Forum - Recent Threads

Wardrobe Light Control

ralphjy — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 16:39:15 GMT

I wasn't going to participate this year because I didn't have a project idea, but as they say "necessity is the father of invention". My son is renovating his master bedroom. He's replaced the carpet, got a new bed, and purchased two of those IKEA style lighted wardrobe kits from Wayfair for his closet. The lighting setup in the wardrobe is fairly simple. A long continuous white LED strip snakes through the various compartments with a manual toggle switch for power. The wardrobe has 6 glass paneled doors (3 small ones on top and 3 tall ones on the bottom). My son asked if I could help him modify the light activation so that the strip would turn on when any of the doors are open. The conception of a Spring Clean project ☺.

There already exist IR sensor switches designed just for this specific type of door application. The switch has barrel connectors that allow it to be inserted between the power supply and LED strip.

These switches are ideal for switching for a single door or location, but are cumbersome to aggregate for multiple locations because of their in-line configuration. It is possible to implement with these sensors, but for 6 doors per wardrobe this is somewhat expensive (~$10 per sensor) and lots of wiring (need to aggregate 6 pairs of cables).

I have some obsolete Everlight ITR20001T IR sensors that would seem ideal for this application. I also have a leftover coil of 4 conductor cable that I could use for wiring. The birth of a Spring Clean project...

My initial thought is that I would route the individual sensor cables back to a central control board and diode "OR" the sensors to control an optocoupled relay to switch the LED power.

My son has most of his lights and blinds controlled using a Nest Hub, so I am also thinking about adding remote control using a Xiao ESP32 module since I have lots of them. And I also have LM1117-5 Voltage Regulators to step down the 12V for the Xiao. It's nice to find a use for these leftover parts.

So I guess I'm finishing the excavator.

LuckierBread — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:50:35 GMT

A while ago I started a project that I intended as a gift for my niece and nephew.

The idea was to have an esp32 with a camera module host a web server and stream video. The phone or computer connected could then drive the rc excavator that I used as the project frame. I unfortunatly missed my deadline due to the complexity of high quality video streams. Turns out mjpeg doesn't cut it. That coupled with having to learn the esp-idf which was way harder than arduino really ran me up against a skill wall that I never got back on.

But it's time to get back on that horse and try again.

Bluetooth Caliper

dougw — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 23:37:53 GMT

This is an addendum to my E-Caliper blog, because that blog has no option to edit.

This video shows the 3 caliper remote displays at the same time:

an LCD microcontroller display
a PC display - via USB
a Tablet display via Bluetooth

https://youtu.be/NjUbKEWJd6U

Links:

E-Caliper

Spring Clean!

Yet another ATX to lab supply project

obones — Mon, 12 May 2025 13:39:07 GMT

Hello all,

Before engaging into this challenge, I'm writing this message to "fish for ideas" about that project of mine that has been sitting in parts on my shelf for more than 14 years.

Basically, it's a classic ATX to lab supply project, and in my case, I have the parts in a variety of bags, one that has even crumpled to bits all by itself.

I have done quite a few Spice simulations, created the project in my favorite CAD software of that time and even went as far as using 3D models for everything to get this nice rendering:

What stopped me in my tracks back then were two issues:

How to create the front panel with precise cuts and nice labels
How to create the 100x160mm (euro size?) single sided PCB

The first part, I can now do it by printing the plate with my 3D printer and so get the precise cutouts. Getting nice labels should be doable with sticker printing services, or maybe just a transparent sheet on the inkjet printer.

But it's the second part that's giving me a hard time as it seems not many services provide such size options at an affordable rate, for delivery in France. However, I must admit that I'm not really good at finding those things.
Note that the cutout in the board is there for a nice 3D rendering but does not need to be present at all on the files I would send to a pcb service.

Would any of you have suggestions?

Person Locator - Original Project Review

ralphjy — Sun, 11 May 2025 06:14:49 GMT

It's been quite a while since I stopped working on the Person Locator Project in December 2022, so my first task is to review how much I had actually accomplished at the point that I had stopped.

This is the cover image that I had for my project draft:

And my original proposal:

"I am going to build a cellular based person recognition device with geolocation. I will use a Nicla Vision board with the ML model developed using Edge Impulse. The Nicla Vision will interface with a Swan Feather board and send notifications and location via the Cellular Notecard."

Looking at the existing hardware I can see that I had already made changes to the original hardware implementation plan. The Swan Feather board wasn't really required since the Nicla Vision board can directly interface to the Cellular Notecard and that allowed me to use a simpler carrier card and reduce size and power. I also noticed that I had started to add a momentary pushbutton and three 3mm LEDs. These parts had not been wired yet so I'm not exactly sure what I was intending - I guess the pushbutton for facial recognition image capture and the LEDs for status.

