Category: Maker

I have a project which needs some mid power (~3W) white wide angle (120+°) LEDs.

The obvious source ie eBay which means running the gamut of Chinese sellers, sellers who rarely understand the product they sell and probably expect the same of buyers.

Buying electronic components on eBay

Component sales tend to fall into categories:

1. those with headline descriptions that have very brief description of characteristics; and
2. those whose descriptive content claims well known part numbers for which datasheets can separately be found;
3. those with detailed specifications offered.

In the case of category 1, it is very hard to have confidence that the components will deliver required performance, and headline descriptions on eBay are often used as competitive search keywords and do not apply to the goods on offer. These are probably best skipped unless they are the only option.

Category 2 provides a better option, and the question then on delivery is whether the goods are compliant with the part number offered. There is a considerable risk of counterfeit or fake parts that are not equivalent to the claimed part number, even where brand names are cited.

The third category can provide suitable product, but it takes some leg work, more than ‘due diligence’ to check the description for consistency and form an idea about its reliability, fit to the requirements and then value for money, seller reputation etc. This can be a lot of work for a few dollars worth of parts, but is a better option than category 1.  Continue reading A search for some mid power white wide angle LEDs

A common scheme for Lua scripted NodeMCU modules with automatically start the script init.lua is to incorporate some logic to test the condition of a GPIO pin to determine whether to boot to the application or drop to the lua prompt for programming etc. In fact the scheme can be elaborated to provide a simple multi level selection based on the time the input condition is applied.

The obvious pin to use is the pin that commonly has a “BOOT” or “FLASH” button on it, GPIO0 or D3. It is used to activate the ESP8266 boot loader if it is low during boot, so it must be left high at boot to allow the lua interpreter to run, but it can be pulled low shortly after boot up and tested from init.lua.

An example init script follows.

print("\n\nHold Pin00 low for 1s t0 stop boot.")
print("\n\nHold Pin00 low for 3s for config mode.")
tmr.delay(1000000)
if gpio.read(3) == 0 then
  print("Release to stop boot...")
  tmr.delay(1000000)
  if gpio.read(3) == 0 then
    print("Release now (wifi cfg)...")
    print("Starting wifi config mode...")
    dofile("wifi_setup.lua")
    return
  else
    print("...boot stopped")
    return
    end
  end
print("Starting app.lua")
dofile("app.lua")

Above is a pic of the helper. The DIP switch allows selection of the BOOT pulse in 1s increments. It has four connections, ground, Vdd, BootOut, and Reset (optional). The button near the DIP switch resets the helper which in turn will apply a 10ms reset pulse to the Reset line. Continue reading Reset helper for NodeMCU ESP8266 modules

The generic heating / cooling controller (hcctl) is a flexible bang-bang thermostat controller based on an ATTiny25.

The project has been expanded to accept the Aosong DHT22 temperature and humidity sensor. The DHT22 produces a digital output (signed tenths of a degree) has a range of -40° to 80°, accuracy of about 0.5°, and 0-99.9% RH and costs a few dollars. hcctl can be configured for either temperature or humidity sensing (not both simultaneously).

Above is a development prototype with the DHT22 being heated by a small incandescent dial lamp to test function.

Continue reading DHT22 (AM2302) input for the generic heating / cooling controller