LED cubes are true 3D displays that work by lighting up points in a 3D lattice of LEDs. On the 3D display you can produce some truly mesmerizing animations. This Instructable will walk you through creating an LED cube for yourself that is completely self-contained and powered by an Arduino Mega. Once you have it programmed, all […]
Self-Contained 7x7x7 LED Cube using Arduino Continue Reading
I’ve found several sites and posts explaining how to use a quadrature encoder with an Arduino, but wasn’t completely satisfied with any of the methods used. Perhaps part of the problem is with the encoder I’m using: it’s part #COM-09117 at Sparkfun.com. This encoder has twelve detents per rotation, and each detent covers one complete
Using a quadrature encoder (rotary switch) with Arduino Continue Reading
Using two xbees, an arduino, an xbee explorer, and an h-bridge, wirelessly control a DC motor to spin in both directions (last video). Note: I used the xbee I linked to, but for a one to one communication, rather than a network of wireless devices, xbee series 1 would do fine, but the AT commands
Use xbees (series 2) to control a motor Continue Reading
Here’s a simple Arduino-based datalogger I’m currently developing: This test-of-concept model is based on the Arduino Pro Mini (ATMega168). It runs on a 1.5-V battery, using a voltage up-converter from Sparkfun.com. For a sensor, it’s using a 3-axis accelerometer on a breakout board, also from Sparkfun. It has one button for control. When the device
Simple Datalogger Continue Reading
This is the third part of our BaW-Bot (Bells-and-Whistles Bot) build – 5 separate instructables that look into different Arduino-related technologies, combining to create a Bot with all the bells-and-whistles. Part 1: Build an Arduino on a Board Part 2: Build the motor-controller & body Part 3: Adding Sight and Touch Part 4: Blinging up
BaW-Bot Part 3: Adding Sight and Touch to the Bot Continue Reading
During the First Meeting of Electronic Arts in Florianópolis, we built a Breathalyzer using the Alcohol Gas Sensor MQ-3 and a Arduino Board to use in the last day of the meeting, in which we gave a party. You can see a quick video two posts below. Last days I received many emails asking for
Building an Breathalyzer with MQ-3 and Arduino Continue Reading
At this year’s “Arduinos in the Physics Lab” workshop at the AAPT meeting, one of the participants asked for a simple way of using the Arduino as a tethered A/D converter for data collection direct to a computer. This is my quick & dirty demonstration solution. Here’s the code for the Arduino. It waits for
Simple Arduino data-collection Continue Reading
Energino is a plug-load meter that measures the amount of power consumed by whatever DC electrical appliance is plugged into its. It was originally designed to monitor the energy consumption of simple networking devices such as Ethernet switches and WiFi access points, but it can be used to monitor any DC appliance. Energino “sits” between
Energino: an Arduino-based energy consumption monitoring shield Continue Reading
I teach Modern Physics here at CSUC, and we occasionally use isotopes with half-lives of a year or less (such as Zinc-65 and Cadmium-109) for energy-calibration sources for a gamma-spectroscopy lab. I thought it might be fun to try measuring the activity of one of these sources over time and thus get a looooong-scale half-life
Arduino-based event counter Continue Reading
One of the most fun and useful projects on instructables is to create your very own solar USB/ iPhone charger. They’re not overly difficult to make, nor are the parts overly expensive or hard to find. For the most part they do a rather good job of charging up small gadgets. Mostly. The big flaw
Lithium Battery Solar USB – iPhone – Arduino Charger Continue Reading
