There are very many cool Arduino projects and project sites in Internet (make Google search to see). Here are some interesting links to check out:
Arduino Projects at indestructables
Top 40 Arduino Projects of the Web
Arduino Rising: 10 Amazing Projects People Are Doing With The Tiny Microcontroller
Electronics For The Everyman: 25 Kick Ass Arduino-Powered Projects
10 Simple-But-Fun Projects to Make With Arduino
Internet of Thing with Arduino
11 Arduino projects that require major hacking skills—or a bit of insanity
I will be posting more links to more interesting projects as comments to this post, like I did in my Cool uses for the Raspberry Pi posting. Some of the most interesting that spend some more time at can get their entire own postings this blog in Arduino section.
2,953 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Charles Jr
A Hardware challenge.
https://hackaday.io/project/5631-charles-jr
I was surprised when I found out that OSHPark’s minimum board size is 0.25x0x25 inches.
So, I tried to make something useful of that size.
This is a 3-pin charlieplexing board, so that makes n^2 – n = 6 LEDs.
This board makes use of the smallest size on OSHPark, which is 0.25×0.25 inches.
That’s ¢30, delivered.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rotary Phone Converted for Mobile Use
http://hackaday.com/2015/05/31/rotary-phone-converted-for-mobile-use/
As a society we are moving away from land line phones while mobile devices are becoming more and more prevalent. It is not uncommon for people to only have a cell phone and completely skip out on the corded home phone.
a project called iRotary. It’s an old school rotary phone converted to be battery powered and uses cell phone networks for making calls.
At the heart of the project is an Arduino. The Arduino is a great choice as it can easily decode the phone’s rotary dial pulses. The Arduino code takes all of the individual dialed numbers and combines them into a phone number. The sketch is set up so that after the 10th digit is read, the phone call is placed using an off the shelf GSM shield and associated library.
The iRotary Saga
http://www.stavros.io/posts/irotary-saga/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Simple Autonomy with an RC Boat
http://hackaday.com/2015/06/01/simple-autonomy-with-an-rc-boat/
[Vlad] wrote in to tell us about his latest project—an RC boat that autonomously navigates between waypoints.
[Vlad] started prototyping with an Arduino, a GPS module, and a digital compass. He wrote a quick sketch that uses the compass and GPS readings to control a servo that steers towards a waypoint. [Vlad] took his prototype outside and walked around to make sure that steering and navigation were working correctly before putting it in a boat. After a bit of tweaking, his controller steered correctly and advanced to the next waypoint after the GPS position was within 5 meters of its goal.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Neopixel Ring Compass Takes Things in a New Direction
http://hackaday.com/2015/06/18/neopixel-ring-compass-takes-things-in-a-new-direction/
A couple of years ago, [philo mech] came across [David Ratliff]’s NeoPixel compass project. Ever since then, he’s wanted to make his own. To his delight, [philo mech] was able to find time to do just that.
An Arduino Pro Mini drives an LSM303DLHC compass/accelerometer breakout board and a 12-LED NeoPixel ring
Tagged arduino pro mini, compass, neopixel
Arduino Projects || Dual Mode Neopixel Ring Compass || Version 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_ZaAez96tE
Tomi Engdahl says:
Visualizing Magnetic Fields In 3D Space
http://hackaday.com/2015/06/21/visualizing-magnetic-fields-in-3d-space/
The three-axis magnetometer in your phone is easily capable of measuring the Earth’s magnetic field, and this chip only costs a few dollars. To demonstrate this, [John] built a 3D compass to show off the capability of these sensors, and have a pretty light show for the undergrads.
The magnetometer [John] is using is just a simple I2C magnetometer that can be found on Adafruit or Sparkfun. It’s not really anything special, but with a little bit of code, [John] can read the magnetic field strength in the x, y, and z axes.
3D Compass
Visualizing the Earth’s magnetic field vector in its three dimensional glory.
https://hackaday.io/project/6369-3d-compass
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wireless Weather Station
http://hackaday.com/2015/06/22/wireless-weather-station/
High schooler [Vlad] spent about a year building up his battery-operated, wireless weather station. Along the way, not only has he learnt a lot and picked up useful skills, but also managed to blog his progress.
The station measures temperature, humidity, pressure and battery voltage, and he plans to add sensors for wind speed, wind direction and rainfall soon. It is powered via a solar panel and can run on a charged battery for a full month. The sensor module transmits data to a remote receiver connected to a computer from where it is published to the internet. Barometric pressure is measured using the BMP180 and the DHT22 provides temperature and humidity values. The link between the transmit and receive sections uses a 433MHz Superhetrodyne RF Kit which gives [Vlad] a range of 50m. There’s an ATMega328 on the transmitter and receiver side. He’s taking measurements once every 12 minutes, and putting the micro controller in low power mode using the Rocket Scream Low Power Library. A 5W, 12V solar panel charges the 6V Lead Acid battery via a LM317 based charge circuit.
http://denialmedia.ca/weather-station/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Embed with Elliot: I2C Bus Scanning
http://hackaday.com/2015/06/25/embed-with-elliot-i2c-bus-scanning/
A lot of great ICs use I2C to communicate, but debugging a non-working I2C setup can be opaque, especially if you’re just getting started with the protocol/bus. An I2C bus scanner can be a helpful first step in debugging an I2C system.
