Results – January 2012 Competition
Hello Readers
The January 2012 competition has now closed. For the curious, the questions and answers were:
Q – What does the acronym PWM mean?
A – Pulse-width modulation
Q – How many LEDs are contained in the Freetronics DMD?
A – 512
Q – How many digital I/O pins on an Arduino Mega2560?
A – 54
Q – What type of processor core does the PIC32 (from the Uno32 review) use?
A – MIPS (or to be more precise, 32-bit MIPS M4K Core)
Congratulations to Jack M. from the interesting state of South Australia! Jack has won the following prizes:
One v1.0 Akafugu Akafuino-X board as reviewed recently:
Jack’s Akafuino-X will have a companion on its journey which will be the Mayhew Labs “Go Between” Shield, as reviewed recently:
Thanks to Akafugu for offering the Akafuino-X prize!
The February 2012 competition will be announced soon, so in the meanwhile have fun and follow things on twitter, Google+, subscribe for email updates or RSS using the links on the right-hand column, or join our Google Group – dedicated to the projects and related items on this website. Sign up – it’s free, helpful to each other – and we can all learn something.
January 2012 Competition
Hello Readers
The competition has now ended and the winning entry will be announced shortly. Thank you to all those who entered, and of course to Akafugu for their prize this month.
It’s that time of the month again so we are running another competition. Our prize for this month consists of two items:
One v1.0 Akafugu Akafuino-X board as reviewed recently:
The winner’s Akafuino-X will have a companion on its journey which will be the Mayhew Labs “Go Between” Shield, as reviewed recently:
— *** How to Enter *** —
There will be four questions for you to answer spread across articles published between the 1st and 31st of January. So you will need to review older posts. At the end of January and once you have answers to all four questions, email the answers along with your full name, email address and postal address to competition at tronixstuff dot com with the subject heading January.
During the second week of February, all the correct entries will be collated and one randomly chosen. The first correct entry drawn will win the prize. Entries will be accepted until 03/02/2012 0005h GMT.
As with any other competition, there needs to be some rules:
- Incomplete entries will be rejected, so follow the instructions!
- The winners’ first name and country will be announced publicly;
- Entries that contain text not suitable for minors or insulting to the competition will be rejected (seriously – it happens);
- Prizes will be delivered via Australia Post domestic or regular international air mail. We take absolutely no responsibility for packages that go missing or do not arrive. If you live in an area with a “less than reliable” domestic postage system, you can pay for registered mail or other delivery service at your expense.
- Winners outside of Australia will be responsible for any taxes, fees or levies imposed by your local Governments (such as import levies, excise, VAT, etc.) upon importation of purchased goods;
- Prizes may take up to 45 days to be received;
- No disputes will be entered in to;
- Prizes carry no warranty nor guarantee – and are to be used or abused at entirely your own risk;
- Entries will be accepted until 03/02/2012 0005h GMT.
So have fun and keep an eye out for the four competition questions spread through the January posts… In the meanwhile, follow things on twitter, Google+, subscribe for email updates or RSS using the links on the right-hand column, or join our Google Group – dedicated to the projects and related items on this website. Sign up – it’s free, helpful to each other – and we can all learn something.
Review: Mayhew Labs “Go Between” Arduino Shield
Hello readers
In this article we examine one of those products that are really simple yet can solve some really annoying problems. It is the “Go Between” Arduino shield from Mayhew Labs. What does the GBS do? You use it to solve a common problem that some prolific Arduino users can often face – how do I use two shields that require the same pins?
Using a clever matrix of solder pads, you can change the wiring between the analogue and digital pins. For example, here is the bare shield:
Now for an example problem. You have two shields that need access to digital pins 3, 4 and 5 as also analogue pins 4 and 5. We call one shield the “top shield” which will sit above the GBS, and the second shield the “bottom” shield which will sit between the Arduino and the GBS. To solve the problem we will redirect the top shield’s D3~5 to D6~8, and A4~5 to A0~1.
To redirect a pin (for example D3 to D6), we first locate the number along the “top digital pins” horizontal of the matrix (3). Then find the destination “bottom” pin row (6). Finally, bridge that pad on the matrix with solder. Our D3 to D6 conversion is shown with the green dot in the following:
Now for the rest, diverting D4 and D5 to D7 and D8 respectively, as well as analogue pins 4 and 5 to 0 and 1:
The next task is to connect the rest of the non-redirected pins. For example, D13 to D13. We do this by again bridging the matching pads:
Finally the sketch needs to be rewritten to understand that the top shield now uses D6~8 and A0~1. And we’re done!
