Welcome
This site represents one man's voyage of discovery into the world of electronics and micro-controllers.
I'm very new to this game: I only started in April 2021. So if you've come here in the hope of expert advice, it's time to click away now!
But, if you're learning too, stick around and learn from my mistakes.
Oh, and this is only one of numerous hobbies and interests of mine, so progress is usually sporadic - I do what takes my fancy each day. It's one of the many joys of retirement.
Projects
You can get to all my projects from the Projects menu, surprisingly enough. Here's a list:
555 Chip tester
Having wasted some time tryng to debug a circuit using a 555 timer chip only to find the chip was broken, I was pleased to come across a 555 chip tester circuit online. I've tweaked the circuit and built myself this little tester.
This has the honour of being the first project I managed to actually complete!
Completed Click for more information.
Automating & lighting a diorama
It was thinking about lighting a diorama I am building that got me interested in electronics in the first place, so it's no surprise that I decided to over-complicate things and automate the diorama. And so was born this project.
In progress Click for more information.
Gate Alarm
Every morning, before letting our dog out in the back garden, my wife or I go outside to check our garden gates are bolted properly. Apart from frequently getting cold and wet, we're also concerned about the increase in dog theft and so want to know if anyone opens the gates.
The solution for one gate is simply to lock it. We can't do that with the other because some trade people need access. So this project is about solving that problem by sounding an alarm when the gate opens.
In progress Click for more information.
Electro-tongue drum
After a period of online research and ploughing through the (badly written) examples from the Elegoo Uno R3 Basic Starter Kit I was itching to get going.What I came up with for my first project was the Electro Tongue Drum.
This is a complex project for a beginner like me, so progress is slo...w. After a while it dawned on me I needed to cut my teeth on some simpler projects first. See below…
In progress Click for more information.
Guitar case humidity detector
My best guitars have been warping because of the high humidity where I live. So now I keep them in their cases along with some dehumidifier sachets. But how to check how humid the air is in the cases without opening it and letting more moisture in? This project aims to solve this problem.
Not started Click for more information.
LED Chaser Circuit kit bash
I bought a kit that I messed up building so decided to hack it into a circular LED chaser ornament that lives in a small perspex globe.
In progress Click for more information.
More to come...
I've got several more projects under consideration, some of which my even see the light of day!
Resources
As I've been plodding along I've come across some components that I've found difficult to find adequate information about - at least information I can understand. So I decided to share some of the information I've managed to pull together in case its of interest to others. Check out the Resources menu for more info and for some useful links.
GitHub
There's a GitHub account associated with this site. It's where I keep the source code for my projects.
I'll be using open source license for everything.