A first cut at an I2C bus scanner, then, can be made by just cycling through all 127 possible slave device addresses, and checking whether or not they acknowledge
For ti2c_scanhe Arduino, the most featureful scanner we’ve seen is posted on the Arduino forums, with the code hosted on Github, in the “sketches/MultiSpeedI2CScanner” folder. It actually does everything that we’d want in a simple scanner: scans the entire bus at different speeds and plots the results out nicely over the serial port for perusal on your computer. It’s configured to do a full scan on reboot. Type “ps” to print only the found devices and start a scan. Bam!
https://github.com/RobTillaart/Arduino
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pathfinder – Haptic Navigation
Wearable Navigation Assistance for the Blind
https://hackaday.io/project/2372-pathfinder-haptic-navigation
Pathfinder is a wearable device that translates distance into haptic feedback. Users just wear the wristband (or glove) and point at objects up to 500 centimeters away, and feel gentle pulses at their fingertips corresponding to the object’s distance. It’s designed to give the user greater freedom of motion and longer operational range than traditional navigation solutions for the blind, such as the cane.
I began by sourcing the cheapest ultrasonic sensor I could find: the $2 HC-SR04 sensor. It incorporates a transmitter and receiver, operating on 60 kHz sound waves, along with their appropriate drive & timing circuitry into a single module. I then interfaced this sensor with an ATmega328P micro controller, at first through the Arduino platform to make development as simple as possible.
I used small, circular motors built for haptic feedback in mobile devices. A motor is placed on the pinky fingertip of the user’s non-dominant hand, allowing for good tactile sensitivity while remaining minimally intrusive
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nano Bike Alarm
https://hackaday.io/project/6382-nano-bike-alarm
An affordable RFID, motion-sensing, anti-theft alarm and GPS tracker for bicycles, e-bikes and other small vehicles. Based on Arduino
Nano Bike Alarm is an RFID, motion-sensing silent small vehicle alarm that uses Arduino, GPS and GSM to send you text messages with your bikes location should anyone try to move it. It uses the Arduino Pro Mini 3.3V, the Adafruit Fona808, the MPU6050 accel-gyro and the MFRC522 RFID breakout.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vibrating Distance Torch Illuminates the Dark without Light
http://hackaday.com/2015/06/30/vibrating-distance-torch-illuminates-the-dark-without-light/
If you’ve ever had to move around in a dark room before, you know how frustrating it can be. This is especially true if you are in an unfamiliar place. [Brian] has attempted to help solve this problem by building a vibrating distance sensor that is intuitive to use.
The main circuit is rather simple. An Arduino is hooked up to both an ultrasonic distance sensor and a vibrating motor.
The real trick to this project is that the entire thing is housed inside of an old flashlight. [Brian] used OpenSCAD to design a custom plastic mount.
Vibrating Distance Sensor
http://www.instructables.com/id/Vibrating-Distance-Sensor/?ALLSTEPS
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vinduino, a wine grower’s water saving project
https://hackaday.io/project/6444-vinduino-a-wine-growers-water-saving-project
Monitoring soil moisture at different depths to determine when to irrigate, and – more importantly – how much water is needed. Save 25%!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Disassembled Mouse Keeps Track Of Gas Meter
http://hackaday.com/2015/06/30/disassembled-mouse-keeps-track-of-gas-meter/
After building devices that can read his home’s electricity usage, [Dave] set out to build something that could measure the other energy source to his house: his gas line. Rather than tapping into the line and measuring the gas directly, his (much safer) method was to simply monitor the gas meter itself.
The major hurdle that [Dave] had to jump was dealing with an ancient meter with absolutely no modern electronics
To accomplish this, [Dave] used the sensor from an optical mouse.
When the dial passes a certain point, the sensor alerts an Arduino that one revolution has occurred.
Reading an old-style gas meter – with a mouse chip!
http://www.rotwang.co.uk/projects/gasmeter.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arduino And IR Remote Turn Off Raspberry Pi
http://hackaday.com/2015/07/18/arduino-and-ir-remote-turn-off-raspberry-pi/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Two Factor Authentication Key
http://hackaday.com/2015/07/20/hackaday-prize-entry-two-factor-authentication-key/
Because people are generally idiots when it comes to choosing passwords — including people who should know better — Google created Google Authenticator. It’s two-factor verification for all your Google logins based on a shared secret key. It’s awesome, and everyone should use it.
