Staffans projects

Author: staffan

  • Minecraft Server Display

    A while ago, I set up a Minecraft server here in our house, so my oldest son could play Minecraft together with his friends. They love doing that, but without turning on the computer, there was no way of knowing if anyone else was on the server. Hence, this project! The idea is that this…

  • Fun with EL-wire

    Last night was the last day of 2013. So I figured I should do something new to celebrate the new year. Hence, some EL-wire fun. EL-wire, or Electroluminescent Wire, is a lot of fun to use. It looks really cool and is very flexible and easy to use. But it cannot be lighted with batteries or…

  • Using an analog panel meter

    I bought an analog panel meter from electrokit and wanted to test it using an Arduino.My meter (there are other kinds) reacts to current, from zero to 50 μA (0.00005 Amps). So to get it to show 100% (50 μA), I gave it 5 V through a 100 kΩ resistor. I used Ohms law to…

  • DIY solder fume extractor

    In an attempt to lower the amount of solder fumes that I breath into my lungs while soldering, I searched the net for cheap solutions, and found lots of great do-it-yourself examples! See for instance Kip Kay’s video. Most examples use a fan (a computer chassis fan or equivalent) and an active carbon filter. It seemed…

  • DIY buttonshield

    When prototyping new Arduino gadgets, I often find the need to use a push button or two. They are quite easy to hook up to the breadboard, but it’s even easier if the buttons are already hooked up on a buttonshield! Therefore, I made a small four-button “shield” for my prototyping needs. The design is…

  • Blinky ghost project

    I wanted to build something cool using my new PIR-sensor. At the same time, a night light I had bought for the children stopped working. It was a IKEA light that looks like a ghost and that is meant to be used as a night light for children. I took it apart, but I couldn’t fix…

  • Five volt box

    I’ve often felt the need for a steady five volt output that I could use to test various components, such as LEDs, push button, rotary encoders and so on. After seeing a few examples on the internet, I decided to build my own little five volt box. I wanted to build the whole thing into…

  • PIR sensor

    Just got a PIR sensor. PIR, as I understand, stands for Passive Infra Red. It’s a cool little thing that detects motion, or actually changes of infrared light. Infrared, in this case, is heat. So whenever a person, or part of a person, or perhaps an animal, or part of an animal moves infront of…

  • Encounter with a rotary encoder

    Out of curiosity (which btw is one of my main driving factors in life), I bought a couple of rotary encoders. A rotary encoder is a knob that turns in small steps. It has no minimum or maximum turning angle – you can turn it as many turns you want. They are often used in…

  • Button Bouncing

    Buttons can bounce? Oh, yeah! If you’ve ever tried programming a microcontroller, you most certainly have come across the problem: buttons can bounce. This means that when you push a button, it goes from off to on, but sometimes it goes back to off again before going to on. This can happen several times within…