Posted August 24, 2010 by Chris

I’m sure we’ve all seen the security motion sensors in the corner of the walls of our arch-enemies’ homes, so why not learn how it works? This project takes a look at how to use a PIR motion sensor to switch on/off virtually anything, from an alarm to water sprinklers!

Posted August 23, 2010 by Chris

While it might seem to be a terribly obvious design, a night light that runs off of AC 120v is still worth taking a look at. The circuit, construction, pcb board & layout are all in the project write-up. Make one for your child today!

Posted August 22, 2010 by Chris

Today’s project is another method for PCB fabrication: printing directly onto the pcb. The project write-up details how he did it and gives links to how others have as well. Some pretty good quality came out of this method, so it’s likely catch your interest as it has mine.

Posted August 21, 2010 by Chris

Here’s a medical oriented project: DIY ECG Machine. The project write-up goes through the machine that he’s built and gives you some guidance towards building your own. For anyone who is new to the medical field, this is some really cool stuff.

Posted August 20, 2010 by Chris

In a little more sinister project, this guy used an AVR micro controller to act as an RFID tag. Hopefully the security gurus see stuff like this in action and realize how bad access control security really can be. The write-up has a few pics and gives a good general overview.

Posted August 19, 2010 by Chris

This project uses a small embedded board to gain computer control over an old school air conditioner. The write-up goes through the process of hacking the A/C board and making php scripts to control it. There’s even a short youtube video to sum it all up!

Posted July 8, 2010 by Chris

This tutorial guides you through the toner transfer process of making a 1-layer PCB board. The board made in this example is a simple 1.2v – 2.5v – 3.3v – 5v power supply board. There are many pictures and videos to help guide you through the process.

Posted November 11, 2009 by Chris

In our latest PyroElectro tutorial, we show you how to make a basic optical encoder for any mechanical system. Our example setup uses a simple printer pully and motor system. The write-up includes all source code, schematics and parts lists you’d need to build it.

Posted October 2, 2009 by Chris

A True Random Number Generator seems to be a mathematical myth. However, we can still get pretty good random number generators. This AVR uses noise sampled from a transistor in the breakdown region which should be seemingly random. The schematic layout & source code is available in the project write-up!

Posted October 1, 2009 by Chris

While surfing around I ran across the Z80 Text Scroller by Tim Williams. Tim’s website has a lot of his personal projects and they all have the DIY feel that I love. Take a look at the text scroller and his site, hardware schematics & software are there as well!