tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48239502028628427522024-03-12T23:14:45.518-04:00Open Source JourneymandesNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4823950202862842752.post-39930191389045024662009-11-20T16:51:00.021-05:002009-11-21T20:49:57.505-05:00MicroRax Construction KitsFor anyone interested in incorporating dreams and ideas to reality, consider this recently released construction set called MicroRax. MicroRAX is a set of parts that can easily be used to assemble your latest project. It reminds me of the erector sets I used to play with as a child but much more. I wish I had had something as cool as this when I was younger.The foundation of the kits consists ofdesNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4823950202862842752.post-67260252112992460702009-11-14T19:03:00.004-05:002009-11-14T19:26:28.788-05:00Digi Smart PlugOne of the interesting topics discussed yesterday during the Digi Webinar is a new product called the SmartPlug. It looks like one of the network extenders or routers. It includes an ambient light sensor but also a switch that allows a light or some other appliance to be plugged into it and controlled. In addition to being able to turn the appliance 'on' and 'off,' it will give a status of the desNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4823950202862842752.post-46395323702712708712009-11-08T17:35:00.000-05:002009-11-08T17:37:35.570-05:00Digi WebinarFor those of you interested in the iDigi.com XBee controllers and radios, there is a free Webinar on Wednesday, 11 November at 1:00PM - 2:00PM EST. Key Product Focus will be on XBee, ConnectPort X, iDigi Dia, iDigi platform. I will be attending and taking notes.desNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4823950202862842752.post-64768429339138213672009-11-08T17:24:00.002-05:002009-11-08T17:35:45.325-05:00Away Due to Health IssuesFor the past few weeks I have had some personal health issues that have prevented me from keeping up with my projects, including posting to this blog. Thankfully I have worked through the issues and am feeling better and am catching up with all of my projects. My goal is to start posting and due a minimum of one post per day for the next month, with the possible exception of Thanksgiving Day. I desNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4823950202862842752.post-11769452914044162102009-10-25T16:34:00.008-04:002009-10-25T18:38:36.734-04:00Energy HarvestersEnergy harvesting, according to Wikipedia, "is the process by which energy is derived from external sources (e.g., solar power, thermal energy, wind energy, salinity gradients, and kinetic energy), captured, and stored." So any solar, wind, etc. system that stores energy in batteries or capacitors would be considered an energy harvester. What I am going to focus on are much smaller energy desNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4823950202862842752.post-63132518929064651282009-10-25T13:19:00.004-04:002009-10-25T13:31:36.826-04:00Preview to ComeI recently inquired about receiving a sample from the MicroRAX T-Slot building kit. I was quite surprised to get a call from one of the co-owners of the company, Chris Burrows, who gave me a quick rundown of the company and the products. The kits are a "light weight minature T-Slot building kit" which can be used for engineering mock-ups or any type of maker projects. Once I receive the samples IdesNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4823950202862842752.post-54223300937515553092009-09-21T13:39:00.002-04:002009-09-21T13:49:51.890-04:00DIY SMD?More and more parts are SMD type package only and is just to hard to manually solder, with my old age eyes. Has anyone out there heard of any DIY methods for soldering the SMD type packages to boards? Sparkfun puts out a nice breakout board for 6 pin SOT-23-5 so if there was an easy way to solder the component to the breakout board, it could then be worked with in a normal fashion.Anyone have anydesNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4823950202862842752.post-28917621477899527672009-09-16T18:36:00.002-04:002009-09-16T18:52:22.124-04:00What I'm DoingSince the link between me and my readers (that would be you folks) is I post--you read, with no feedback I have tended to not post anything until I have some sort of closure. Projects I'm working on but have not finished are:-Sensor array consisting of a temperature sensor, light sensor, LED along with a uController & XBee to measure light and temperature of a room and provide light based on desNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4823950202862842752.post-14047182978895803162009-09-01T11:07:00.002-04:002009-09-01T11:21:19.742-04:00Comments, Spam, etc.I have adjusted the permissions of the blog so anyone can leave a comment without signing in or having either a Google or OpenID. Bloggers typically jump for joy when their blog is appropriately littered with comments, either positive or negative. While I don't measure my self-worth on the number of comments I receive, I do appreciate the feedback when it adds to the discussion.So feel free to desNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4823950202862842752.post-59674808800329364322009-08-30T11:05:00.003-04:002009-09-30T11:50:56.576-04:00Sensor Arrays, Ctd.Humidity sensors are typically more expensive than temperature sensors and are more complex to design/build a circuit around. As the price goes up, the fewer additional parts are needed but once the price gets beyond the $50 range, I'm not that interested. For about fifteen dollars and about five more in additional parts, a decent humidity sensor can be built. I plan to do some mapping in my homedesNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4823950202862842752.post-77226936737777840832009-08-30T10:32:00.003-04:002009-08-30T11:05:25.360-04:00Sensor ArraysFor my home automation project I am designing some sensor arrays to collect various type of data. Examples of sensor types include temperature, humidity, light