Author: dyoung
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e14 Project: A Silent Wireless Laser Tripwire Doorbell
I’ve had a problem since moving into my new place that I can’t hear people knock at my front door. Sure I could get a doorbell at the hardware store, but those things stink. Instead, I thought I’d create a quick and simple Arduino and XBee based system to do it for me: Doorbells are…
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Using Paper Protos to Check EAGLE Footprints
Checking footprints in a PCB layout review with only the on-screen file can be a pain in the neck. There are many different measurements that need to be made for each individual part, and the mouse-based measurement tool can be somewhat obnoxious to get exactly on the edge of a pad. There is a much…
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E14: Reviewing Fluke’s VT04 Visual IR Thermometer
This past week I got a Fluke VT04, a Visual IR Thermometer. It is basically a $1,000 version of the very expensive IR cameras. While it doesn’t have the resolution or nice image viewing computer software, boy was it easy to use! Still, given the amazing performance of the Mikron TH7515 from my Keithley days…
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Arduino Clones Can Be Better Than Shields
Arduino is certainly the most popular method of getting info electronics, or at least embedded electronics. My BlueStamp Engineering students seem to gravitate to them when selecting their projects. But what about after the first few projects have been created with the Arduino? What if the designer wants to add a relay, or another LED…
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Finally, an Arduino library for EAGLE!
Have you put together an Arduino-based circuit and looking to nicely (but easily) document it? Or perhaps you’re looking to create an Arduino Shield with EAGLE and want to start with the correct dimensions of the headers. Element14 has come to the rescue with the Arduino library of EAGLE parts for exactly that. There are…
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Compiling Chris’ Context: An Interview with Chris Gammell
Chris Gammell is an accomplished Electrical Engineer who currently works in electronics design by day and talks his head off about electronics by night to anyone that’ll listen. He co-hosts The Amp Hour podcast, writes on ChrisGammell.com, tweets more than most engineers, and is on the cusp of launching a new way to learn electronics:…
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Frame-It: A Tool For Wading Through Millions of Parts
Hardware engineers everywhere know how crrazy selecting parts can be. Especially when a part change needs to occur months after intiial part selection. Why was this part so special? What were the nuances of it again? Frame-it is a chrome extension that allows you to save a document or web page while taking notes as…
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E14 Op Ed: A uC course for Everyone
Have you ever heard Hardware people swearing up and down that a failure cannot be a problem with the board? What about hearing that after listening to the software folk extolling the virtues of their code while explaining how that very same failure cannot be a software issue? Human nature can be a funny thing…
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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 –…