Try not to use too much solder, as you could accidentally bridge more pads than necessary. And you can always use some solder wick to remove the solder and reuse the shield again (and again…). Now the genius of the shield becomes more apparent.
It is a small problem, but one nonetheless. Hopefully this is rectified in the next build run. Otherwise the “Go Between” Shield is a solution to a problem you may have one day, so perhaps keep one tucked away for “just in case”.
While we’re on the subject of Arduino shield pinouts, don’t forget to check out Jon Oxer’s shieldlist.org when researching your next Arduino shield – it is the largest and most comprehensive catalogue of submitted Arduino shields in existence.
[Note - the "Go Between" Shield was purchased by myself personally and reviewed without notifying the manufacturer or retailer]
Have fun and keep checking into tronixstuff.com. Why not follow things on twitter, Google+, subscribe for email updates or RSS using the links on the right-hand column, or join our Google Group – dedicated to the projects and related items on this website. Sign up – it’s free, helpful to each other – and we can all learn something.
Clock Kit Round-up – December 2011
Hello Readers
If there’s one thing that I really like it’s a good clock kit. Once constructed, they can be many things, including:
- a point of differentiation from other items in the room;
- a reminder of the past (nixie tubes!) or possible visions of the future;
- the base of something to really annoy other people;
- a constant reminder to get back to work;
- a source of satisfaction from having made something yourself!
So just for fun I have attempted to find and list as many interesting and ‘out of the ordinary’ kits as possible, and ignored the simple or relatively mundane kits out there. If you are in the clock kit business and want a mention, let me know. So in no particular order, we have:
adafruit industries “ice tube” clock
Based around a vintage Soviet-era vacuum IV-18 type fluorescent display, the ice tube clock is a rare kit that includes a nice enclosure which keeps you safe from the high voltages as well as allowing the curious to observe your soldering skills. I reviewed this kit almost a year ago and the clock is still working perfectly. Here is a video of the ice tube clock in action:
After some travelling meeting various people it seems that quite a few of us have an ice tube clock. There is something quite mesmerising about the display, perhaps helping to recall memories of our youth in the 1970s and 80s.
nootropic design Defusable Clock Kit
As recently reviewed, this kit allows you to build a simulated ‘countdown’ timer for a hypothetical explosive device that also doubles as a clock with an alarm. For example:
Whatever you do, don’t make a ‘fake bomb’ and leave it out in public! Only bad things could happen 
ogilumen nixie tube kits
Not a clock kit as such, however they have made doing it yourself very easy with their power supply and IN-12A nixie board kits. We made one ourselves in a previous review, as shown below:
Alan Parekh’s Multimeter Clock Kit
This is certainly one from left field – using the analogue multimeters to display hours, minutes and seconds. See Alan describe his kit in this video:
Certainly something different and would look great on the wall of any electronics-themed area or would easily annoy those who dislike the status-quo of clock design.
akafugu VFD Modular Clock
The team at akafugu have created a modular baseboard/shield kit which holds a shield containing four IV-17 alphanumeric nixie tubes to create your own clock or display system:
Unlike some of the other nixie tube kits the firmware has been made public and can be modified at will. In the future different display shields will be available to extend the use of the kit.
tubeclock.com kits
This site has two kits available, one using either four or six Soviet-era IN-12 type nixie tubes:
… and another kit using the Soviet-era IN-14 nixie tubes:
You have to hand it to the former Soviet Union – they knew how to over-produce nixie tubes. One rare example where we can benefit from a command economy!
evil mad science clocks
The certainly not evil people have two clock kits, the first being the Bulbdial Clock Kit:
This uses a unique ring of LEDs around the circumference of the clock face to create shadows to mark the time. It is also available in a range of housing and face styles. Their other kit of interest is the Alpha Clock Five:
The photo of this clock doesn’t do it justice – the alphanumeric displays are 2.3″ tall, making this one huge clock. It also makes use of a Chronodot real-time clock board, which contains a temperature-controlled oscillator which helps give it an accuracy of +-/ 2 minutes per year. Furthermore you can modify this easily using an FTDI cable and the Arduino IDE with some extra software. Would be great for model railways (or even a real railway station) or those insanely conscious about the time.