intensity, proximity, sound and possibly a RFID reader. Each sensor array will be connected to an XBee Series 2 transceiver in order to be linked to the wireless network. When possible, a sensor will be designed to use an energy harvester desNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4823950202862842752.post-63356611024717151872009-08-30T10:03:00.003-04:002009-08-30T10:32:13.225-04:00Energy HarvestersEnergy Harvesters are starting to be mentioned and talked about by some of the technical e-zines. Basically energy harvesters consist of a circuit to keep a battery or super capacitor charged by collecting small amounts of energy using a transducer. Typically the energy harvester is charging a sensor (i.e. temperature, humidity, light, proximity). Transducers can be photovoltaic cells but since desNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4823950202862842752.post-64317073735733612582009-08-30T09:56:00.002-04:002009-08-30T10:03:19.660-04:00Speed BloggingWhile waiting for parts, tools, time to spend and getting my brain working to finish the projects I'm working on before blogging about them I'm going to do some speed blogging where I talk about the projects and some other topics on my mind. Most of the topics will be related to microcontrollers, XBee radios and Home Automation but occasionally I will veer off the path with a rant or two.Any desNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4823950202862842752.post-11427228589275447952009-08-08T19:12:00.003-04:002009-08-08T19:23:57.407-04:00Topic RequestsThe blog will start picking up with both short and longer posts on a variety of subjects along the lines of home automation, alternative energy, smart homes and how to design and build items where the costs are not prohibitive.If you have any ideas and/or requests that you would like for me to write about, feel free to let me know in the comment section or my email address in my profile.desNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4823950202862842752.post-56966400820034830232009-07-28T12:02:00.003-04:002009-07-28T12:10:21.807-04:00Python Bootcamp - Day 1Boot camp accommodations are nice, class size is small (four total) and the instructor is well informed and can answer questions outside of the study material. So far I would say I made the correct decision, at least when it comes to learning. My hotel selection was a crash-n-burn but more on that subject later.The only downside to the class is that it is taught on Windows' computers but the desNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4823950202862842752.post-89493395869452751332009-07-23T07:19:00.003-04:002009-07-24T18:32:05.369-04:00Python BootcampNext week I will be attending the Open Technology Group Python Bootcamp. Training will consist of 5 days and is tailored for programmers with experience in other languages and want to learn the fundamentals of Python. I have been playing with Python for several months but had no real project in mind so I would read a Python article or book after work, try out some of the examples and then lose desNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4823950202862842752.post-47079579380896868412009-07-17T09:53:00.003-04:002009-07-17T10:20:22.496-04:00Adding to the Brain TrustI recently joined the Tampa Bay Microcontrollers and Robotics group to share ideas in using the Arduino (and other) microcontrollers. The group was only started recently but already we have had a lively discussion on high brightness LED circuits and members have volunteered to combine orders to some of the stores that sell microcontroller accessories, sensors and components. We didn't even have desNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4823950202862842752.post-24412630920246453232009-07-15T16:44:00.003-04:002009-07-15T17:14:01.536-04:00Arduino DuemilanoveI'm in the stage of planning on how many sensors and what types I will use throughout the house. While Digi provides some basic sensors like temperature, humidity, brightness and some others there will always be a need for something specific. In addition to sensors there is also the ability to send out commands to control things like lights, fans, entertainment equipment, etc. To build my own desNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4823950202862842752.post-67926790505401843472009-07-12T17:20:00.003-04:002009-07-12T17:32:19.840-04:00Digi Wireless Design ContestDigi is sponsoring a Wireless Design Contest. The way it works is you purchase one of three of their Wireless Starter Kits, design a solution and submit. There are quarterly winners and the top prize is $7,500.00. I bought one of the kits before I knew about the contest and enjoyed the 50% off on the price of the starter kits. So even if you have no interest in the contest, it is a chance to get desNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4823950202862842752.post-58258591001888167012009-07-12T10:23:00.007-04:002009-07-12T14:12:01.384-04:00ZigBee Wireless & PythonI recently became interested in ZigBee Wireless Radios as part of Home Automation and tracking home energy usage. ZigBee is a wireless mesh networking standard intended to be simpler and less expensive than other WPANs, such as Bluetooth. They are very useful in in wireless control and monitoring applications due to the low power-usage which allows longer life with smaller batteries, and the meshdesNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4823950202862842752.post-11300755241247664552009-07-07T08:47:00.002-04:002009-07-07T08:51:31.284-04:00First PostThis is the first post of my personal blog. I will be writing about my development interests, F/OSS and occasionally politics, but usually in how it relates to technology. I am currently participating in a contest using XBee wireless sensors to demonstrate ways to save energy and will write about that also.I welcome feedback but expect it to be polite and spam-free.Thanks,desNotesdesNoteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08289157122412190906noreply@blogger.com0