Category: Electronics

bookmark_borderMy Overnight Sensation Speaker Build

Posted on by dansku

overnight sensation speaker build

When living in Berlin, back in 2016, I used to own a pair of M-Audio speaker monitors and I loved them, such an insane improvement from my computer or tv speakers.

Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to take them with when I moved to Lisbon in early 2018. After a few months in the new city, I decided that instead of buying a new set of monitor speakers, I was going to build one myself. Even have used a known design, there were many things that I had to custom build, and this is why I am writing this blog post, to share the process that took me from concept until the end. And I have to say, it turned out much better than expected 🤠!

Continue reading “My Overnight Sensation Speaker Build”

bookmark_borderAutomated door system

Posted on by dansku

Earlier this year we moved from Berlin to Lisbon and found a nice apartment not too far from the city center.

Our apartment building door, like most around Lisbon, is old and doesn’t work very well. And with many friends coming to visit this summer, I decided to automate the door so that me and my friends can open the door using our mobile phones instead of spending 5 minutes trying to jiggle the key in the lock to get it open.

Continue reading “Automated door system”

bookmark_borderA Better Serial Monitor

Posted on by dansku

Today I would like to talk about a very interesting piece of software that I have been using in the past few weeks, called Serial Port Monitor (version 7.0) by Eltima Software.

This software is perfect for when you are developing an application that has a massive amount of information going through the Serial Port. I am currently using it to analyze diagnostic data from one project. Is is great that you can easily save messages for a later use in its own .spm file format.


serial port monitor


serial port monitor

On the image bellow, you can check the windows that I am currently using: “Terminal View”, showing exactly what is coming from the Serial Port. “Dump View” that shows timestamp, the hex data and the message, and the “Table View”, showing the captured data from the developer’s point of view: it presents the table consisting of the recorded IRPs. Each row represents one IRP and each column represents one single part of IRP. It is interesting to point that the Serial Port Monitor doesn’t block the serial port while in use, meaning that another software can be “blocking” the port and you can still analyze all the data.


serial port monitor

In case you wanna know more about it, check the Wiki!

This is a great piece of software, and I am really impressed by the quality of the products from Eltima. I will probably do some more review in the future!

If you are an embedded systems engineer, you should check it out!!!

bookmark_borderHC-RS04 NewPing Class

Posted on by dansku


sonar non blocking sonar

Just finished writing a small C++ class to work with multiple HC-RS04 sonar transducers with a non-blocking way with the NewPing Library.
In this exact code I connected two sensors, but you can add as many as you like.

To add new sonars, just create a new instance of it adding the echo and trigger pins.

Sonar sonar1(2,3);

Here is an example with some NeoPixels, just for fun:

Cheers!

bookmark_borderNeoPixel 24 & HC-RS04 Sonar Support

Posted on by dansku


sonar neopixel 01

I am currently working on a project that involve using a HC-SR04 Sonar sensor to control the lights of a Adafruit NeoPixel 24 Leds Ring. Yesterday I quickly designed a 3D model with DesignSpark Mechanical that I am using to center the sensor inside the led ring. I have also added a few spaces where the cable can pass though without disturbing the flat surface.

You can download it from GitHub, and there will probably be updates on the design in a near future.

What do you think?

Check this cool 3D preview by GitHub:

Continue reading “NeoPixel 24 & HC-RS04 Sonar Support”

bookmark_borderAltium Tip: Smooth edges with Teardrops

Posted on by dansku

Teardrops is a really nice feature present in Altium, where it analyzes all the traces and try to smoothen the edges of the connections. Most users don’t know that this feature exists, and even if doesn’t add a major change on the design it can certainly improve the quality of your project, especially if you are working on high-speed or high-power electronics.

altium teardrops

To access the menu, while editing your PCB, go to Tools >> Teardrops… (or simply press t + e).

Bellow you can check a random PCB design with and without Teardrops:

altium teardrops before

altium teardrops after