Category: Projects
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Chevy Keyless Entry Remote Failure & Repair
I currently drive a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt which is a remarkable automobile in the most fundamental sense: providing reasonable transportation for a reasonable cost. She currently has ~102k miles and going strong. Although this last year I’ve had both of my keyless entry systems fail. Since I’m the only one who usually drives the car,…
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E14 Article: EAGLE Autorouter Exploration
Anyone who is getting into PCB design will automatically be intrigued by the autorouter. It would make sense to the outside observer that an algorithm would be able to process millions of iterations of routings that finds the best balance of short traces, few vias, and well-organized traces. Similar to cracking a random password –…
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E14 News: Time of the Hardware Startup
Has anyone else noticed that there are more and more hardware startups being formed, and becoming successful? I’ve seen a significant change in the focus at many of the events I’ve attended in 2013 and am excited for what is on the way! My recent Element14 article shares exactly what I mean: …..Given all of…
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Cypress PsoC4 Pioneer Kit: Further Blurring The Line Between Analog and Digital
I recently got my hands on a Cypress Pioneer Kit powered by a PSoC4 4200 microcontroller. A neat $25 prototyping/tinkering board, to be sure. But before I start building a project with it, I simply had to check the programmable analog specs! See what I found by reading my latest Element14 Article: Read The…
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Using ‘ownCloud’ on Raspberry Pi to Take Back Control of Data
Last month I lost what could have been a beautiful night laying out a PCB while at a secluded cottage because Google Drive didn’t sync a couple of my board files. I switched to Microsoft Skydrive for my cloud-based storage since Windows Mesh worked so well for me over the years before it was discontinued.…
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How to Easily Burn a Binary File to an MSP430 Chip Using the LaunchPad
Want to give some Texas Instruments MSP430 firmware to a friend who doesn’t have an IDE like CCS or IAR installed? All they need is a Binary file you create, an MSP430 Launchpad, and a small program called LITE FET-Pro430. If you’re trying to update firmware without being there in the flesh, this is a…
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MSP430 Project Helps Disabled Kids Learn, Play
Young Circuit Designs has long been a supporter of RePlay For Kids, a Cleveland, OH based charity that modifies mainstream toys for children with disabilities. Since many electronic toys utilize activation switches that require a level of dexterity that not all children have, Replay modifies the toy to add a more accessible switch in parallel. This…
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A Raspberry Pi First Project: Dog Kennel Status Webpage
I recently got my hands on a Raspberry Pi with the goal of writing an article on how suitable the platform is for an education program like BlueStamp Engineering. However once I got rolling, I simply had to make something of my own. I’m not very experienced with Linux, Apache, or Python so I thought…
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A Double-Kettle All-Electric Brewing System with MSP-430
For those who know me, beer isn’t just about the drinking. It’s also about the brewing. I’ve casually brewed beer for years, only getting serious with my own setup a year ago. However brewing in front of a stove can be annoying especially when trying to brew 2 different batches at once. To make the experience…
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E14 Article: Denhack Lecture Series #3 – Test Equipment
Another Denhac talk is all set for Saturday 4/28/12 1:30pm at 975 E 58th Ave, Unit N Denver, CO 80216! I wrote all about what I’m planning to talk about in my lastest Element14 article: …..We decided that it would be fun to keep it going with more talks on electronics! While everyone seemed to…