Actually typing in that code from a phone app is rather annoying, and [Alistair] has a better solution: an Authenticator USB Key. Instead of opening up the Authenticator app every time he needs an Authenticator code, this USB key will send the code to Google with the press of a single button.
The algorithm behind Google Authenticator is well documented and actually very simple; it’s just a hash of the current number of 30-second periods since the Unix epoch and an 80-bit secret key.
The current plan is to use an ATMega328, a real-time clock, and VUSB for generating the Authenticator code and sending it to a computer.
https://hackaday.io/project/5886-authenticator-usb-key
Tomi Engdahl says:
Camera Traps for National Parks
https://hackaday.io/project/5723-camera-traps-for-national-parks
A hack to enable the wildlife activists capture images and count the numbers of wildlife animals in an area.
When I came across http://pantheracameratrap.org/ , I realised, I could make a DIY camera trap that could be used by anyone and more importantly, could be made cheaper and the system could be connected to any camera. So this is what I did. I built a camera trap, which again is a POC. Using arduino uno at heart and an ultrasonic sensor, this ugly piece of instrument can trigger the camera and capture images.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Emoticon Keyboard
http://hackaday.com/2015/07/30/hackaday-prize-entry-emoticon-keyboard/
The Internet is raising an entire generation that can speak entirely in emoticons.
For his Hackaday Prize entry, [Duncan] is working on an EmojiPad. It’s a (mechanical!) keyboard for typing emoticons, but it can also be used for gaming, CAD design, or as a USB MIDI device.
The keyboard uses 16 Cherry MX switches in a standard diode matrix configuration. This is a USB keyboard, and for the controller, [Duncan] is using an ATMega328 with the V-USB library This is all well-worn territory for the mechanical keyboard crowd
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Wearable Electrodermal Activity Monitor
http://hackaday.com/2015/08/03/hackaday-prize-entry-wearable-electrodermal-activity-monitor/
Electrodermal activity, or galvanic skin response has a lot of practical applications. Everything from research into emotional states to significantly more off-the-wall applications like the E-meter use electrodermal activity. For his Hackaday Prize entry, [qquuiinn] is building a wearable biofeedback wristband that measures galvanic skin response that is perfect for treating anxiety or stress disorders by serving as a simple and convenient wearable device.
Detecting electrodermal activity has been within the capability of anyone with an ohmmeter for over a hundred years. [quin²] is doing something a little more complex than the most primitive modern means of measuring galvanic skin response and using a dual op-amp to sense the tiny changes in skin resistance. This data is fed into an ATMega328 which sends it out to a tiny LED display in the shape of an ‘x’.
Reading electrodermal activity is easy, but doing it reliably in a wearable device is not.
bioloop
a biofeedback wristband with galvanic skin response: giving insight into emotions
https://hackaday.io/project/6701-bioloop
Tomi Engdahl says:
“Arduino Borealis” Combines LEDs and Paint
http://hackaday.com/2015/08/06/arduino-borealis-combines-leds-and-paint/
[Stef Cohen] decided to combine three different artistic mediums for her latest project. Those are painting, electronics, and software. The end goal was to recreate the aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, in a painting.
[Stef] used an off-the-shelf RGB LED matrix from Adafruit. The matrix is configured with 16 rows of 32 LEDs each. This was controlled with an Arduino Uno. The LED matrix was mounted inside the shadow box, behind the vellum paper.
This is What an Arduino Borealis Looks Like (And How to Make One)
http://news.mlh.io/arduino-borealis-07-24-2015
Tomi Engdahl says:
Simple, Cheap Nitrate Tester is Open Source
http://hackaday.com/2015/08/11/simple-cheap-nitrate-tester-is-open-source/
Assessing nitrate levels commercially is an expensive process that uses proprietary instruments and toxic reagents such as cadmium. But [Joshua Pearce] has recently developed an open-source photometer for nitrate field measurement that uses an enzyme from spinach and costs a mere $65USD to build.
The device itself is incredibly simple – a 3D printed enclosure houses an LED light source and a light sensor. The sample to be tested is mixed with a commercially available reagent kit based on the enzyme nitrate reductase, resulting in a characteristic color change proportional to the amount of nitrate present. The instrument reads the amount of light absorbed by the sample, and communicates the results to an Android device over a Bluetooth link.
Open-source instruments like this can really open up educational opportunities for STEM groups to get out into the real world and start making measurements that can make a difference.
Open-Source Photometric System for Enzymatic Nitrate Quantification
http://www.appropedia.org/Open-Source_Photometric_System_for_Enzymatic_Nitrate_Quantification
Tomi Engdahl says:
VentController
An IoT-enabled system for automated environmental control.
https://hackaday.io/project/7144-ventcontroller
When we had a large conservatory added to our house some five years ago, automated roof vents was essential to ensure that the room remained usable throughout the summer months. To that end, the conservatory was installed with an automated temperature controlled vent controller.
