Welcome to our sandbox, where we like to play and our passion and creativity are let loose! Our products are born here, some out of necessity, some for fun and others just to see what would happen. Pull up a chair and check out some of our recent projects, even if you are a beginner or expert to all things Arduino we feel we have something for you. we also carry plenty of items in the store for those that may need a few odds and ends.
New additions to our sandbox are a couple nifty boards for interfacing serial/Xbee and level shifting. With the Xbee platform and form factor becoming quite popular we decided to create a couple boards that will making working with these little handy units much easier. The USB to Serial/Xbee board allows for easy, and speedy connections from PC to Xbee(style) boards as well as providing the usual FTDI style header for Arduino sketch uploads or other uses. Another handy board is the Xbee adapter, this unit can level shift from 1.2v up to 5v and provided 8 bi-directional ports for use as a generic level shifter too. Now you can safely hook up those low voltage wireless units or senors to 5v Arduino with ease!
I2C ADC Breakout
A perfect little breakout board for the popular MCP3221 12Bit ADC. Design also contains a voltage reference for precise readings in an easy to use and interface unit. Contains a standard pin out header as well as a grove connector pin out for maximum flexiblity.
MinipH
A simple pH probe interface board that uses the I2C protocol and contains a Grove connector header for easier interfacing with those types of connectors, also have a standard header pinout making it a flexible and cost effective unit for interfacing pH probes with!
LeoPhi
With the popularity of our pH unit growing, and many people thirsty for more robust manuals, datasheets and source code. we decided to create a project page for LeoPhi our USB enabled pH interface. Check it out if you have questions it might help!
GarData
Gardening has always been a passion, and with the growing popularity of both outdoor and indoor gardening its only natural for people too look for automation solutions.
GarData is a modular approach attempting to solve the problem of automation by incorporating many COTS pieces into a working open source system. From accurate time keeping, to wireless control and feed back this project will show you how to create a garden controller!
USB to Serial/Xbee
A FTDI style serial to USB convertor with a twist, not only does it have the standard header breakout config. It also houses the Xbee sockets and is breadboard compatible, check out the project files or grab your own in the store!
Serial/Xbee level shifter
Having to interface separate voltage levels is becoming more and more of an issue. We decided to take it head on and fit a breakout board with a level conversion IC mounted on a breadboard compatible format with Xbee sockets fitted too! This unit is flexible and very useful with 8-ports of bi-directional shifting goodness!
pH Probe Interface
This project focuses on the steps needed to interface a common marine/reef style pH probe to produce a voltage range suitable for ADC input.
If you ever wondered how a pH probe works, or how do you take a negative voltage and condition it for reading on an Arduino, this project is for you!
CT coil Interface
A energy monitoring project that includes information on amplifying and condition a CT coil signal for interfacing with micro controllers.
This project revisits Op-amps and shows how to safely monitor energy based on the Atmel 465 Application Note.
Relay PCB
This project shows how to safely use mechanical relays or any inductive device with microcontrollers.
Since voltage spikes forms when a coil's field collapses it is important that we protect our downstream circuitry from this spike.
Using a diode and transistor we can safely switch a relay to control Mains power!
Smart Relay Power Box
Taking our DIY powertail as inspiration, We decided to use our smart relay controller to power a small box that can be used to remote switch power.
Able to interface a number of modules this unit can even be used with SiriProxy to control lighting, doors, heating. This is a very powerful unit
and the idea could be expanded on very easily!
Install SiriProxy
Siri is a pretty useful tool, but its quite limited by the fact there isn't an API for us to access. Thanks to SiriProxy
We can now use Siri is so many more useful ways. This tutorial will show you how to Install a VM instance, setup Ubuntu and then
load on SiriProxy. Check it out!