Kabtronics Clock Kits
This organisation has several clock kits which span a range of technology from the later part of the twentieth century. These guys can only be true clock enthusiasts! Starting with the 1950s, they have their Nixie-Transistor Clock:
Look – no integrated circuits, leaving the kit true to the era. If you need to hide from someone for a weekend, building this would be a good start. Next we move onto the 1960s and the Transistor Clock:
The 1960s brought with it LEDs so they are now used in this kit, however the logic is still all analogue electronics. However next we can move to the 1970s, and finally save some board space with the TTL Clock:
This would still be fun to assemble but somewhat less punishing for those who don’t enjoy solder fumes that much. However you still have a nice kit and something to be proud of. Finally, the last in the line is the 1980s-themed Surface-Mount Technology Clock:
So here we have a microcontroller, SMT components, and a typical reduction in board size. Their range is an excellent way of demonstrating the advances in technology over the years.
Wow – this clock makes use of huge Burroughs B7971 15-segment nixie tube displays and a GPS receiver to make a huge, old-style/new-tech clock. Check out the demonstration video:
This thing is amazing. And it is actually cheaper to buy a fully-assembled version (huh). The same organisation also offers another GPS-controlled clock using IN-18 nixie tubes:
Again, it isn’t inexpensive – however the true nixie tube enthusiasts will love it. This clock would look great next to a post-modern vintage hifi tube amplifier. Moving forward to something completely different now, we have the:
adafruit industries monochron®
Almost the polar opposite of the nixie-tube clocks, the monochron uses an ATmega328 microcontroller and a 128 x 64 LCD module to create some interesting clock effects. For example:
Many people have created a variety of displays, including space invaders and the pong game simulation. The clock also includes the laser-cut acrylic housing which provides a useful and solid base for the clock.
Spikenzie Labs Solder : Time™ watch kit
Technically this is a watch kit, however I don’t think that many people would want to walk around wearing one – but it could be used in more permanent or fixed locations. Correct me if I’m wrong people. However in its defence it is a very well designed kit that is easy to solder and produces a nice clock:
It uses a separate real-time controller IC to stay accurate, and the design However this would be a great suggestion as a gift for a younger person to help them become interesting in electronics and other related topics. The asm firmware is also available for you to modify using Microchip MPLAB software if that takes your fancy.
Velleman Kits
The Velleman company has a range of somewhat uninspiring clock kits, starting with the Scrolling/Rolling LED Clock:
… the 2¼” 7-Segment Digital Clock:
This clock includes the housing and also accepts an optional temperature sensor, and therefore can display this as well. There is also the aptly-named – Digital LED Clock:
It tells the time and would be useful in a 1980s-era idea of the future movie set. The final velleman clock kit is the Jumbo Single-Digit Clock:
In all fairness this one looks quite interesting – the LED display is 57mm tall and the time is display one digit at a time. It is powered by a PIC16F630 however the firmware is proprietary to velleman.
Nocrotec Nixie Clocks
This company has a range of kits using nixie tubes and numitrons (low voltage incadescent displays in tubes). One particularly lovely kit is their IN-8 Blue Dream kit:
The blue glow at the base of the nixie tubes is due to an LED mounted at the bottom of the tube. Another aesthetically-pleasing kit is their Little Blue Something nixie clock. Check out their demonstration video:
More IN-12 nixie clocks from Germany, the first being the Manuela_HR. You can buy the kit without an enclosure, or choose from the ‘office’ style:
… or this funky number:
You can specify it with RGB LEDs which colour-cycle to provide the effect shown above. For those not too keen you can also buy the kits pre-assembled. Their other kit is the Sven:
It is available with IN-8 or IN-14 nixie tubes. The design quality of the enclosure is outstanding, a lot of effort has been made to produce a complete kit that “won’t look like a kit” when completed.
This is a small binary clock kit that fits in an Altoids tin:
This is a nice little kit as it is inexpensive, easy to make and very well documented. You could also mount this in a variety of flat surfaces, limited only by your imagination.
The Chronulator
Here we find a unique design that uses analogue panel meters in a similar method to the multimeter clock detailed previously. Here is an example of the completed kit:
The kit contains the electronics and meters (or you can delete the meters for a discount if you already have some) however the housing is up to you. Furthermore, this kit has some of the best instructions (.pdf) I have ever seen. They are a credit to the organisation. Our final clock kit is the …
This is another clock kit in the style of ‘suspicious bomb timer’-looking – and it pulls this off quite well. Consider the following video demonstration:
As well as a normal clock it can function as an alarm, stopwatch, countdown timer and lap counter. The instructions (.pdf) are well written and easy to follow. Furthermore the Denkimono is also well priced for the kit and delivery.
Hopefully this catalogue of clock kits was of interest to you. If you have found some other kits to add to the list, or wish to disagree or generally comment about this article please do so via the comment section below. This article was not sponsored in any way.