Unfortunately, due to some hardware design issues, it really doesn’t work very well and breaks down as the temperature increases(!). This project is my replacement for that system. It’s actually my second attempt; the first used an Arduino but worked in a similar way to the original. It never made it off the breadboard. This time, we’re going IoT; a separate sensor module will send environmental data to a cloud service. In turn, the service will send commands to an actuator for the vents. A mobile App will provide the essential user experience.
Code and Eagle files are at https://github.com/smorgo/VentController
I’ve designed a basic board around the ESP8266 and had three produced by Ragworm in the UK.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cheap Projector Tells Time, Invades Space
http://hackaday.com/2015/08/12/cheap-projector-tells-time-invades-space/
Building a video projector isn’t something that most people do casually, but [Dominic Buchstaller] isn’t most people. As part of an ongoing street art project, he built a rather neat scrap video projector/bedside lamp/clock device he calls Great Balls of Fire. It is made from a Nokia cell phone screen and a small projector mechanism, mounted inside a frosted glass light sphere.
Rather than build one from scratch or tear apart an expensive Pico projector, [Dominic] found another source: a cheap car logo projector from eBay. These are designed to show a car manufacturer logo on the ground when you open your car door.
He tore that apart and replaced the car logo with the phone screen, creating a very cheap projector. It isn’t that bright, but it is bright enough
A story of space invasion and bedside lighting …
http://2dom.github.io/GreatBallsOfFire/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arduino Powered Rubber Band Sentry Turret Is Not a Lie
http://hackaday.com/2015/08/13/arduino-powered-rubber-band-sentry-turret-is-not-a-lie/
You know that guy in the next cube is sneaking in when you are away and swiping packs of astronaut ice cream out of your desk. Thanks to [Kevin Thomas], if you have an Arduino and a 3D printer, you can build a rubber band sentry gun to protect your geeky comestibles. You’ll also need some metric hardware, an Arduino Uno, and a handful of servo motors.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:953753
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tiny Robot Shakes Head At You In Dissaproval
http://hackaday.com/2015/08/15/tiny-robot-shakes-head-at-you-in-dissaproval/
If you don’t have enough things staring at you and shaking their head in frustration, [Sheerforce] has a neat project for you. It’s a small Arduino-powered robot that uses an ultrasonic distance finder to keep pointing towards the closest thing it can find. Generally, that would be you.
When it finds something, it tries to track it by constantly rotating the distance finder slightly and retesting the distance, giving the impression of constantly shaking its head at you in disappointment.
you should read [Sheerforce]’s code first: it’s a great example of documenting this for experimenters who want to build something
Tiny Robot Shakes Head At You In Dissaproval
http://www.instructables.com/id/Its-Alive-A-little-robot-that-follows-you-with-its/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cozy Heat Control with an Arduino
http://hackaday.com/2015/08/16/cozy-heat-control-with-an-arduino/
He’s using an Arduino Uno clone called the Seeduino Lotus, which has easy to use Grove connectors on it for interfacing with their plug-in modules. A temperature sensor monitors the room temperature from afar, and a solid-state relay (SSR) controls the power for the heater. Now he just needed a PID library — readily available from Arduino.cc of course. All in all it works way better than the store-bought solution, and [George] already has plans to make it even better — and if you have a use for this kind of thing, he’s posted everything over on GitHub.
Using PID on an Arduino to control an electric heater
https://georgedewar.wordpress.com/2015/07/27/using-pid-on-an-arduino-to-control-an-electric-heater/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Nuclear Powered Random Number Generator
http://hackaday.com/2015/08/16/hackaday-prize-entry-nuclear-powered-random-number-generator/
Random number generators come in all shapes and sizes. Some are software based while others, known as true random number generators, are hardware based. These can be created from thermal noise, the photoelectric effect and other methods. But none of these were good enough for [M.daSilva]. He would base his off of the radioactive decay of Uranium 238, and construct a working nuclear powered random number generator.
Because radioactive decay is unpredictable by nature, it makes for an excellent source for truly random data. The process is fairly simple.
Random Number Generator
https://hackaday.io/project/4628-random-number-generator
A self-contained, true random number generator which uses radioactive decay as an entropy source.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rainbowduino v3.0
http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/Rainbowduino_v3.0
The Rainbowduino board is an Arduino compatible controller board with professional multiplexed LED driver. It can drive an 8×8 RGB Led Matrix or a 4x4x4 RGB LED Cube in common Anode mode. Rainbowduino v3.0 uses two MY9221 chips which is a 12-channels (R/G/B x 4) constant current Adaptive Pulse Density Modulation(APDM). Rainbowduino v3.0 has provisions for cascading more such boards with I2C interface.
Rainbowduino v3.0 is flashed with Arduino boot-loader and this makes it easy to program sketches using Arduino IDE. Unlike other LED drivers, this comes with a USB to UART (FT232RL) inbuilt for programming the sketches.
