Tindie

“I often make one-off projects with Arduinos that end up being a jumble of wires bridging between the Arduino, a solderless breadboard, and anything that I’m controlling or sensing.”

That’s the “confession” behind Matthew Lind’s Industrious Arduino R3 Box Kit listing, a scenario that most tinkerers, including myself, can certainly relate to. Poke a few LEDs into your female headers, plug a sensor here or there, and you’re done for the moment, or much longer. He goes on to add that, unlike many of us, his more permanent projects go into a generic box or become a custom PCB.

In order to find a happy middle ground between “wires strewn everywhere” and a well-planned wiring solution, he decided to make the Industrious R3 Box Kit. This device accommodates an Arduino Uno R3, or anything in that form factor, such as the Arduino 101 shown in the image above, and packages it in a compact enclosure. I/O pins, along with an included prototyping area, are then broken out into screw terminals.

While this can be used on its own, what is exciting from an industrial automation standpoint are the little clips on the back that allow it to be mounted on DIN rails. This means it can hang in a cabinet next to industrial equipment, opening up lots of possibilities for Arduino usage. Be sure to check it out in the video below!

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There are few situations where “check your cables” wouldn’t be good advice. Rock climbing? Absolutely. Brake cables? Don’t want those to fail. Going sailing? Yes, though perhaps add “untangle” to that description. When you’re interfacing with development boards, the consequences of a bad cable aren’t generally as severe as the other examples, but problems here can be quite frustrating nonetheless.

But how do you if your cable is a problem? Swapping them out with a known good connection is one way, but this still seems like a bit of a lark, since who’s to say the next one isn’t bad as well? Here are two devices that will give you actual performance data:

Limepulse USB Cable Checker

For a complete USB checking solution, look no further than the USB Cable Checker from Limepulse. This small device lets you plug a USB-A or Type-C in one side, then plug the other Micro-B, Mini-B, or Type-C connector into the other. A series of LEDs then confirm the line connections for each A/B/C combination, allowing you to be confident that there’s a path for data and power transmission. Additionally, if you want to check the resistance between each ground and voltage connector in your cable, there are built-in pads that allow you to hook up a multimeter with alligator clips.

Fried Circuits USB Tester 2.0

Another option seen here is the Friedcircuits USB tester. While it doesn’t give you the same kind of line-by-line detail needed to fully test USB Type-C connectors, if you need to monitor power flow through a cable, this does the job nicely. Electricity flows in via a Micro-USB connection, then exits the device via USB-A, allowing you to measure power output to whatever device you’re using. While this could be useful to measure current consumption from a project, you could also test each cable you have to see how each performs.

Experience is a Tough Teacher

On a personal note, after working with Arduino boards that use full-sized “B” USB connectors, as well as a Nano that used a Mini connector, I decided to experiment with a WeMos D1 mini ESP8266 development board that used a USB micro connector. Try as I might, I couldn’t get it to recognize as a serial device, even after using various ports, a second cable (or so I thought, though most do look the same), and even another computer and a second WeMos. After some frustration, a friend finally tried his cable, which worked perfectly on his computer and mine.

So what’s the lesson here? If something’s not working, a lot of the time it’s something very simple—like a cable. After I got home, I tried yet another cable, which worked, and also purchased what seems to be a high-quality cable in a distinct red color. While it’s nice to have this as a reference, if you truly care about having quality cables, the type of equipment here would be an excellent option to have at your disposal.

You can always creatively hinder your connection with the USB-Helper!

On the other hand, if you like to creatively use and/or cut off your USB connections, be sure to see my post about the USB-Helper that can individually cut off different lines. I’ve also previously written about ways to creatively break out the connections, and also some of the more “exotic” solutions.

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If you’re curious about synthesizers and making electronic music, but don’t want to spend a lot of money (or space) on your setup, then the miniMO has been designed just for you. As seen in the demo video below, control is accomplished via a potentiometer to change the output frequency of the unit, as well as a button to change the type of wave, or register with a double-click. Additionally, if you hold down the button the potentiometer changes the sound’s amplitude.

