NeoPixel RGB LED testing with Raspberry PI 3 without logic level shift
Recently, I learned that, there are RGB LEDs called NeoPixels with a kind of one wire interface built-in to change the colour of the LED by providing a speci...
Posts by Year
2017
2014
Sinhala font installation on Sony Xperia V (Android)
You can install any Sinhala font from your mobile itself and use it in any browser you like with following instructions.Preparation:1) Root your device.I roo...
Experimenting Near Field Communication (NFC) with NXP MIFARE MF1S50 tags with Sony Xperia V
I have a Near Field Communication (NFC) capable Sony Xperia V mobile phone and I was able to communicate phone to phone. Then, I found some cheap NFC tags o...
Gerber viewer for your Android mobile phone
When we are working with PCB fabrication systems, “Gerber” files are widely used as the input to the fabrication device from the CAD drawing. So, It is very ...
Interfacing sensors from Android mobile phone via Bluetooth
Most of the Android powered mobile phones have many in-built sensors. Android API gives us access to these sensors in API level without low level programming...
Modifying cheap servo motor for continuous rotation
You can buy cheap servo motors from ebay for a price of less than a gear motor. But these servo motors can’t be used for continuous motion. A simple modifica...
2013
Ultrasonic distance measurement using HC-SR04 ultrasonic module + Arduino Pro
Ultrasonic sensors (Ping sensors) are widely used in distance measurement as they are cheap and has a quite good accuracy. I got this cheap HC...
Computer controlled automated guided vehicles (AGV) using Parellel port interfacing
As we built a relay board to interface with “parallel port” in my earlier post. Today I’m going to talk about the control software for it. I wrote this softw...
RS-485 Communication testing with MAX485
As we know about RS-232 communication protocol, I’m going to try RS-485 communication between two nodes. RS-485 can support multiple slaves and mostly used i...
Writing and testing Linux kernel modules for Android
We compiled and installed some modules in Linux kernel in previous post. Here I’m going to write my own kernel modules and do the same. I’m stilling learning...
Using USB to UART / RS232 modules with Android phones
Installation: As we compiled the kernel modules needed for USB to UART modules in the previous post, Here I’m going to show how to use them.You can mount /sy...
Compiling kernel modules for an Android phone
I recently got a USB OTG cable for my mobile phone and I wanted to use my PL2303 USB to UART convertor with it. It is great for the embedded system projects ...
Native C programs for ARM based Android phones
You can always use Android SDK to program and build Java programs for android phone which are running on Dalvik Virtual Machine. Recently I wa...
Simple LM386 based audio amplifier
I built this simple LM386-N1 based audio amplifier (Gain=200 example on datasheet) for my radio project. Here I’m testing it using a small signal generated b...
Using UART & GPIO with AR7240 MIPS board
As I introduced MIPS based router board which has a AR7240 SoC, I further experimented with it to use GPIO and UART in the chip. I’m using my TPLINK WR740N r...
MSP430 In circuit programming with MSP430 Launchpad using Spy-Bi wire interface
When we use microcontrollers in our circuits we need to program and debug them in circuits after soldering. Hence, In circuit programming is much useful in s...
Relay board for Parellel port/Microcontroller interfacing
Relays are awesome small devices which could be used to control other devices. The plus point of relays is,they can be used to drive a different voltage leve...
Introduction to MIPS CPU architecture with AR7240
There are many CPU architectures in current embedded devices. MIPS is also a popular architecture for embedded systems. Here I'm going to play with a MIPS ba...
Using TI Stellaris Launchpad as a 10Mhz,8 Channel Logic Analyzer
After Googling a bit about the TI Stellaris Launchpad, I found out that it can be used as a 10Mhz 8 Channel Logic analyzer with some small free softwares. Th...
Programming TI Stellaris LaunchPad on GNU/Linux
TI Stellaris LaunchPad has a quite neat ARM Cortex-M4F based microcontroller and built in ICDI debugging interface. It is a great tool for learning ARM archi...
Altera Cyclone IV EP4CE6 Testing
As I showed in my previous post,I’m going to test my CoreEP4CE6 board. It is based on Altera Cyclone IV FPGA (EP4CE6E22C8N) . I got my Altera USB Blaster (bo...
Desoldering Surface Mount Devices (SMD)–The hard way
In my previous post, I used some scavenged parts from an old mother board. These old circuit boards are gold mines as they got many reusable components. They...
Building Real Time Clock (RTC) module based on DS1307 for Arduino
In this post I’m going to build a Real Time Clock (RTC) module based on popular DS1307 RTC chip for using with Arduino or any other micro-controller platform...
Connecting Arduino Pro (3.3V/8Mhz) to TV
In this post I’m going to connect my home made Arduino Pro clone to the television using composite input on the TV. I found a good library called ardui...