Rgb Covered Swimming pool with rainbowduino
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_f5dAWeeKg
This is a rgb led covered swimming pool controlled by 2 rainbowduinos + Power Mosfet`s .Each led panel glass has 400 led and are controlled separately.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Beautiful Arduino Fireworks Controller
http://hackaday.com/2015/08/17/beautiful-arduino-fireworks-controller/
A lot of designers have the luxury of creating things that aren’t supposed to explode. That’s usually easy. The trick is designing things that are supposed to explode and then making absolutely sure they explode at the right time (and only the right time). [JonBush] recently did a beautiful build of an Arduino-based fireworks controller. Seriously, it looks like a movie prop from a summer blockbuster where [Bruce Willis] is trying to decide what wire to cut.
[Jon] used a mega 2560 because he wanted to do the I/O directly from the device.
Fireworks are dangerous, so we might have designed in some more electronic safety features.
Firework Control Module
http://www.instructables.com/id/Firework-Control-Module/
Tomi Engdahl says:
High Tech, Low Cost Digital Torque Meter
http://hackaday.com/2015/08/20/high-tech-low-cost-digital-torque-meter/
Ever obsessed with stripping the hype from the reality of power tool marketing, and doing so on the cheap, [arduinoversusevil] has come up with a home-brew digital torque meter that does the job of commercial units costing hundreds of times as much.
Looks like low-end load cells might not be up to measuring the output on your high-power pneumatic tools, at least not repeatedly, but they ought to hold up to most electric drivers just fine
High Tech – Low Buck Digital Torque Meter
http://www.instructables.com/id/High-Tech-Low-Buck-Digital-Torque-Meter/
1- Load cell 50kg rating. More or less depending on the torque you need to measure. I found that the 50kg load cell is good for about 81 Nm (60 lbs ft)
2- Load cell amplifier. I got mine from Sparkfun for $10 you could make your own for less, but these guys built an excellent tutorial and breakout, so it’s well worth the price. https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13230
3- Arduino Uno or your preferred flavour of microcontroller.
4- Software to run the Arduino: IDE, example sketch from Sparkfun and library to run the HX711 load cell amp.
Tomi Engdahl says:
10 New Arduino Projects
Arduino never ceases to innovate
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1327320&
Every month, makers come up with new and interesting projects using one of the more popular development boards — the Arduino. There’s a seemingly endless supply of uses for the Arduino that can be found in everything from robotics to home automation and everything in between. In fact, San Jose-based ppl4world used the popular board in their ArduSat (Arduino satellite) that launched from then ISS back in February of last year for community-based science experiments. With that in mind, it seems the board’s only limitations are maker’s imaginations. In this roundup we’ll take a look at what those minds have recently produced using the popular development board.
Tomi Engdahl says:
PMOD Adapter for Arduino Platform
http://www.eeweb.com/design-library/pmod-adapter-for-arduino-platform/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arduino Video Over 2 Wires for Under $50: Mesa-Video
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/01/arduino-video-over-2-wires-for-under-50-mesa-video/
If you want video support on your project, you might start from a device like a Raspberry Pi that comes with it built in. [Kevinhub88] doesn’t accept such compromises, so he and his Black Mesa Labs have come up with a whole new way to add video support to devices like the Arduino and other cheap controllers. This project is called Mesa-Video, and it can add digital video at a resolution of up to 800 by 600 pixels to any device that has a single serial output.
The video is created by an FT813, a low cost GPU from FTDI that offers a surprising amount of video oomph from a cheap, low power chip (he has demoed it running from a lemon battery), meaning that he is hoping to be able to sell the Mesa-Video for under $50.
Mesa-Video : 800×600 Digital video for Arduinos over 2-wire serial Mesa-Bus
https://blackmesalabs.wordpress.com/2015/08/30/mesa-video-800×600-digital-video-for-arduinos-over-2-wire-serial-mesa-bus/
This post describes Mesa-Video, a low cost, low power, small size and fully Open Source Hardware and Software solution for providing 800×600 digital video for Arduino ( and other ) microcontrollers. Mesa-Video makes it quick and easy to display text and 24bit color graphics from any MCU using a single UART serial port pin. Applications for Mesa-Video are embedded projects requiring video output and embedded developers wanting real time visibility into their system operation. Mesa-Video is the 1st of multiple Mesa-Modules planned.
On the original EVEy Video board the native SPI interface for the FT813 GPU‘s is brought out to a “Nano Bus” header which was then bit banged with Python software on a PC going through a BML Nano3 FPGA containing simple GPIO logic. This was perfect for initial board test and GPU bring up, but slow and needing a faster interface to PCs and micro controllers for a final product.
[ The Arduino SPI Problem ] : A major problem with SPI ( and I2C ) on Arduino is that with shield stacking it is difficult to get more than a single shield device on the bus. SPI devices all require a unique chip select and I2C devices all require a unique address.