This is just the beginning of the fun though, as at 1:30 in the video another miniMO is added to further modify the sounds. Outputs vary from something like an old-school video game to a rather realistic police siren!

The device based on the ATtiny85 microcontroller which by default comes programmed as an oscillator. If you want a different tool, such as a filter or a sequencer, you can request it programmed that way, or you can change things around yourself with an ISP or an Arduino acting as one. Incidentally, given that the miniMO is based on the ATtiny, even if you’re not interested in cranking out new electronic tunes, it’s a real testament to what can be done with just a few I/O!

Special thanks to Jose, who pinged us at hello@tindie.com to let us know about his interesting device. If you think your Tindie gadget, or a project involving something found here needs a writeup, please let us know!

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Technology is an interesting thing. On the one hand, RFID-enabled ID and even credit cards of various types can be read at a distance, making it possible to easily open doors or even pay for goods in some circumstances. This technology, in theory, would also make it possible for people to get this data without your approval.

But should we be worried? For answers, you can look at this CSO article, which argues that you probably don’t need to fret about your data being stolen this way. The most pertinent point the author makes is that most cards don’t even have this technology. On the other hand, as reported on Hackaday, it is possible to build a compact reader to “suck” data out of cards that do use this data transfer method. While your credit may not be in danger, there are other cards, such as those used for building access via RFID, that you still would want to keep secure.

All of that being said, you may or may not need the void wallet for your personal security, but as shown above, the two sides/band design actually looks like a pretty neat minimal wallet design. Additionally, it features, “An SMD reference sheet with the most common part footprints, conversions, hole sizes, pin pitch and two rulers (inches, centimetres).” Perhaps it would make a good present for the security conscious hacker in your life!

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You might say that controlling power from wall outlets, or “mains power” as it’s often called, is the most fundamental of home automation tasks. Mechanical outlet timers have been doing this for many years, and there are all kinds of WiFi-based smart outlets on the market that you can purchase and enjoy

While smart outlets are fascinating on one level—and actually pretty amazing considering how the technology has advanced in the last decade or so—Tindarians generally go for something with a lot more extensibility. If you don’t want to start entirely from scratch, the MPRSx8 board is an excellent option to get you on the right path.

The board includes 8 independent relay channels, and runs an ESP8266 module off of converted mains power for control, or you can supply your own 12 volt power. Cleverly, the control area is separated out from the mains voltage section of the PCB, marking out an area to be avoided. Pins on the ESP8266 module, which is included as an option, are broken out, so you can use it as a development board, integrating sensors, lights, or other accessories on your device as desired.

Besides use as a home automation device, it should be noted that these 8 relays can control DC power or other “non-mains” sources of power. Given its WiFi capabilities and programmability via the ESP8266 module, this would also make a good solution for certain robotics and remote control applications.

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Encoders, with their infinite spinning action, are a lot of fun as a user interface. But they can be annoying to set up. Normally, your microcontroller has to recognize and interpret gray code — a sequence of on-off signals via two separate outputs, taking up valuable I/O as well as processing overhead. Add in another input for a button that many encoders include, and perhaps an LED for feedback, and you have 4 IO pins taken up by one little interface gadget. This is problematic if you’ve got limited I/O to work with, and if you’re using multiple knobs the wiring can quickly get ridiculous.

To help with this issue, Fattoresaimon came up with this I2C encoder board. It takes input from an encoder that you either supply or order as an accessory, and translates it into the near-ubiquitous I2C protocol. In addition to offloading processing tasks and simplifying wiring, this also allows several encoders to be chained together as needed, further untangling—both literally and figuratively—your user interface.

You might notice that the device has MAX and MIN thresholds, which can be useful if you want your encoder to act as a sort of settable potentiometer. If you’re worried about losing the continuous rotation potential of your device, it can be set to roll over to the minimum value when it reaches the max or vice versa.

If this looks familiar, I previously wrote about the Makernet Knob, which comes fully assembled with an RGB LED in the shaft. While more expensive, it looks like a good option if you want something ready to use. And if you need a refresher as to what the difference in an encoder and potentiometer is, check out this post.

