Hot Tub: ESP8266 IoT Temp Monitor and NeoPixel Lighting
Finally got our free hot tub hooked up. Well, not so "free". Hot tubs are never free unless you have all the electrical and other bits already. Anyway, I wanted to add some remote temperature monitoring as well as jazz up the lighting a bit. Given Winters can get pretty cold here in Canada, I wanted to get notified if the temp falls below a threshold as frozen pipes in a hot tub pretty…
ESP8266 – Lessons Learned
I've gotten enough ESP8266 projects under my belt to have a few lessons learned to share with you. The ESP comes in many flavors. One of my favorites is the NodeMCU. I also like the Adafruit Huzzah WDT Reset Error: This error was the bane of my existence for quite some time. When experiencing this, you typically see your sketch run and fail. Using the Serial Monitor and carefully placed statements, you can usually…
Review: RBBell – Electronic Bike Horn
Today, I'm doing a review of the RBBell electronic bike horn. This is a battery powered piezo that beeps when the button is pressed. Pretty simple. It's loud (as in 120dB loud)! It startled me after accidentally pressing the button during my review video. I can tell already this is going to be effective when I hit the trails. I do a fair bit of biking. Most of which is in trails not…
WIoT: Weather Station & IoT Notifier
Update: Check out my latest version of this project WIoT-2. This is a project that I have been wanting to do for some time. Since the marrying of IoT with microcontrollers, the world of cloud-connected devices has taken off. I had a hard time naming this thing because its sort of a swiss army knife of IoT. I keep coming up with new ideas as to what to connect to and control. I've done other…
FeeYoung – FatShark 600TVL Rotating Camera Mount
This allows you to mount the FatShark TVL600 (or similar) FPV camera so it can be rotated by a servo on the FeeYoung ZX-250 quad frame. The flange is printed wider with a support. Once printed and cooled, you have to twist the flange to break it free. A few twists back-and-forth will loosen it up so it can act as a bearing. The right side flange is printed flat and can be slid on…
FVT LittleBee 20A ESC Mounts – FeeYoung Frame
You can use these mounts to hold a set of small ESCs in place on your quad. These were made for a FeeYoung ZX-250 frame and mount the FVT LittleBee 20A ESCs. However, they may work for others. Requires Hot glue or Goop (my favourite). Note: This is a single STL but 2 parts. FVT LittleBee ESCs FeeYoung ZX-250 Carbon Fiber Frame Tinker this thing.
LulzBot Mini: Arduino Temp Monitor / Fan & LED Controller
I'm on a mission to reduce the amount of noise my LulzBot Mini 3D printer makes. I've already added a motor damper to the Y axis. However, one thing that is consistently noisy is the case fan. It's on at > 70% nearly all the time. In addition to this, the air vent fins in the side of the case amplifies the fan noise. So, I decided to build my own fan controller. …
DIY & Hobby Projects: Parts, Components & Tools Must Have’s
Most people who visit to this site are either DIY'ers, Makers, Hackers, or Robotics / RC enthusiast. For the most part, we all do the same thing - we build or mod stuff for our projects or hobbies. Over the years, experience and repetition has given we wisdom as to what works, what doesn't, and key components that I want to have on hand. I wanted to share a list of parts/components I have found useful for…
LulzBot Mini: WebCam & LED Mount
Given that I can't leave well enough alone, along comes my latest project. I was trying to both have good lighting on the build platform as well as a stable platform for the web camera. My first run at a camera mount used a series of flex hose pieces I printed. However, getting them to snap together required warming them up and press fitting them to each other. After they cooled down however, the fit…
LulzBot Mini: LED Lighting Controller
Update: Check out the more recent mod - camera mount and better lighting. So, I just got my LulzBot Mini this week and have to say I love this thing. It's my 2nd 3D printer (I Kickstarted the M3D - but it was not a reliable machine). Anyway, like any guy with a new toy, I had to do something to make it my own! ..and why not print some parts for it! The…