The “Mesa-Bus” is a simple and completely open text serial protocol designed for transporting self enumerating SPI and I2C bus traffic over a standard UART serial connection. Electrically the interface is simply LVCMOS 3.3V RX and TX serial on a standard FTDI 1×6 6 pin 0.100″ header. Why UART Serial? Every device from PC to Arduino to 8051 has at least one UART serial port. Arduino’s are especially flexible as with Software Serial any unused IO pins may be turned into an additional serial port.
This small $3 Lattice ICE40LP384 FPGA design below bridges the “Mesa-Bus” to SPI and allows the EVEy-Video board’s FT813 GPU to interface either to a PC or an Arduino board via the FTDI 1×6 header.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Seven Segment Clock Made From Scratch
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/01/seven-segment-clock-made-from-scratch/
David Hopkins] built a seven segment clock, but not in a way you would think.
The easy part consists of Neopixels, an Arduino Nano and a DS3231 Real Time Clock. The hard part consists of Plasticard and a polymorph diffuser.
RGB 7segment desk clock
7-Segment clock that has a full colour display.
https://hackaday.io/project/7445-rgb-7segment-desk-clock
Tomi Engdahl says:
eeprog
An ATmega328-powered programmer for 28C64 EEPROM
https://hackaday.io/project/4543-eeprog
An open source hardware and software 28C64 EEPROM programmer, using the ATmega328 microcontroller. The goal of this project is to design and build an easy to use, single board programmer for 28C64 EEPROMs that could just be plugged in to a computer using a regular USB cable.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Upgrading Your Alarm System With an Arduino
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/05/upgrading-your-alarm-system-with-an-arduino/
When [Doug] moved into his new house, he found an old alarm panel set up — but it had no monitoring service any more. Not wanting to pay a monthly fee to have it setup, he decided to try interfacing an Arduino with the system in order to push events to the net!
He’s using an Arduino Uno and an Ethernet breakout board to hook it up to the network. This allows him to send text messages to himself when the alarm system is armed, disarmed, or triggered. All the code is available on GitHub in case you also have a DSC 1550 alarm system.
Connecting an Arduino to a DSC 1550 Alarm Panel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNx5MH5QwJM
dougkpowers/pc1550-interface
https://github.com/dougkpowers/pc1550-interface
Tomi Engdahl says:
Planning to make a DIY USB meter? Here are tips for this:
Simple USB Power Meter
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/07/simple-usb-power-meter/
The device measures voltage and current and displays them, along with the calculated power, on the small 0.5″ OLED display. The circuit is built around an ATmega328. To keep the board size small, and reduce component count, the microcontroller is run off its internal 8MHz clock. A low-resistance shunt provides current sensing which is amplified by the LT6106 a high side current sense amplifier before being fed to the 10 bit analog port of the ATmega. A MCP1525 precision voltage reference provides 2.5V to the Analog reference pin of the microcontroller, resulting in a 2.44mV resolution. Voltage measurement is via a resistive divider that has a range of up to 6V.
The OLED display has a SPI interface and requires the u8glib library. The project uses all SMD parts
http://www.electro-labs.com/diy-usb-line-power-meter-stick/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The iPad Controlled Camera Slider
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/08/the-ipad-controlled-camera-slider/
would love a camera slider controlled by their favorite iDevice, commercial motorized camera sliders are expensive, and there’s no great open source alternative out there. They decided to build one for themselves that can be controlled either from a PS3 controller or from its own iPad app with the help of an ESP8266 WiFi module.
The camera slider is a two-axis ordeal, with one axis sliding the camera along two solid rails, and the other panning the camera. The circuit board was milled by the guys and includes an ATMega328 controlling two Pololu stepper drivers. An ESP8266 is thrown into the mix, and is easily implemented on the device; it’s just an MAX232 chip listening to the Tx and Rx lines of the WiFi module and translating that to something the ATMega can understand.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Only Eat Red Skittles? We’ve Got You Covered.
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/08/only-eat-red-skittles-weve-got-you-covered/
Are you a bit obsessive compulsive with lots of certain things? We are too. Like Skittles! If you’re the kind of person who likes to sort their Skittles, you should seriously look into making your own 3D printed Skittles Sorter.
It uses an Arduino Uno with a ZITRADES color sensor module to identify the color of each candy. A small LED helps illuminate the Skittles to ensure an accurate color reading. Then, depending on the color, a series of gears rotate the Skittles piece to its designated color repository.
https://hackaday.io/project/7579-3d-printed-skittles-sorting-machine
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arduino TinyGPS Updated To Support GLONASS
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/08/arduino-tinygps-updated-to-support-glonass/
GPS is a global technology these days, with the Russian GLONASS system and the forthcoming European Galileo orbiting alongside the original US GPS satellites above our heads. [Florin Duroiu] decided to embrace globalism by forking the TinyGPS library for the Arduino platform to add support for these satellite constellations.
