Tindie

At first glance you might think that this was a just another USB-C breakout board but it is in fact a variable USB C power supply you can reprogram with light!

This tiny board works to make USB C power banks and mains adaptors easy to use with  your project. You can configure the board to output a variety of voltages between 5 V and 20 V and different supply currents. For supply currents you can choose between 0.5 A and 3 A on portable power and up to 5A. This useful range of voltages and currents means it’s a great option for many projects, from your latest breadboard creation through to  potentially replacing a power port to modernise an older laptop.

It uses a fantastic method when you need to change the configuration. Simply navigate to this website and use drop down menus to select your options. Options include 1st and 2nd preference states, so as an example, you could have 12V at 5A as your primary choice falling back to 12V at 3A if it detects it is attached to a portable power bank. To flash the changes you then scroll down the website to a section where you hold the device above the screen, click a button and the website flashes a series of light pulses re-configuring the device settings.

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Computers are naturally logical entities, producing results that are a function of exactly what is input into them. In the real world, things aren’t always so logical, and you may need your computer to exhibit random output for applications involving simulation, security, and even gaming.

To help your computer act a bit more erratic, GRAND is a TRNG, that is a True Random Number Generator, which plugs in to your computer as a USB stick. While the computer itself can exhibit some randomness, according to GRAND’s product listing, “Depending on the workload, the entropy collected automatically by the [computer’s] kernel might not be sufficient to generate the random numbers at the requested rate.”

To solve potential entropy deficiencies, GRAND pumps in randomness at a rate of up to 800 KBytes/s (or more than 6 Mbps) using an onboard STM32 chip. It even does a chi-squared check to ensure the quality of the data’s randomness. Data is passed to the main computer via a virtual serial port, and it features both a green LED to show when it’s sending, and a red LED to indicate that the data flow is stopped if it failed the randomness test.

For another randomness option, you might also check out Infinite Noise USB TRNG. It plugs in like the GRAND, but uses different techniques to generate values.

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Sometimes it’s the small and simple things that are most useful! Paarhaas was using display modules with ESP32 and ESP32S2 microcontroller projects and they obscured the reset, bootloader and ground pins, so he created the Bootstrap as a way to regain access.

This simple add-on board comes in two flavours, ESP32 and ESP32S2, with both types straddling the ESP to break out the pins to through hole copper pads. This makes it simple to add a reset switch or indeed to address these pins from another microcontroller. The major benefit of this approach is they don’t occupy any of the header pins so they can be used alongside all the devices to regain access to these pins.

If you want to make a really smart reset/DFU button breakout for your ESP, Paarhaas also has you covered with another product, The Doof . The Doof combines nicely with the Bootstrap and features two mechanical keyboard buttons in a smart package for all your reset and bootloader pin toggling needs.

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Teenage Engineering’s Pocket Operators are a joy to play with, appealing to both the old and young – reminiscent of the Game & Watch series of portable games, yet sounding like a pro-audio experience without the manual diving. The 5 Channel Summing Mixer for Pocket Operators is an ingenious device which allows your Pocket Operator collection to synchronise and mix together in one convenient place.

This summing mixer is not only functional, tidy and inventive – it also looks the part, taking a giant leaf from the wonderful Teenage Engineering school of design. It can accommodate up to 5 Pocket Operators, each with individual gain knobs, mute buttons and a unified sync – to make sure they all play together. With about 80 hours of life running from a single 6LR61 9V battery, this is a sure fire way to get the very best out of your Pocket Operators.

The audio signal is mixable to TRS output, as dual mono or mono and sync signal – and you’ll see a heartbeat LED which indicates the current tempo. What more do you need?! It’s a superb device which looks the part and has just the features needed to create a pocket power rave!

The 5 Channel Summing Mixer is sold by Creative Electronics who are based in the Netherlands – offering some neat electronic gadgets.

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It’s exciting to see new boards and accessories appear for either the Raspberry Pi Pico, or it’s custom silicon, the RP2040. This new product from the Arducam team caught our eye as it combines the Pico form factor with a camera and an OLED display for TinyML/Machine Learning applications.

The resulting Pico4ML board contains everything you need to get started with machine learning and computer vision projects. A QVGA camera module handles the image acquisition tasks whilst a small SPI OLED display is on the reverse for data and image display. There’s a temperature sensor and an IMU on board for data logging but, of course, there are masses of pins and busses broken out to connect your own sensors, modules and devices to.

