Most of my projects are fairly simple, low powered and run off 5V. Until recently I've used a cheap USB hub plugged into an old iPad charger. This actually worked fairly well, other than the hub connections being a bit dodgy. However, I wanted to be able to switch individual items on and off. You... Continue Reading →
Converting LifeChat headset for external output and mic with Zoom and MS Teams
One thing that I've noticed since the pandemic started is that there are far more online meetings in general and also interviews on TV where the guest joins remotely via the web. I like both of these. While not having guests travel to studios is usually fine, sometimes I feel it could easily improved if... Continue Reading →
Mini voltmeters with breadboard projects
When working with a project on a breadboard I've been caught with the supply voltage on the breadboard not being what I expected which resulted in the project not working as expected. To help prevent this I've bought some cheap mini 2 and 3 wire voltmeters. These sell for a couple of (AU) dollars. The... Continue Reading →
Using an ESP32 to get my WordPress viewing stats
I remember seeing an ESP8266 project years ago that displayed a Youtubers subscriber count on an LED display. I was really impressed by that project. Recently I wondered if a similar thing could be done with wordpress.com stats, in this case not showing subscribers, but daily views. I did come across this response to a... Continue Reading →
Queuing files to the DFPlayer mp3 player module
In a previous post I presented how I use the DFPlayer module for playing audio files. In this one I'm going to share the code I use for the Arduino and DFPlayer to queue files. This allows files to be queued and played in sequence while the processor is doing other tasks. I've used this... Continue Reading →
MP3 DFPlayer notes: clones, noise, speakers, wrong file plays and no library
2 combined clock and timer projects using the DFPlayer modules I've used the DFPlayer mp3 player in a number of projects now, not as a music player, rather just for playing brief announcements in a timer and clock projects. The DFRobot site lists applications and they all appear to be for announcements, so theoretically it... Continue Reading →
MP3 speech files for use in clock projects
In recent post I've posted about Using Text to Speech online tools to create audio files for Arduino projects and Batch processing files with Audacity. I have a couple of projects that use speech alerts and one of those is a speaking clock. It announces the time at the press of a button, but more... Continue Reading →
Batch processing files with Audacity
In my last post Using Text to Speech online tools to create audio files for Arduino projects I had some info about online text to audio sites I have been using to create audio alert files for projects. The files produced by ttsmp3.com seemed to have a lower audio level than I expected. I found... Continue Reading →
Using Text to Speech online tools to create audio files for Arduino projects
I’ve made a couple of projects that play audio alerts using a dfplayer and MP3 files. One in a clock that plays announcements and the other a countdown timer. When I did those, I used onlinetonegenerator.com to convert text to speech. I liked the voices but it doesn’t have an option to save the audio... Continue Reading →
Reliably debouncing rotary encoders with Arduino and ESP32
I love those simple cheap rotary encoders as used in the KY-040 modules as a method of getting user input with Arduino and ESP32 projects. The issue of bounce with them is significant and for years I’ve been looking a reliable method of dealing with it. I thought I had it figured out by either... Continue Reading →