Category Archives: Electronics

Electronics

555 Time Lapse Intervalometer

555 Intervalometer camera connectionThis is my entry for the 555 Contest recently started by Jeri Ellsworth and Chris Gammell. It is a camera timer (aka. intervalometer) for taking time lapse videos with my DSLR. It is a very simple circuit designed around a 555 timer IC. It has indicator LEDs, a relay to control the camera, and a potentiometer which allows me to set the photo interval between 15 seconds down to around 1 second.

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Arduino Servo Motor (Part 1)

Arduino servoControlling a servo motor with an Arduino or other type of microcontroller is probably the easiest way to get started in robotics, motion art, or any other reason you may have to make your electronic project interact with the real world. Servos are very simple to interact with and in this post I’ll show you how to connect one to an Arduino.

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DIY HDTV TV Antenna (Bowtie)

DIY HDTV Antenna

Build your own HDTV TV Antenna to cut the cord from your cable provider and save $1000 a year. This DIY antenna is very easy to build with just a few basic tools and a few supplies available from the hardware store.

After being disappointed with the current channel offerings and ever increasing price of our local cable provider, we recently decided to disconnect our cable TV service and go for over the air broadcasts as well as the many online services available now. I built this DB4 antenna, also called a bowtie antenna, to increase the rang of signals I could pick up over the basic rabbit ears antenna.

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How to Read a Resistor Color Code

Resistor Colour CodeHere is a nice resistor color (colour for some of you) code diagram I ran across online. I used to read resistors so often that I didn’t need a guide, but It has been so long that I can no longer decode them from memory. Lately I’ve needed to read some resistor color codes occasionally so I found this chart online. I thought it was very easy to read and have it hanging on the wall in my lab for quick reference. I don’t remember where I found it and I’ve seen it in several locations so I don’t know who to credit but I wanted to repost it here for everyone to make use of.

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Hacker Space in Tulsa, Oklahoma?

I’ve been watching the goings on at the several hacker spaces which are popping up around the world. Specifically NYC Resistor has a lot of interesting activities and the Cow Town Computer Congress is a new space that shows a lot of promise. I was looking for something like that going on in my area but it seems there is none. So, if anyone in the Tulsa area is interested in starting a group like this, please leave a comment here, or send me a message through the contact form.

If you don’t know what a hacker space is, it is a place where people can get together and share ideas and equipment that they may not be able to afford on their own. It is also a place for people to learn from each other and to work on whatever projects they are interested in from electronics to arts and crafts or whatever.

To learn more and maybe find a hacker space in your area, check out this link.