Being based around the RP2040 means all the usual drag and drop programming refinements are there and there are some pre-trained ML models supplied to get you started. These include Person Detection, a Magic Wand using the IMU, and Wake-Word Detection examples. We look forward to seeing what projects people do with them.

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If you are thinking of installing a small solar panel to create a 12V system, maybe for some lighting in a shed or to service a leisure battery in a vehicle, this efficient and simple PWM charge controller might be of interest.

This opensource controller is suitable for up to 36 solar panels with an open circuit voltage up to 21V.  Pre-assembled it’s ready to go out of the box configured to work with 12V lead acid batteries. With some tweaks to the supplied code and an ISP programmer you can reflash the onboard ATtiny85 to get it to play nicely with other battery flavours if required.

It’s very efficient, whilst your target battery is charging and under the charged voltage threshold, the device itself consumes less than 1mA. Excellent when you want to send as much energy from the sun to your battery as you can! Supplied with a random colour 3D printed mounting bracket we love the simplicity and efficiency of this project from AdamWelch.

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MIDI has been around since the early 80s and although there has been a new 2.0 standard set, not much has changed over the years! In recent times manufacturers have begun to use smaller 3.5mm sockets to replace the 5-Pin Din traditional socket – and the Eurorack MIDI TRS-DIN5 3×3 Adapter is here to help bridge the gap between them!

If you have hardware which takes 5-Pin Din or TRS-A/B then it’s likely you’ll have to convert it to interface the devices. This beautifully designed PCB and panel is the ideal solution without needing specialist cabling, and will take MIDI inputs and output in both forms – sharing them between the three styles of output. This 3×3 passive adapter comes as a complete kit to make yourself or as a PCB only – and it’s aimed at beginners with a small amount of soldering experience.

The Eurorack MIDI TRS-DIN5 3×3 Adapter jumpers to switch between the two TRS versions, which have been taken up by various manufacturers. Their Github page has a number of resources, as well as a BOM and schematic.

The unit is sold by DeftAudio who have a number of audio devices on sale, and are based in the USA. See the makers overview video here:

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If you have tried your hand at soldering and want to progress to soldering with surface mount devices (SMD), this LED keychain kit might be just the ticket!

The kit is comprised of a tiny PCB featuring a grid of pads onto which you solder some of the 15 SMD LEDs supplied. You can use as many or as few as you need to make your chosen letter or icon. Arranged as 3 columns of 5 LED’s you can make any letter you require. The ATtiny micro controller can be supplied pre-flashed with the project code and once assembled the keychain has four display modes, all on, slow blink, fade and fast blink. Of course the code is provided in the documentation and you could always create your own patterns for the device.

You get a choice of LED colour when ordering and we think this is a great way to practice your SMD soldering or a nice kit to put together as a gift for someone.

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Making sound is all well and good, but how about sculpting an existing sound? Kurt’s Dead Band is a new waveshaping device for AE Modular systems, which adds a phasing quality to simple sounds and thins out more complex sonics – as well as working as a dirty VCA! It’ll morph and mutate CV signals and audio which makes it a versatile beast!

With Eurorack, Buchla, 5U and Fractional modular systems available, the AE format was created to provide a cost-effective and mobile alternative to the systems that have higher price tags. This 1U module is available as a full kit, PCB & Panel,  or PCB only, and comes as a simple build for beginners since it only uses through hole components. Controls include size and location, CV attenuation, and gain with four inputs, four outputs and a multiplier patching area.

It’s a basic but fundamental building block in making sounds, with anything from subtle variations to extreme effects possible. The seller has made the build guide available as well as the circuit schematics and BOM.

Kurt’s Dead Band is sold by Keurslager Kurt who is based in Belgium, with a couple of AE modules on offer. See an explanation of the unit and hear it in action below:

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We are intrigued by this bio degradable composite quadcopter chassis kit from Breznik Natural Fiber Composites.

Made from a composite of PLA (Poly Lactic Acid) and Linen cloth this quadcopter drone chassis kit contains no petrochemicals. It’s a 650mm airframe so it’s in the realm of being built as a payload carrying quadcopter for aerial photography and more. They state that the natural fibre composite is suitable for gluing with epoxies or superglue and are trying to discover more environmentally friendly adhesives. It’s freely machinable so it’s perfect for a DIY build where you might want to add extra holes to mount your running gear and payloads. The kit is sold without the 3d printed connecting parts and the motor mounts but the files to 3D print these, using PLA, are available for download here.

Finally, it’s not just environmentally friendly, it’s pretty lightweight for its class, with a fully assembled frame using M2.5 stainless fasteners weighing in at 350grams.

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