In addition to the GLONASS support, the new version of the venerable TinyGPS adds some neat new features by incorporating the NEMA 3.0 standard
Using this, you can extract interesting stuff such as the calculated position from each satellite constellation, the signal strength of each satellite and a lot more technical stuff about what the satellites are saying about you to your GPS receiver.
There is no support for Galileo just yet (as the satellites are still being launched: eight are in orbit now), but [Florin] is looking for help to add this, as well as the new Chinese BEIDOU system once it is operational.
TinyGPS upgrade for NMEA Data Protocol v3.x and GLONASS
https://github.com/florind/TinyGPS
This update adds support for newer NMEA-capable GPS devices that implement the v3.x GNSS spec as well as devices that support GLONASS.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ARDUINO MPPT SOLAR CHARGE CONTROLLER
An Arduino based Solar MPPT charge controller.
https://hackaday.io/project/4613-arduino-mppt-solar-charge-controller
Tomi Engdahl says:
Automated Bubble Gun Just Because
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/16/automated-bubble-gun-just-because/
After a recent trip to Disney Land, [Thomas] came home with an electric bubble gun. [Thomas] is a full-grown man. But since when did that stop us having fun blowing bubbles?? Obviously, a project was to be had using this fun little toy. So he decided to automate it.
attach a small RC servo motor in order to trigger the switch. Hooking that up to an Arduino Micro and he was now able to trigger it remotely.
Arduino Bubble Blaster
https://toemat.com/bubble-gun/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Retro Games on ArduinoCade Just Shouldn’t Be Possible
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/17/retro-games-on-arduinocade-just-shouldnt-be-possible/
Making retro video games on today’s micro controllers brings many challenges, especially when using only the micro controller itself to handle the entire experience. Complex graphics, sound, game logic and input is taxing enough on the small chips, toss in NTSC color graphics and you have a whole different bear on your hands.
[rossum] set out making the Arduinocade retro game system using an overclocked Arduino Uno, and not much more. Supporting 4 voice sound and IR game controllers, the system also boasts 27 simultaneous colors all in software. These colors and the resolution feel like they’re impossible without a graphics chip to offload some of the work. While doing all of this the ATmega328p is also playing some faithful reproductions of classic arcade games.
Play color retro games on an arduino with a few cheap components
https://github.com/rossumur/Arduinocade
Play retro color 8 bit games on your TV from an Arduino.
Arduinocade features old school color 8 bit graphics (tiles, sprites, smooth scrolling, simple 3D) and sound (4 voice wavetable synthesis). All video and audio signals are generated with three resistors, an upgraded crystal and a little software. By overclocking the Arduino to 28.6363Mhz we can directly manipulate NTSC to generate 27 simultaneous colors. An IR receiver supports a wide variety of keyboards, joysticks and remote controls.
Video of Arduinocade in action at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGIujZiEu_o
Tomi Engdahl says:
What’s in my stomach?
https://hackaday.io/project/7730-whats-in-my-stomach
chest-mounted camera records what you ate and then displays breakdown of your meal on an app
This project uses a chest mounted camera to stream the wearer’s eating habits and process it using the determination “Good”, “Bad”
For this prototype, we used a Pixy camera that talks over SPI to an Arduino Uno.
The plan is to port the code written for the Arduino to a Light Blue Bean.
http://charmedlabs.com/default/products/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Retro Games on ArduinoCade Just Shouldn’t Be Possible
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/17/retro-games-on-arduinocade-just-shouldnt-be-possible/
Making retro video games on today’s micro controllers brings many challenges, especially when using only the micro controller itself to handle the entire experience. Complex graphics, sound, game logic and input is taxing enough on the small chips, toss in NTSC color graphics and you have a whole different bear on your hands.
[rossum] set out making the Arduinocade retro game system using an overclocked Arduino Uno, and not much more. Supporting 4 voice sound and IR game controllers, the system also boasts 27 simultaneous colors all in software.
Play color retro games on an arduino with a few cheap components
https://github.com/rossumur/Arduinocade
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arduino Teaches Morse Code
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/24/arduino-teaches-morse-code/
You may wonder why anyone would want to learn Morse code. You don’t need it for a ham license anymore. There are, however, at least three reasons you might want to learn it anyway. First, some people actually enjoy it either for the nostalgia or the challenge of it. Another reason is that Morse code can often get through when other human-readable schemes fail. Morse code can be sent using low power, equipment built from simple materials or even using mirrors or flashlights.
Arduino Sketch that emulates the Datong D70 Morse Tutor. Can create Letters, Numbers & Mixed. Also includes Call signs.
https://github.com/M0TGN/Morse-Tutor
This sketch is designed to emulate the Datong D70 practice oscillator. It generated either letters, number or a mixture of both selected from a switch 2 controls allowed the WPM to be altered and the gap between characters.
This sketch should achieve the following requirements :
Generate either numbers, letters or mixed – switched selection.
