Category: English

  • tip: AVRdude on mac – using built-in from arduino

    tip: AVRdude on mac – using built-in from arduino

    More of a note to self*, since installing avrdude resulted in an avrdude without USB support. While Arduino also uses avrdude “under the hood”, but has USB support. And it would be nice if Arduino’ s avrdude can be used stand-alone, and it can: “/Applications/Arduino.app/Contents/Java/hardware/tools/avr/bin/avrdude -C/Applications/Arduino.app/Contents/Java/hardware/tools/avr/etc/avrdude.conf -v -patmega328p -cusbasp -Pusb -e -Ulock:w:0x3F:m -Uefuse:w:0xFD:m -Uhfuse:w:0xDA:m -Ulfuse:w:0xFF:m…

  • Real Time Clock modification

    Real Time Clock modification

    I bought one of those Real Time Clock modules: I noticed it has a diode and resistor to charge the battery on the back. But I plan on using a non-rechargable CR2032 cell. So these had to be removed: I also removed the power LED, since I plan on using it in an alarm clock…

  • USBisp V2.0 to USBasp conversion to use TPI (or: USBisp did not connect to usb anymore after fw update – fixed!)

    USBisp V2.0 to USBasp conversion to use TPI (or: USBisp did not connect to usb anymore after fw update – fixed!)

    Recently I bought an USBasp, or at least that’s what I thought. I bought a clone that was advertised as  “USB ISP USBasp USBisp Programmer for 51 ATMEL AVR download support Win 7 64 (RANDOM COLOR)”, marked on the case as “USB ISP version 2.0” and “MX-USBISP-V5.00” on the PCB. I intend to use this…

  • [fixed] TM1637 LED display “not working”.

    [fixed] TM1637 LED display “not working”.

    Last week I got 2 of these displays from a friend who couldn’t get them to display anything. (He knows I like those challenges.) Below picture proves it now works. What was the case: The data sheet says (e.g. in the schematic at page 8) a 100pF capacitor should be placed on CLK and DIO…

  • Fixed: RC522 RFID reader not reading (some) cards (Part 1)

    Fixed: RC522 RFID reader not reading (some) cards (Part 1)

    Some of the RC-522 RFID card reader modules that can be bought on ebay / aliexpress have a problem: they do not read all (types of) cards they should be able to read. In this blog post I want to explain how to recognize these faulty readers and how to fix them. (There is a…

  • How to enable Motion Detection Interrupt on MPU6050.

    The MPU6050 data sheet has a nice “marketing” section, claiming it has a DMP unit, and a couple of useful interrupts, among them a accelerometer event interrupt. However, how to actually use these features is not documented there. And I want to use the Motion Detection Interrupt (so I can put the host MCU to…

  • Fine motor skills?

    I did not know this was possible. The hollow core motors of a Cheerson CX-10 can actually be opened, and a new wire can be soldered to the brushes when the original one broke of. This started as a challenge, me stating it was impossible to open these motors without damaging them beyond repair and…

  • Python echo

    This adds a echo to a wav file. The file also gets louder, because the result is not normalized. (sample + 0.8*Othersample v.s. sample+0.8*Othersample/1.8). This is my first real experiment with DSP.  Maybe More Later(tm). Comments are welcome. (no registration necessary / pre-moderated by me) [sourcecode language=”python” wraplines=”false” collapse=”false”] """ Echo. Usage: python_Echo InpuFile.wav OutputFile.wav…

  • Continued “data transmission whistle” experiment, more successful this time

    Okay, what’s this about? Oona Räisänen challenged her readers to construct a whistle that could transmit data using FSK. And if one reads her challenge carefully it says “whistle”. Not “pea whistle“. Now THAT simplifies things a lot! A whistle design like this can be modified by inserting a magnet and wrapping a coil around…