Tag Archives: electronics

Pricing a Mining Robot: Communications

Posted on March 11, 2011 by engineerzero

So I want to build a teleoperated mining robot to operate over the internet. I provided a graphical overview of the system here. Today my nephew and I priced the communications-link components. Supposing for the moment that I actually know … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged arduino, electronics, ethershield, mining, mining robot, robot, robotics, teleoperations, xbee | Leave a comment

Autofade with Fritzing (A review)

Posted on March 8, 2011 by engineerzero

From Fritzing.org: Fritzing is essentially an Electronic Design Automation software with a low entry barrier, suited for the needs of designers and artists. It uses the metaphor of the breadboard, so that it is easy to transfer your hardware sketch … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged autofade, autofade lamp, breadboard, design, diy, electronics, fritzing, fritzing.org, prototype | 1 Comment

Autofade Lamp Test Circuit Upgrade

Posted on March 7, 2011 by engineerzero

On Saturday, I reported that I didn’t have enough current gain in my autofade lamp test circuit to get a flashlight lamp to glow. The solution was to insert a second transistor, so that the circuit looks like this now: … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged autofade, autofade lamp, diy, do it yourself, electronics | Leave a comment

Autofade Table Lamp on Youtube

Posted on March 2, 2011 by engineerzero

Here’s the autofade table lamp video that I posted to Youtube. Values of the capacitor and resistors are subject to tweaking, of course.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged autofade table lamp, diy, do it yourself, electronics, hobby, lamp, lamps, product concept, product design, sketchup | Leave a comment

Autofade Table Lamp Test Circuit

Posted on March 2, 2011 by engineerzero

So, as you recall from my previous entry, I wanted to build an autofade table lamp based on this circuit diagram: This is how the test circuit looks in reality (the hand, by the way, is my nephew’s): (Note that … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged autofade table lamp, diy, electronics, lamp design, product design | 1 Comment

Autofade Table Lamp

Posted on March 1, 2011 by engineerzero

Years ago, my car had an interior light that would come on when the door was opened, then slowly fade away when the door was closed. I now need something like that for my apartment. The light switch next to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged do it yourself, electronics, product design, sketchup, table lamp | Leave a comment

Transistor Follies

Posted on February 23, 2011 by engineerzero

My electrical engineering education at the University of Washington back in the late 1970s was long on theory and short on hands on experience. Hence it wasn’t until recently, when I started to fool around with electronics, that I needed … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged basic robotics, electronics, transistors | 2 Comments

PC to arduino to toy crane

Posted on February 21, 2011 by engineerzero

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged arduino, computer interface, electronics, robotics, robots | 5 Comments

Electronic Schematics in Sketchup

Posted on February 18, 2011 by engineerzero

Sure, your electronics graphics program can make 2D schematics. But can you do this? “Why would I ever want to do that?” you ask. Well, say that you’re putting together a presentation and want to hi-lite specific parts of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged electronics, electronics schematics, good old sang, google sketchup, schematics, sketchup | Leave a comment

PC control of RC toy via Arduino

Posted on February 15, 2011 by engineerzero

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged arduino, electronics, RC, remote control | Leave a comment