LEAP#419 Boldport Lite2Sound
The Boldport Lite2Sound BC is a crafty collaboration with Rare Waves LLC. It uses a photodiode to detect audio-frequencies from light, which are amplified and piped to an audio jack (or optionally to direct line-out).
Best of all - it comes in an Altoids-sized can!
As always, all notes, schematics and code are in the Little Electronics & Arduino Projects repo on GitHub
read more and comment..
LEAP#418 Hartley Oscillator
The Hartley oscillator is distinguished by a tapped inductor to provide feedback (the Colpitts oscillator uses capacitors).
I got some decent results on a breadboard, even better on protoboard, using a basic Hertley design with RF chokes for inductors and a BJT.
As always, all notes, schematics and code are in the Little Electronics & Arduino Projects repo on GitHub
read more and comment..
LEAP#417 Playing Sound Samples with Arduino
Microcontrollers typically don’t have a lot of on-board memory, so the idea of playing audio samples is generally out of reach without somehow solving the storage issue or delving into synthesised sound.
But it is possible to play (very) short samples. In this example I’m playing an 8kHz, 8-bit sample stored in flash memory, using the PCM library to modulate a PWM output accordingly.
As always, all notes, schematics and code are in the Little Electronics & Arduino Projects repo on GitHub
And here’s an Uno pretending to be a phone, just to prove the point…
read more and comment..
LEAP#416 Simple Line-follower
Here’s a neat little line-tracking car kit that’s widely available from the usual online sources. There are a number of variations around, but they all share the same essential control circuit.
It is a simple example of the most basic class of Line Follower Robots, using an op-amp comparator as the “brain” to take feedback from left and right light-dependent resistors to control left and right motors accordingly.
If you know someone just getting into electronics and looking for something a little more challenging than soldering an LED blinky, then this kit would be a great next step. It’s hard to get wrong, introduces a few more exotic components, and it’s usually available cheap enough to be a nice stocking stuffer. Most importantly - it actually works!
As always, all notes, schematics and code are in the Little Electronics & Arduino Projects repo on GitHub
And if you want to watch it go round a test track for 30 seconds, be my guest … ;-)
read more and comment..