A journal of hobbies
If there was only one type of electronics project I was allowed to work on, I think it would be clocks. I've made a few and I regularly get the urge to make more. I've been thinking about making one using an ESP32 and LCD display that synchronises with internet time servers.. That's how this... Continue Reading →
Back on 3 October 2023 I wrote about the issues I was having building a notifier that would send alerts to our house whenever the mailbox flap opened or someone entered our driveway. Building a smart mailbox: Challenges and unsolved issues. After 2 and a half years and more tinkering I have made some progress.... Continue Reading →
A while back I made a Tuning Wheel For SDR Radio on my PC Using an Angle Sensor. When plugged into a PC, this behaves as a mouse wheel. I'm using it as a tuning knob for SDR software. It works well but I was never very happy with the enclosure. I guess 'enclosure' is... Continue Reading →
I recently came across a discussion on Reddit about MT6701 working modes, where someone referenced my earlier posts on using a magnetic sensor as a rotary encoder. That prompted me to look more closely at the different MT6701 modules currently available and how suitable they are as drop-in replacements for mechanical encoders. What's the point... Continue Reading →
I have a great deal of trouble laying out items for project front panels, particularly where multiple holes have to be aligned. I don't have a CNC router or other high tech tools. I just have old basic tools. I do have a basic saw bench but I think it is at least 70 years... Continue Reading →
I've been working on a SI4732 radio for nearly two months and it's finally finished. The SI4732-A10 is a cheap little IC that contains almost everything needed for an LW, AM, FM, and SW radio. It is controlled through an I²C interface. There are lots of radios out there based on this design, including the... Continue Reading →
I’ve been learning to use LCD displays with Arduino via the LovyanGFX library. What I wanted was a simple image converter, something that could turn a picture into a data array I could paste into my Arduino sketch and display on the screen. A standalone tool is born By Googling, I found an online one... Continue Reading →
I've been building up a small collection of LCD screens for use with Arduino projects. I've uploaded a few example sketches mostly using Bodmer's TFT_eSPI library. I found it a little challenging to set the display configuration in the library, but otherwise it worked well. There seems to be some concern that the library is... Continue Reading →
I've been thinking if there is an easy way to make a simple and cheap control knob to replace those cheap quadrature rotary encoders in Arduino projects without the need to change the Arduino code or at least very minimal changes. This would only work if the angle sensor could produce a quadrature output like... Continue Reading →
I've been experimenting with angle sensor modules to use them as a replacement for those cheap rotary encoders. I like those cheap rotary encoders, but I'm looking for something better where the knob turns smoothly and it doesn't wear out. The cheap encoders wear fairly quickly and then contact bounce can become a problem. Also,... Continue Reading →
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