Variable speed based on Variable resistor (WPM) between 8 and 34 WPM
Generate 5 chars groups
Allow a variable gap based on Variable Resistor between 0.5 and 4 seconds
Tomi Engdahl says:
Air Rocket Launch Pad UI Entertains Eager Kids
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/26/entertain-the-kids-with-ui-of-this-air-rocket-launch-pad/
Last spring [Mike] built a foam rocket launchpad which was a hit with the kids in his neighborhood. But the launch system was merely a couple of buttons so the early enthusiasm quickly wore off. He went back to the drawing board to make improvements and really hit the jackpot!
The original launch system had one button for building up air pressure with a second big red button of doom for launching the rocket. The problem was a complete lack of user feedback
The visually fascinating control board also includes a removable key to prevent accidental launches.
The particulars of this are as you’d expect: it’s a bunch of plumbing to manage the air pressure, an Arduino to control it all, and additional electronics in between to make them work together.
Arduino Powered Compressed Air Rocket Launcher
http://industriumvita.com/air-powered-foam-rocket-launcher/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Volkswagen CAN BUS Gaming
https://hackaday.io/project/6288-volkswagen-can-bus-gaming
Controlling a VAG CAN BUS tachometer of a Polo 6R with an Arduino, CAN BUS shield with Telemetry API from Euro Truck Simulator 2
Tomi Engdahl says:
Just Don’t Call it an Old Remote
http://hackaday.com/2015/10/04/just-dont-call-it-an-old-remote/
[Hari] decided to build a custom remote that just has the buttons his dad needs. Oh, and the buttons are big.
There are few interesting things about this project. [Hari] wanted to maximize battery life, so he went through a good bit of effort to keep the processor asleep and minimize power consumption. The remote is programmable
He used his Android phone to mimic the required remotes and provided a way for the remote to learn from another remote (in this case, the phone).
[Hari] made a series of videos that cover the project from the breadboard to a good-looking plastic case with laser cut overlays.
Self-learning TV Remote for the elderly
The remote will only have a few buttons, each can be programmed by pointing the original remote to this self-learning remote.
https://hackaday.io/project/7057-self-learning-tv-remote-for-the-elderly
Code is at:
https://github.com/hwiguna/g33k/tree/master/ArduinoProjects/2015/_Done/116-Custom_TV_Remote
Tomi Engdahl says:
A 7″ Touchscreen TV Remote Control from Scratch
http://hackaday.com/2014/04/14/a-7-touchscreen-tv-remote-control-from-scratch/
[Jason] always wanted a touchscreen TV remote control. He could have pressed an older Android tablet into service, but he wanted to roll his own system
With the LCD sorted, [Jason] still needed a processor. He selected the venerable Microchip PIC32MX series. This decision allowed him to use a Fubarino for the early prototypes, before switching to his own board as the system matured.
Portable RemoteSeven
https://atomsoft.wordpress.com/2014/04/12/portable-remoteseven-3/
http://fubarino.org/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Maximizing a Solar Panel
http://hackaday.com/2015/10/04/maximizing-a-solar-panel/
Solar panels seem like simple devices: light in and electricity out, right? If you don’t care about efficiency, it might be that simple, but generally you do care about efficiency. If you are, say, charging a battery, you’d like to get every watt out of the panel.
The solution is a technique called MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking). Despite sounding like a Microsoft presentation add on, MPPT uses a DC to DC converter to present a maximum load to the solar cell while providing the desired current and voltage to the load.
In addition to the solar panel and DC to DC converter, [Abid’s] project uses an Arduino, an LCD, some indicator LEDs, and some discrete components. He even included an ESP8266 to provide wireless data logging.
ARDUINO BASED MPPT SOLAR CHARGE CONTROLLER
http://www.electronicslovers.com/2015/09/arduino-based-mppt-solar-charge.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
AVR takes under 1µs to process quadrature encoder
http://www.edn.com/design/systems-design/4440496/AVR-takes-under-1-s-to-process-quadrature-encoder?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_designideas_20151006&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_designideas_20151006&elq=f7b9c298e10045f9a5902ce695e6f4ae&elqCampaignId=25066&elqaid=28479&elqat=1&elqTrackId=0e362bb9d7254ff494a51942e193a3d8
Reading quadrature encoder signals at high speeds (e.g., 1MHz, or, 1m/s with a resolution of 1μm) often requires dedicated hardware. This Design Idea shows a simple scheme to accomplish this function using only an ATtiny2313A AVR microcontroller. Of course, the microcontroller can also be connected to other devices via the serial interface, or the measured position can be displayed on a local LCD, which could be connected to port PB. Additionally, one or more LEDs can be added to signal error conditions.
In this implementation, the interrupt handler is very important. It reads input signals A and B in less than 1μs. Differential signals AP/N and BP/N are processed by SN75157 recieivers, unneeded if your encoder outputs logic-level signals.
The processor is configured to generate an interrupt for any change of port PD pin
The execution time of the interrupt handler is 800-850ns (16-17 clocks).