Posted January 15, 2012 by Chris

“This project enables your MCU to communicate in real time to a web browser. I started this project after seeing a similar implementation on hackaday from mbed.org. Their implementation uses their own device, the mbed Cortex-M0 beta. I’ve been a hobbyist microchip PIC developer for a few years, so I set out to write my own version for microchip’s 8bit pic devices in C. The microcontroller used is a microchip PIC18F4620.”

Posted December 22, 2011 by Chris

Today’s article shows you how to build a basic wireless input and output system in the form of a single transmitter and single receiver. Communication is one way to keep things simple with two xbee modules being used for the wireless link. In the end, a small trimpot will control the movement of a servo motor.

Posted December 11, 2011 by Chris

“The Picaxe 08m is a PIC chip with a pre-installed boot-loader that allows programming the chip via a serial port. This is similar to the way that the Arduino has an AVR chip with a pre-installed boot-loader. There’s also some software for the Picaxe for handling the programming, a bit like the Arduino IDE.”

Posted December 9, 2011 by Chris

“This thing may remind you of an Arduino but it’s not, it’s not even an AVR but a dsPIC30F2012. Lots of times I want to try out something, but I’m too lazy to make the whole thing over and over on a breadboard so why not solder it together quick on a pref board so I can just stick it in.”

Posted December 3, 2011 by Chris

“The main purpose is to gather water level data, store it in central database and view it on a web interface. This system can greatly reduce the effect of sudden water level increases due to rain, causing floods. Also, it minimizes the man power requirement to measure water levels in the reservoirs in distant areas.”

Posted October 29, 2011 by Chris

“This morning I decided its about time I learnt how to use the UART hardware in most PIC micro- controllers. I started off with a USB-RS-232 converter that I got for US$3 from DealExtreme.” A good look at how to hack a USB-to-Serial converter to mess around with a PIC’s UART module.

Posted October 21, 2011 by Chris

“Our purpose here is to explore the potential of PIC12F683 micro for which we need a development board. The good thing is we are going to make our own board. The schematic and the actual board that I have built are shown below. I soldered all the components on a 12 x 8 cm general purpose prototyping board. ”