Category Archives: Technical

Wine Cooler Power Supply

Posted on April 26, 2016 by

I’m just going to blog about this one briefly, in case their are any other enterprising Wine Cooler owners out there who find that, two years into owning their cheapo wine cooler, the power supply craps out. I didn’t take … Continue reading →

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Using ADC with the ESP8266

Posted on March 9, 2016 by

The ESP8266 family of boards still amaze me with their size and cost-effectiveness, but I will confess; the dearth of official information for some of the more esoteric features can be annoying. For my remote garage-door sensor, I wanted to … Continue reading →

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Remote ESP8266-based Garage Door sensor

Posted on March 7, 2016 by

I’ve got a bunch of z-wave light switches and plugs in my house and I use OpenHab as my centralized home automation system. I have a detached garage and neighbors have experienced occasional break-ins in similar garages where people stole tools and … Continue reading →

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NodeMCU Custom Builds for ESP8266

Posted on January 28, 2016 by

OK, just a quick blurb in case anyone else runs into this incredibly frustrating experience: I’m playing with some sensors where I’m interested in really low power consumption. Basically, I want to go into deep sleep, which only draws <100uA, … Continue reading →

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Building another (better) PiCam security camera

Posted on January 19, 2016 by

I blogged briefly about building a security camera back in a previous post. It worked so well I decided to build another, but with a few improvements based on past experience… I used this WiFi adapter (from Aazon): TRENDnet Wireless N 150 … Continue reading →

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Easy, Cheap Connector for ESP-01

Posted on December 4, 2015 by

One thing that’s been pretty annoying playing with the ESp-01 variant of the ESP8266 modules is the pinout form factor. The 2×4 pin configuration does not plug into a prototyping breadboard conveniently, and also doesn’t lend itself to connectors you … Continue reading →

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Arduino-Based WiFi Lawn Sprinkler Controller

Posted on October 18, 2013 by

This post describes a project I undertook to build a home-grown, Arduino-based, WiFi-enabled lawn sprinkler controller. I don’t know about you, but I’m never happy with my lawn sprinkler schedule. In Austin, it can rain till my garage floods one week, … Continue reading →

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Cat Cam

Posted on August 11, 2013 by

A little while ago, I heard a piece about The Secret Life of Cats on NPR. This dude put a camera/GPS logger on a number of cats and mapped what they do throughout the day. There info and a cool … Continue reading →

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Repair the WiFi on Your Foscam FI8904, FI8905 or Maygion IP Camera

Posted on October 26, 2012 by

I have three different WFfi-connected network cameras; a Foscam FI8904, an FI8905, and a “Magion” Chinese knockoff I got on DealExtreme. These cameras are all pretty similar. There are anecdotal stories that the Maygion is really just an unbranded Foscam with custom … Continue reading →

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GE G35 ColorEffects Christmas Tree (part 2)

Posted on December 19, 2011 by

I pretty much have the “Mini Mega Tree” and sequencer enhancements all wrapped up. I only got my hands on five 50 bulb strings of G35’s, so my tree isn’t as big as the “original” Mega Tree, but I was … Continue reading →

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