Have fun and keep checking into tronixstuff.com. Why not follow things on twitter, Google+, subscribe for email updates or RSS using the links on the right-hand column, or join our Google Group – dedicated to the projects and related items on this website. Sign up – it’s free, helpful to each other – and we can all learn something.
Kit review – Evil Mad Science Larson Scanner
Hello readers
Time yet again for another kit review. Today’s kit is the Larson Scanner from Evil Mad Science. What a different name for a company; their byline is “DIY and open source hardware for art, education and world domination”. Art? Yes. Education? Definitely. World domination? Possibly – you could use the blinking LEDs to hypnotise the less intelligent world leaders out there.
Anyhow, what is a Larson Scanner? Named in honour of Glen A. Larson the creator of television shows such as Battlestar Galactica and Knight Rider – as this kit recreates the left and right blinking motion used in props from those television shows. For example:
The kit itself is quite inexpensive, easy to assemble – yet can be as complex as you want it to be. More about that later, for now let’s put one together and see how it performs. There are two versions of the kit, one with 5mm clear LEDs and our review model with 10mm diffused red LEDs. The kit arrives inside a huge resealable anti-static bag, as such:
Upon opening the bag we have the following parts (there was an extra LED and resistor, thanks):
… the PCB:
… which is nicely done with a good silk-screen and solder mask. And finally:
A very handy item – a battery box with power switch. The kit is powered by 2 x AA cells (not included!). And finally, the instructions:
At this point you can see that this kit is designed for the beginner in mind. The instructions are easy to read, clear, and actually very well done. If you are looking for a kit to get someone interested in electronics and to practice their soldering, you could do a lot worse than use this kit.
Construction was very easy, starting with the resistors:
followed by the capacitor and button:
then the microcontroller:
… no IC socket. For a beginners’ kit, perhaps one should have been included. Next was the battery box. Some clever thinking has seen holes in the PCB to run the wires through before soldering into the board – doing so provides a good strain relief for them:
… and finally the LEDs. Beginners may solder them in one at a time:
however it is quicker to line them up all at once than solder in one batch:
… which leaves us with the final product:
Operation is very simple – the power switch is on the battery box. The button on the PCB controls the speed of LED scrolling, and if held down switches the brightness between low and high. Now for some action video of the Larson Scanner in operation:
Well that really was fun, a nice change from the usual things around here.
After sitting my Larson Scanner next to the computer tower for a few minutes, I had contemplated fitting it into a 5.25″ drive bay to make my own Cylon PC, however that might be a little over the top. However my PC case has some dust filters on the front, which would allow LEDs to shine through in a nicely subdued way. Mounting the Larson Scanner PCB inside the computer case will be simple, and power can be sourced from the computer power supply – 5V is available from a disk drive power lead.
If you are going to modify your PC in a similar fashion, please read my disclaimer under “boring stuff” first.
The Larson Scanner can run on 3.3V without any alteration to the supplied components. What needs to be done is to use a voltage regulator to convert the 5V down to 3.3V. My example has used a 78L33 equivalent, the TI LP2950 as it is in stock. The power comes from a drive power cable splitter as such:
You may have a spare power plug in your machine, so can tap from that. 5V is the red lead, and GND is the adjacent black lead. Don’t use yellow – it is 12V. It is then a simple matter of running 5V from the red lead to pin 1 of the regulator, GND from the Larson Scanner and PC together to pin 2, and 3.3V out from the regulator to the PCB 3.3V. Insulation is important with this kind of work, so use plenty of heatshrink:
… then cover the whole lot up:
Now to locate a free power plug in the machine. It has been a while since opening the machine – time for a dust clean up as well:
Mounting the PCB is a temporary affair until I can find some insulated mounting standoffs:
However it was worth the effort, the following video clip shows the results in action:
So there you have it. The Larson Scanner is an ideal kit for the beginner, lover of blinking LEDs, and anyone else that wants to have some easy blinking fun. You can buy Larson Scanner kits in Australia from Little Bird Electronics, or directly from Evil Mad Science for those elsewhere.
As always, thank you for reading and I look forward to your comments and so on. Furthermore, don’t be shy in pointing out errors or places that could use improvement. Please subscribe using one of the methods at the top-right of this web page to receive updates on new posts, follow me on twitter or facebook, or join our Google Group for further discussion.
High resolution images are available on flickr.
[Note - The kit was purchased by myself personally and reviewed without notifying the manufacturer or retailer]
Otherwise, have fun, be good to each other – and make something! 
RSS Feeds
Flickr Photos
More Photos
