I got this cheap toy Light Sword / Saber from one of the stores nearby. Cost me RM 2.10 after GST. It’s a cheaply made toy.. It comes with one rgb LED bulb, one push button switch and 3 button batteries. ITEMS Light Saber / Sword ATtiny85 WS2812B Led Strip STEP 1 Open up the…
Lighting up LEDs using ATtiny85
I am using the ATtiny85 to light up some LEDs, 10 of them to be exact. These are WS2812B LEDs. What makes them special is that you can individually address them and basically control their color, saturation and hue and also switch them on and off. I have modified the code from Adafruit Neopixel and used their…
Programming ATtiny85 using the Arduino
The ATtiny85 is high performance, low powered micro-controller with 8KB ISP flash memory. For some projects we do not need the full Arduino board to control simple items like a strip of LEDs or a single PIR sensor + LED or a single servo. Projects like these would be ideal for ATtiny85. STEP 1 – GATHER…
KY-004 Switch
This is a plain old switch. A momentarily switch, soldered to the board with a resistor on board to pull the signal pin to HIGH at default. This works like a digital sensor in that when the switch is depressed, the signal will go to LOW and then reverts back to HIGH when we let go. As with…
KY-002 Vibration Sensor
This sensor detects vibration. It has a spring which sits inside a metal tube. When this thing vibrates, a connection is made. It’s also a digital sensor. There are 3 pins on this module, two of them labeled, ‘-ve’ for GND, ‘S’ for Signal and the middle one would be VCC – 5V. There is…
KY-003 Magnetic Hall Sensor
[DIGITAL SENSOR] This sensor detects magnetic field. How cool is that! If there is no magnetic field present, the sensor defaults to a HIGH signal. So when you introduce a magnet / magnetic field near it, it would send a LOW signal. Code: digitalRead(sensorPin) == LOW This module comes with a resistor and a status red…
KY-001 Digital Temperature Module DS18B20
This the Dallas DS18B20 mounted on a board. It is exactly the same as the one which comes in a wired probe. On board it has a status LED and a resistor. With the resistor already in place, you do not need to connect another resistor between the Vcc and the Data Pin. It’s good…
NodeMCU+DS18B20+1.44TFT Screen
I have combined my first two NodeMCU projects into one working prototype. My Raspberry Pi Fridge Project is working fine but I always thought that the Raspberry Pi is an overkill for such a simple task. Components NodeMCU 1.44 TFT Screen DS18B20 Sensor For more details of my previous project, here are the links: NodeMCU…
16 x 2 LCD Keypad Shield
This is a rather popular shield and many retailers sells some variant of this shield. I got this from AliExpress. This shield incorporates a 16 x 2 LCD Screen and also 5 momentary push buttons. It uses pins 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 which interfaces with the LCD and pin A0 for the…
NodeMCU & I2C OLED 128×64
This I2C ‘monochrome’ OLED display came today (17.8.2016). Cost me USD 2.87 (~ RM 12.00). I am going to pair this with the NodeMCU. Details White ‘monochrome’ OLED 2.7 cm x 2.7 cm 4 pins (GND, VCC, SCK, SDA) Installing this is easier than the 1.44 SPI TFT Screen. You only have 4 wires to contend…
Light box photography
I find that taking photos of small items offers quite a lot of challenge. When what you have is your phone, shadows seem to get in the way. Using flash makes the picture glaringly ugly. So I am constantly finding ways of lighting up my subjects. I DIYed some light boxes but I couldn’t get the…
1.44 SPI TFT Screen with NodeMCU
One of the problems of buying stuff from China is that some of the products you buy have no standard labeling. Let me introduce you to my latest buy from AliExpress. A small rectangular screen (actually it’s a square if you minus the pins on the sides), measuring 4 cm x 3 cm. It’s a…
Still in Beta 