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While it might feel like much of the live Tindie activity is in the US, don’t be fooled, there’s a substantial number of Tindarians worldwide — both buyers and sellers. This includes a large contingent in Australia. If you happened to attend Maker Faire Adelaide this weekend, you likely saw a few of them there!

At least three sellers were in attendance, including: Whatnick Inc, Tinker Electric, and Sensordots. If you thought they had some interesting items, here’s your chance to win one of them from sellers Tinker Electric, Sensordots, or even Ozzmaker, who was not in attendance, but sells some interesting position measuring boards.

YouTuber MickMake is a good friend of Tindie and has teamed up with us to give away a few prizes from these sellers. You can watch his announcement below, and check out the full details on his announcement page. Basically all you need to do is:

send an email to feedback@mickmake.com with a subject line AMF2017 telling me which prize you’d like and what you want to use it for and I’ll get Jasmine [Tindie’s Top Dog] to select the correct winning entry for each of them.

If you have an event coming up that you think fellow Tindarians would be interested in, let us know and we’d love to share it! It’s always fun to see what this community is up to!

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If you’re just getting into electronics, Arduino boards seem to be the de facto standard. While these are good and in some ways synonymous with “making,” I would suggest that the Wemos D1 mini, based around the ESP8266 module, is a great board to check out second. While there are some hoops to jump through in order to get it working with the Arduino IDE, once setup, this board give you an 80 Mhz processor, and lets you communicate via WiFi. Plus it’s available for under $5 with a little searching.

This means that you could remotely turn an LED on or off, get a notification when a certain sensor is triggered, or take your IR-controlled devices into the 21st century, using the board as a network relay. In theory, all you would need for signalling is an IR LED, but this ESP8266/ESP32 infrared remote shield takes care of both IR sending and receiving. If you want to set up a remote with an unknown signal, this can decode it for you. Alternatively, if you for some reason want to send a message over the Internet via an IR remote control, this would also be possible.

While IR signalling may seem quaint in some ways, don’t judge too harshly. When you buy a TV, you simply want it to turn on, and using an IR remote is quite reliable and inexpensive in a short range line-of-sight situation. IR systems are time tested, robust, and still a good choice in many applications. Building on that is as easy as an upgrade with a device like this!

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Enrico Miglino’s ring lighting assembly

When you start getting serious about documenting your projects, getting lighting correct can make a huge improvement. Like many Tindarians, much of my work takes place in a garage, where lighting isn’t usually a priority. My solution was to put up several clamp lights to illuminate the area. While this generally works well, when you need to get really close to your subject to photograph or record video of small parts, the actual camera can get in the way of your illumination.

To solve this problem for photography, a ring flash is a great option where a series of LEDs forms a ring around your camera’s lens. This eliminates the shadow of the camera since the light source is in front of it. Unfortunately, the portable versions of this type of lighting are generally setup as a camera activated flash, not a continuous light source.

In order for more control over his shooting, Balearic Dynamics’ Enrico Miglino came up with a battery powered LED ring that emits light continuously, and can even be dimmed as needed. While meant for still photography use mounted on a DSLR camera, this type of lighting would also work for closeup videography work, such as showing how components are soldered onto a circuit board.

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If you’ve been following along with this blog for a while, you’ve perhaps noticed my general annoyance with soldering. I have a love for screw terminals like the one’s as seen here for Arduino and involving the ESP8266.

After buying a TS100 iron to replace my extremely cheap model due in part to a review on Hackaday, my view on this is somewhat changed. Regardless, sometimes solder is just not the best connection method.

One interesting alternative are alligator clips, generally used for temporary connections between devices like an oscilloscope or multimeter and a signal source. On the other hand, there’s no reason that this kind of connection can’t be used for experimentation and semi-permanent connections, as shown by the Makey Makey and BBC Micro:Bit connection methods.

What if you want to connect to an Arduino with clips, or perhaps implement four-pin sensors with this type of connection? While you would normally have to do a little bit of hacking to make this work properly, EasyPads, seen in the above video, makes this operation simple. Just plug the pads in, and it provides four connections with alligator clips, allowing for experimentation without the hassle of soldering, or even connecting screw terminals.

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