Category: English
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Board level laptop repair
A friend of mine spilled coffee over his laptop computer, after which it refused to turn on any more. Best thing to do is remove all power, but this laptop is a modern type with a built-in “non-removable” battery. So by the time the laptop got to me I expected corrosion. Still, I thought it…
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Pico Debugprobe in Altoids-blikje
Omdat ik meer met de Raspberry Pi Pico wil gaan doen, is het wel handig om een debugprobe te hebben. Dat kan met een 2e Raspberry Pi Pico. Ik vond het wel passend die in te bouwen in een Altoids blikje. Het prijsstickertje heb ik er bewust op laten zitten, het blikje is ouder dan…
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Battery replacement for Kobo Libra H20
A good friend of mine has a Kobo Libra e-reader that did not turn on or charge anymore. I repaired it. I expected a broken connection between battery and e-reader electronics, perhaps after a fall, or a defective USB connector (as that is used for charging), but it turned out the battery itself was defective.…
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Neon Watch design-information
Specially for those desiring to build their own neon-indicator watch, or for those who just want to know how it’s made (Bunch a’ enginèèrds! 😉 ). In this blogpost I’ll share the design files. (Ook in het Nederlands beschikbaar) For those that rather watch the outside of the watch: here is a link to the…
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Optical data-transmission
In the post about the neon watch I mentioned the neon watch gets set to the correct time by a computer program that flashes the screen to send the time. Since that post I have modified my ‘lichtwekker’ (Light-up alarm clock / lineair clock) so that too can be used to set the neon watch.…
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SMD on breadboard
When soldered between pinheader pins, SMD components can be used on breadboard. With a bit of trouble they can even be labeled, but a reference picture or keeping them in labeled ziplock baggies is clearer. The components in the picture where used for breadboarding the neon watch.
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Neon watch
Inspired by Nixie watches (like the original from cathode corner, or this other one), I thought it would be nice to make a watch with neon indicator lamps. This blogpost shows the result. (Ook in het Nederlands beschikbaar)
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Give it time
In hindsight, it’s obvious. Switching the ADC reference voltage takes a bit of time, the voltage on the AREF pin cannot change instantaneously. The Atmega48/88/168/328 datasheet recommends to discard the first sample after changing the reference voltage (in paragraph 24.5.2). So I did. But still I got false readings (or rather: my Atmega48A did). I’m…
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Battery replacement for Kobo Glo
My Kobo Glo sometimes suddenly restarts. I’ve had it for so long that I did not know for how long, but it turned out I bought it in 2013. So it, and its battery, is about 10 years old. The battery seemed still fine – okay runtime and voltage does not significantly sag under load…