Overview Simple AC Dimmer circuit for incandescent bulbs. 128 levels of brightness. Parts are relatively cheap! How it Works This is an AC Chopping Circuit. The dim level sets where the AC waveform gets chopped on. More of the cycle makes the bulb brighter, less is dimmer. (from digikey http://www.digikey.com/ca/en/techzone/lighting/resources/articles/Retrofit-LED-Bulbs-and-Drivers.html) Photo Digital Signals. The four […]
One of the coolest projects I have done so-far with my kids is a “near-space” balloon. That’s not quite into space itself (100Km+) but so high that the sky looks black and you can start to see the curvature of the earth below you. The Flickr set with the photos from our first launch is […]
Introduction We designed a system for wirelessly controlling relays and monitoring current. This is used for a home load simulation. By wirelessly turning relays on and off by sending commands from a PC to a microcontroller we can change the total load (current) to our simulated home. For wireless communication, we used XBee Series 2 […]
In this Instructable I wanted to show to you how to make a self balancing robot. What makes it unique is that its exterior is made to look like the Instructables Robot. Internally it works in the principle of PID, it is a very popular control system for maintaining a variable from fluctuating. In this […]
One of the simplest ways to get a motor to turn in both directions is by using a double-pole, double-throw (DPDT) relay. Along with the relay, this hookup requires two transistors and two Stamp pins, one for on/off control and the other for direction control. The diagram below contains the schematic for this setup. The […]
Add an output device to a microcontroller board and program it to do something. Class syllabus:: http://academy.cba.mit.edu/classes/output_devices/index.html [what i learned /am learning] _ Relearned Arduino installation. _ Work with DC motors and H-Bridge IC with Arduino; and its general concepts. _ About the various Fab versions of Arduino and their features and differences: hello.arduino, fabkit2.0/fabduino, […]
Biking around cars can be a frightening thing, and staying visible at night is crucial for your safety. This tutorial will teach you how to make a custom LED Matrix Backpack that is much larger and brighter than traditional rear bike lights. Parts You’ll Need: Individually-addressable RGB LEDs Arduino Pro Mini (or any Arduino, this […]
The DJ Touch is a portable turntable touchscreen and interactive LED display. Our end goal was to produce a low cost touchscreen device, and demonstrate its application in a common consumer application. Out of an interest in electronic music, and with the knowledge of deejaying’s close roots to electronics, we decided to develop a touch […]
Schematic Since the IR Sensor uses a light sensor, the schematic is very similar to that of the light sensor. The only difference is the addition of an IR LED and that the IR detector requires connection to 5V and ground. Breadboard Setup To setup the sensors you will need: 2x IR Detectors 2x IR […]
The Bass Master 3000 is a game that I built for a work carnival along with a small and very talented team of co-workers. I’ve seen this type of game on the net, but I wanted to kick it up a notch with some Arduino powered sensors that would trigger lights and sound when someone […]
