Viktor has built a great looking project which is a PIC Microntroller based Dual Thermometer using two DS1820 1-Wire Sensors. This allows Viktor to monitor the exact temperature in his fridge and freezer at the same time. Since the sensors are 1-wire this means that they are really easy to wire to the board.

“The temperature sensing part I used for this project is a high-precision 1-Wire digital thermometer chip from Dallas Semiconductors. There are a number of similar ones available; I used the DS1820 because I have a few of them left over from previous projects. This one uses the 1-Wire protocol to communicate with the PIC, doesn’t need any external components and it’s easy to be placed inside a fridge.”

 When I was living the cubicle like it sometimes seemed what time either flew by or slowed to a crawl. This Capricious Clock by our friend Pete Mills makes the second hand move in some strange ways which makes it makes the seconds tick by the way time sometimes feels.

 ”The code keeps track of the 1pps pulses coming from the quartz clock movement, it delays for a random period of time then moves the second hand.  If the “Real Time” elapsed is greater than the displayed time the program will delay anywhere from 1-0.125s to catch up to the “Real Time”.  If the display time is faster, the program will select a random time from 1-8s to slow down so that “Real Time” can catch up.”

Dave Molmen has sent in the picture build log of his custom Exuberant Clock. The clock concept is very interesting. The center of the clock slowly rotates, to read the time all you need to do is see which slot the brass circle is in, this is the hour representation and what minute indication it is beside. The clock face moves the brass indicator across the minute number one per minute and when the full hour has expired the clock advances to allow the time indicator to slide into the next hour indication. Thanks to Dave for turning to the Gear Clock kit electronics as the base electronics controller for this clock. Since this clock doesn’t operate in the same way the Gear Clock did some custom firmware was needed. 

Viktor sent in a great tutorial on How to Fix a Worn out Video Game Controller. Most remote controls use rubber membranes that have conductive end that press against the circuit board when pushed. The circuit board has some gold fingers that get shorted out to register the button press. Viktor uses some metal foil on the rubber membrane to bring the controller back to life. This trick should work fine for devices like your XBOX, Playstation, Wii and  TV remotes.

Tod from d’innovative wanted a way to control his garage door remotely. Have a look at his Wifi Garage Door Opener Project Build for some inspiration when you are ready to build yours. If you are looking for some other options be sure to check out some of the ones we have featured in the past.

Thanks for sending this in Tod

“A wifi garage door opener that I just crafted based on a simple wifi microcontroller (Roving Network’s WiFly, 802.11b/g).

Includes a magnetic switch to detect door status and a web page interface that fits nicely on a smartphone. A pretty straightforward build — only took me a couple of weekends to conceive, craft, and install.”

Laser shows are really cool, Matt from Openschemes cracks into one to show us what the inside looks like.

“The device under investigation will be the CASA CTL-BM RGV Laser Show.  This is a 3-beam laser projector with Red, Green, and Blu-Ray Violet lasers.  It’s legal status for commercial use is doubtful at best, and the safety aspects are extremely suspect due to the use of DPSS green and Blu-Ray Violet lasers.  But it looks freaking fantastic and is quite a treat to poke around inside one.”

Here is a great use for a ton of shiftbrights, it’s a DIY breathalyzer that uses an Arduino to monitor a Gas/Alcohol sensor and display the results on a big row of LEDs.

Via: LED Projects

“The 25 Shiftbrite modules are lined up in a column, which is connected to an Arduino tucked away in a cardboard box and are powered by a 4.5volt 500mA adapter. The Arduino takes readings from an MQ-3 Gas/Alcohol sensor.”