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Learning to Simplify: Thevenin and Norton Equivalent Circuits

Learning to Simplify: Thevenin and Norton Equivalent Circuits

This article reviews the basics of finding Thevenin and Norton equivalents and discusses how to apply Thevenin's theorem to a practical circuit.


Clean Power for Every IC, Part 3: Understanding Ferrite Beads

Clean Power for Every IC, Part 3: Understanding Ferrite Beads

Ferrite beads used in conjunction with bypass capacitors can provide improved power-supply filtering and decoupling.


How to Build a Web-based Garage Door Controller

How to Build a Web-based Garage Door Controller

Use your Android device to open and close your garage door! Much better than that clunky remote you've been using.


Light Bar “Relative Comfort” Thermometer with NodeMCU

Light Bar “Relative Comfort” Thermometer with NodeMCU

Create a wireless "relative comfort" light bar thermometer by broadcasting temperature data across multiple ESP8266 modules running NodeMCU using MQTT.


Projects Sep 28, 2015 by Patrick Lloyd
Clean Power for Every IC, Part 2: Choosing and Using Your Bypass Capacitors

Clean Power for Every IC, Part 2: Choosing and Using Your Bypass Capacitors

Proper component selection and careful PCB layout are integral to power supply bypassing.


Your Guide to Home PCB Fabrication

Your Guide to Home PCB Fabrication

Use a program like Kicad and a few cheap or common supplies to fabricate your own PCBs at home. Breadboarding is fine for testing a circuit, but it never looks good to have fifty wires coming out of a circuit.


How to Add Bluetooth to a Ceiling Fan

How to Add Bluetooth to a Ceiling Fan

How to add BLE capabilities to a wireless ceiling fan by incorporating the nRF51 in the remote control. Part of our series on the nRF51.


Introduction to FreeRTOS on the nRF51

Introduction to FreeRTOS on the nRF51

This article demonstrates porting FreeRTOS to the nRF51 with a softdevice so you can use an RTOS with the BLE functionality.


The New Wireless Thread Network Protocol

The New Wireless Thread Network Protocol

Thread, a network protocol released July 2015, is optimized for the connected home network. It is IPv6 based, uses IEEE Standard 802.15.4 and runs on existing hardware.


eMMCs: An Introduction

eMMCs: An Introduction

NAND Flash is, without a doubt, the cheapest way to store a ton of bits in one place. It's also one of the most aggravating memory mediums to work with: bits wear out, errors pop up, and data gets lost. Why deal with all the hassle of managing your memory manually? Instead, use an eMMC!


Arduino Motor Shield Tutorial

Arduino Motor Shield Tutorial

A tutorial for the Arduino Motor Shield with a simple project. The motor shield has quite a few features such as current measuring and the ability to drive a single stepper motor.


Projects Sep 23, 2015 by Alex Udanis
Using a Serial LCD with a PICAXE

Using a Serial LCD with a PICAXE

Using an LCD increases the versatility of any microcontroller by displaying data outputs and memory contents. This serial adapter uses only one I/O.


Clean Power for Every IC, Part 1: Understanding Bypass Capacitors

Clean Power for Every IC, Part 1: Understanding Bypass Capacitors

A thorough understanding of bypass capacitors will help you to properly incorporate these critical components into your designs.


How to Use RTC with Arduino and LCD

How to Use RTC with Arduino and LCD

This article will show you one way of making an accurate clock by using the Real Time Clock IC DS1307. The time will be shown on a LCD display.


BLE using nRF51: Creating a BLE Peripheral

BLE using nRF51: Creating a BLE Peripheral

How to create a custom BLE GATT peripheral using the nRF51 by creating a service and characteristics.


How to Communicate with a Custom BLE using an Android App

How to Communicate with a Custom BLE using an Android App

Learn how to communicate with a custom BLE peripheral using an Android device.


An LCD for Your Microcontroller Using a Single I/O

An LCD for Your Microcontroller Using a Single I/O

LCDs are great for showing info from your microcontroller. A serial adapter is inexpensive, uses only one I/O, and is easy to connect and to use.


EFM8 Sound Synthesizer: Playing Melodies via USB

EFM8 Sound Synthesizer: Playing Melodies via USB

Part 3 in the “How to Make an EFM8-Based Sound Synthesizer” series.


Projects Sep 17, 2015 by Robert Keim
Writing PICAXE BASIC Code - Part 4

Writing PICAXE BASIC Code - Part 4

Part 4 introduces the readadc, select, case, and endselect PICAXE BASIC commands. It is the fourth article in a multi-part series on writing PICAXE code.


Introduction to the MQTT Protocol on NodeMCU

Introduction to the MQTT Protocol on NodeMCU

MQ Telemetry Transport (MQTT) is a popular low-overhead messaging protocol used by many IoT devices to communicate. This tutorial will show the user how to to set up a basic MQTT network using Python on his or her computer and an ESP8266 running the NodeMCU firmware.


Projects Sep 15, 2015 by Patrick Lloyd