Video Blog Episode #1 : Unboxing Altera Cyclone IV Development board & module based implementation
In this Incredible DIY video blog episode, I’m unboxing my new FPGA development board which I got from Waveshare Electronics called CoreEP4CE6. It is based o...
Testing a Digital Compass module based on MMC2120MG magnetic sensor
Here I’m going to show you how to use a digital compass for you robot project. This can be easily used to obtain the heading of the robot and adjust the path...
Building a SD Card Temperature logger (ATMEGA328 + SDCARD + LM35)
As we built an Arduino powered web server in previous post, let’s build a temperature logger using a SD card this time. I build this because I wanted to see ...
Arduino based Webserver (ATMEGA328 + ENC28j60)
Updated on 09-01-2017 to correct issue with MAC address: (Identifed by Julien as per in the comment section)Replaced : static byte mymac[] = {0xDD,0xDD,0xDD,...
Building an Arduino Pro / Arduino UNO (with TechDuino)
I wanted to build a 3.3V microcontroller development system for a long time. This is because most newer sensors and other devices are working on LVTTL volta...
Modifying a cheap CP2102 USB to UART board to get a DTR pin (for Arduino programming)
I got this CP2102 USB to UART board from ebay recently as showed in my previous post. I got this mostly for Arduino progeamming using the Arduino bootloader ...
USB to UART Convertors (PL2303 & CP2102)
If you are working with any UART stuff with micro controllers,you may have to debug them or send/receive data with a PC. In good old days,all of the computer...
Variable frequency PWM using MikroC + PIC16F887
When I was doing a project on a robot,I found out that the MikroC PWM library doesn’t support variable frequency values for the PWM frequency. I needed to us...
Simple 3.3V–5V level shifter
In present day electronic we find many sensors or modules working in 3.3V logic levels.In other terms LVTTL devices (Low-voltage TTL). But even now we mostly...
PS/2 Keyboard Interface for PIC uC (PIC16F887)
We need to get various kinds of inputs for our microcontroller circuit. If we need to use key board to input data,we can either use simple buttons or 4x4 key...
Step counter for Unipolar stepper motor
In previous post.I told you that I was able to drive an old scavenged unipolar stepper motor from my old printer.As I couldn’t find any datasheet it was not ...
Driving a Unipolar stepper motor using ULN2803 + PIC16F887
Recently I dissembled an old Canon S200SP printer to get some motors. I found a unipolar stepper motor with 5 wires on it. But the model number is unclear as...
Driving a DC motor using ULN2803 + PIC16F887
As I showed how to drive external load using ULN2803 coupled to PIC16F887 in the previous post,Here I’m going to drive a small DC motor using that concept I...
Driving external loads using ULN2803 with PIC16F887
Here I’m going to drive external loads such as motors,relays,lamps…etc using a Darlington pair setup.The current can be provided by an I/O pin of a uC is not...
Using PIC16F887 I/O to drive external devices
I’ve done a small addition to circuit on the previous circuit.I’m going to use LCD display I added there,to debug my project too.I’m taking out 6 I/O pins fr...
Simple 16*2 LCD driver with PIC16F887
In good old days,using a LCD display on a DIY project was quite trouble some.But now it has become much cheaper and simpler to use a LCD in a such project.He...
2012
ADSL Splitter quick fix
I’m using my ADSL splitter for more than 5 years now.Recently I found out that Voice line is not working but Data line is working.When I was checking my ADSL...
Micro controller Networking - UART to SPI bridge
There are many parts used in embedded systems.In most cases,we have to transfer data between these components.In this tutorial we’re going to look how to rec...
Homemade USB LC Meter
I wanted to have a LC meter for a long time.Specially when working with oscillators and stuff,they are really useful.After some research on internet I found ...
2011
Homemade USB PIC Programmer - PICKIT2 Lite
I was using various programmers for PIC programming.JDM was one of that,which I used for a long time but it’s a Serial port programmer.I have used ART2003 pr...
Programming Bootloader to PIC 18F4550
Hope you were able to build the simple PIC 18F programmer and 18F4550 development board with help of my previous posts.Now it’s time to program the 18F4550 w...
Development board for 18F4550
I have designed a simple development board for 18F4550 to test my projects.I’m using a bootloader to program the uC using USB.It’s very easy and fast for doi...
Very simple PIC 18F programmer
I was wondering to use some PIC 18F microcontrollers in my projects.The well known 18F2550 & 18F4550 got USB which is much useful in current environments...
Sinhala support on Android
Android has become the OS which powers many smart phones.But as it lacks built in Sinhala support,we have to add it by our own.Even these steps gives you a p...