Here is the 3D printed case - the LEDs are not installed:

And the boards mounted on female headers on a protoboard. The NoteCard is mounted on a NoteCarrier-B (no longer available) and the Nicla Vision is above. The dual antenna is for cellular and GPS.

The protoboard wiring - currently just the I2C communication interface and power/GND connections:

The bottom of the case has some mounting holes for adapter mounts and some clips on the sides to retain the protoboard:

A closeup of the Nicla Vision showing male headers that I added for test points and the last 2 on the right jumper the power together when running on battery - I need to add header pins for the LEDs and pushbutton:

And finally a side view under the NoteCarrier where there is space for a LiPo battery -the battery connector is on top to the left:

Next I'll need to review the state of the existing hardware - I hadn't really gotten beyond initial testing - so this is where most of the effort will be to finish this project.

Danger Will Robinson, it's back off the shelf

robogary — Sun, 04 May 2025 16:10:57 GMT

The Spring Clean competition inspired me me to pull another project off the archive shelf.

It's unlikely to be done for spring, but it doesn't need to be, it's a Halloween project.

In the movie Predator, the alien has a weapons controls panel on his forearm.

I started a project to use a similar forearm mounting for a video screen with an old fashioned green CRT radar display.

First choice was a functional display using a rotating ToF sensor, lidar, or the like. Second choice was just playing a video that looked like radar is working.

The project went dormant because of the cost of lidar sensors, and complexity of the layered animation. Even just getting a video o play had some unexpected costs and complications.

I have the Rpi with a touchscreen, ready to start. I was going to add discrete io around it for effect, maybe even controls for auxiliary equipment to go with the costume. The costume is a grownup Lost in Space Will Robinson, with a plethora of spacey gadgets and gizmos.

I mention the project here to welcome additional ideas for the radar display.

Spring Clean - Person Locator Second try

ralphjy — Sat, 03 May 2025 19:50:21 GMT

The project that I'm going to try to finish as part of my spring cleaning is something that I had started back in December 2022 as part of the Build a Smarter World Contest run by Blues Wireless on Hackster.IO. It appears that it's been long enough ago that all of my links no longer work. I had to drop out of that contest because of a death in the family and I never could get motivated to finish it. I still have my draft project that I had started documenting on Hackster.

Here is the overview of the Application for hardware that I submitted October 26 that year.

I received a Blues Cellular notecard and carrier to participate in the contest.

It appears that I had completed my hardware and software selection and as I am prone to do - I had 3D printed a case for the proto hardware assembly and had started to try out some software. I had created a github repository that has no code in it.

I had started using OpenMV with the Nicla Vision and Arduino IDE with the Swan but only test code and had not started on an Edge Impulse model. So I need to review where things really are and whether it makes sense to modify my approach since I am older and hopefully wiser now.

Spring Clean - the Perfect Pepper

robogary — Fri, 02 May 2025 14:39:41 GMT

Anticipating the spring competition, I got an early spring start on my project. Technically I live in the south US (tho Floridians and the Carolinans consider it north), spring can kick in mid to late March, mid April is typical last chance for frost.

I usually purchase pre grown seedlings for my deck garden, having tried growing plants from seed with minimal success.

This year I swung for the fence, built a project I've put off for a few years, a monitored growing system to germinate seeds and develop robust seedlings.

The seed monitoring system uses parts already in my inventory, with great thanks to prior E14 shopping carts & webinar prizes for having a generous stash of controllers and sensors on hand. I got to use some sensors that have been in my stash for years.

Peppers are often the focus of my garden because they are expensive at the store, if you can even find the varieties I look for.

This year's attention is to grow Aji Charapita and Aji lemon drop peppers. These are Peruvian varieties that can cost $17 a pound, if you can find them.

Once harvested, these peppers will be used in making unique recipes like venison chili, lamb chili, etc... frozen and pickled for fall and winter tailgating.

I kept sketches, data taking, progress notes, and videos. Once the documentation is organized, the project will be posted.

Hope to see your projects posted too.

Who's ready for a bit of spring cleaning?

JoRatcliffe — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 16:25:12 GMT

Hi everyone, welcome to the latest Project14 competition, Spring Clean! 🌼

This forum is here for you to ask questions, discuss and exchange opinions. We're all rooting for each other so share your progress updates, knowledge gained, and any challenges/victories you have along the way to completing your project.

There is no obligation or points to be scored, but in the spirit of the competition you are very welcome to share any clean (or very messy!) spaces that you're working in right now and we can keep each other motivated through any cleaning or organization work. I'm currently in the process of weeding my parking spot at home but I will spare you the 'before/after' photos since parking spots all look roughly the same 😉

PS. For all the details on how to compete, the prizes and those all-important deadlines, don't forget the Contest Details page here.