resistance of the battery which is a good way to determine how good the battery is.

Nintendo 64 Handheld Console

Travis Breen sent in his latest hack where he shrunk a Nintendo 64 into a Handheld Console. To see the build pictures go to 3:00 point in the video. As you can see by the pictures getting it all to fit wasn’t an easy task. The case also looks to be a labour of love, t turned out nice enough to be at home on a store shelf. “Uses a full

Programmable Timer -  PIC18F4550 Based

  Our friend Viktor has just completed this latest project, it’s a Programmable Timer based on the PIC18F4550 microcontroller. His house heating system timer stopped working and instead of purchasing a new one (easy way out) he decided to build his own. Best of all his design has all the extra features that he wanted. One thing that I am not sure about is why the system doesn’t take temperature

Virtual Archery - ECE 4760 Final Project

  Mohamed Abdellatif and Michael Ross just completed a fun looking game for their Cornell University ECE 4760 Final Project. The game is Virtual Archery. The player has a bow that uses a stretch sensor to detect when the string is pulled and an accelerometer to determine how the bow is being held as the virtual arrow is released. The user even needs to take virtual gravity into consideration and aim slightly

G35 LED Christmas Light Sync Hack

  Todd from Toddfun has a few sets of Christmas lights but has an issue with the lights slowly going out of sync. This year he has come up with a way to solve the G35 LED Christmas Light Sync issue with a quick Hack. The two strands of lights have their own controller, you might think to somehow sync the controllers together or change to a common input clock

Face Tracking Lamp

  Shanshan Zhou, Adam Ben-Dror, Joss Doggett from Victoria University used Processing, Open CV, a web cam, an Arduino and a bunch of servo motors to make a Face Tracking Lamp! It is quite freaky how well it seems to work. I can see this being quite a cool thing to put in a store front display to attract a crowd of curious people.  Via: Make and Embedds.com  “Pinokio comes in the