Tindie

If you’re someone who enjoys sailing, fishing, or sports in general, then you know proper weather is extremely important. Makerfabs in Shenzhen is someone who enjoy sailing, but too often the official weather reports don’t accurately predict the wind conditions.

This led them to create a WiFi Wind Station that combines IoT technology with real-time wind speed, humidity, and temperature. All of this data reports to the MQTT and then subscribes it in a AWS server, where it can be viewed by others.

The kit also doubles as a great way for beginners to learn about IoT hardware and the programming that goes along with it.

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Oscillators are the beating heart of every synth setup, generating the sounds to filter, sculpt with envelopes and transpose to suit your track. The QUADTEC-101 is a DIY open source digital oscillator, which features 2 separate Oscillators that output multiple wave shapes which can be mixed, merged and warped for expressive quad-output modulations.

The QUADTECH-101 comes in kit form, and features Triangle, Evenangle, Eventooth, Cello, Saw, Square, Pulse, Pluck and FM wave shapes for a rich mix of sounds to mutate. Each oscillator has its own independent controls with a blend knob to mix and merge them together, and four outputs to achieve ‘quad-panning’ – with a triangle wave panning each sound at a rate set by the quad pan knob to create a swirling, evolving movement of sound.

It’s designed to be built by all soldering skill levels, with 70 components and a build guide to show you the way. It also features a pseudo noise source with the ability to control its rate of playback – while power gets to the the synth either via eurorack power or 9v battery!

The QUADTECH-101 is available now from CCTV, based in Canada, who have created this video to give you a taster of what it can do:

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When you’re working on something that involves a microscope, odds are lighting is going to be one of your chief concerns. You’re going to need something bright, but it has to be steady and reliable, or any flicker could cause you to solder something incorrectly.

This LED light source for microscopes promises zero flicker and uses 96 white LEDs, along with 24 amber LEDs to illuminate your project. It’s easy to use and offers brightness adjustment and color temperature to give you the perfect illumination.

Next time you grab your microscope, make sure you’ve got enough light to see what you’re doing. You’ll be glad you did.

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Almost every Arduino project I can think of needs some sort of inputs. It can be as simple as a button, or more complex like a motion sensor, but odds are you’re going to need a way to interface with the project.

This 9-button keypad offers large and durable 12mm buttons and the ability to connect it using only two pins (Analog input and GND). The kit comes with the keypad PCB, 9 12mm SMD buttons,and 9 10K 0603 SMD resistors.

Two versions are available: one that you need to solder, and one that is ready to use. You can also find example Arduino code on Github. The video below shows the keypad in action.

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It’s incredible to take a step back and think about something like DNA. Even this unseen piece of our very foundation has a defined shape: the double helix. Naturally, this shape makes for eye-catching art pieces, and that’s why this 3D-printed DNA lamp captures our attention.

The basic concept is a DNA helix rotating inside a transparent acrylic tube, but the addition of sleek lighting makes it stand out in a dark room. The creator got the idea while browsing through 3D models and decided to do something inspired by lava lamps, but with 3D printing.

It comes fully assembled and ready to add a dash of color and class to any room. The video below gives you an idea of how it looks in motion!

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One of the earliest examples of gaming was Pong. While games have come a long way since then, it’s always nice to go back to basics. This board emulates the 4 paddle games on the original pong chip, the AY-3-8500.

It uses an Atmel AVR processor, the ATmega328 and outputs a video signal and sound through two RCA connectors. The creator wanted to make a retro game without tons of logic chips or circuits.

What results is a creation that stays true to the original 8500 chip. The product comes fully built and tested, with a manual as well on how to connect it to the TV and wire the paddles.

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The push for STEM education has led to a wide variety of new products. These kits are often designed to ease the introduction for young people into the world of engineering and electronics.

The latest in this new wave of introductory kits is Hello World, Neon. The goal is to build your own sign to hang wherever you would like. With options surrounding different colors and shapes, it’s a great way to learn how to program the lights and create something that’s wholly your own. The look is similar to that of neon signs, but this kit uses electroluminescent wire with connectors already attached to create the unique glow.

The instructions are written in simple language and boil down advanced concepts into easy definitions. The community also does a great job of sharing creations or providing support as needed.

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The badgelife phenomenon has produced some truly incredible creations, but perhaps it is the ones that offer interactions with the real world that are the most memorable. Since cats are always popular on the internet, an interactive cat badge makes complete sense.

Enter the Mr. Whiskers Kit. This cat-shaped circuit board includes yellow LEDs that shine from the backside of the board, and it even plays a PWM sound sample when stroked. There are touch-sensitive switches in the head that recognize when someone is petting the cat. These trigger a quiet meowing noise from the piezo speaker.

Building the kit is pretty self-explanatory for the most part as it uses through-hole components. The seller calls it a “pseudo SMD” as it’s easier to solder than a surface-mount design, but harder than your typical through-hole kit.

The end result of this design is an outward facing side of the board that is free from solder joints and thus looks cleaner overall. A clip and pin are also included with the kit if you want to attach the finished badge to clothing or your backpack.

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Until you’ve used a dial controller, it’s hard to imagine how much use you would get out of it. Adjusting the volume, adjusting zoom, these are easy to think about, but what if it could go further? The Ahmsville dial is a new kit that allows you to make your own dial controller modeled after Microsoft’s surface dial.

This Arduino-based controller is great for creatives who want to customize their software and elevate their process by streamlining things and setting shortcuts with the dial. Since it’s based on Arduino, there’s a lot of room for customization as well.

With 4 mappable capacitive touch inputs, you can also connect programmable leds and the included vibration motor.

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An unreliable power grid can be the bane of any software project. I recall plenty of times when I was younger, before the days of Google Drive, where I would forget to save documents and lose progress when the power went out or fluctuated unexpectedly.

Situations like this can result in data loss, corruption, and plenty of lost time. In the case of the Raspberry Pi, shutting down the OS incorrectly can also cause issues. Thankfully, this Raspberry UPS shield offers a solution to both of these problems in one convenient package.

This uninterruptable power supply is powered by a rechargeable LiPo battery and protect your Raspberry Pi running during power outages. It also shuts down the OS if the power is off for more than seconds. It can even restart the Pi when power comes back.

The controlled shutdown will ensure that your SD card file system avoids corruption. A power-down switch also gives you an easy way to shut down the Pi without logging in via ssh or GUI. A simple button press will do the trick.

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