Functionality, structure and handling of a power module
For readers with first steps in power management the “Abc of Power Modules” contains the basic principles necessary for the selection and use of a power module. The book describes the technical relationships and parameters related to power modules and the basis for calculation and measurement techniques.
Contents
Basics
This chapter describes the need of a DC/DC voltage converter and its basic functionality. Furthermore, various possibilities for realizing a voltage regulator are presented and the essential advantages of a power module are mentioned.
Circuit topologies
Circuit concepts, buck and boost topologies very frequently used with power modules are explained in detail and further circuit topologies are introduced.
Technology, construction and regulation technology
The mechanical construction of a power module is presented, which has a significant influence on EMC and thermal performance. Furthermore, control methods are explained and circuit design tips are provided in this chapter.
Measuring methods
Meaningful measurement results are absolutely necessary to assess a power module. The relevant measurement points and measurement methods are described in this chapter.
Handling
The aspects of storage and handling of power modules are explained, as well as their manufacturing and soldering processes.
Selection of a power modules
Important parameters and criteria for the optimal selection of a power module are presented in this section.
Maker Line is a line sensor with 5 x IR sensors array that is able to track line from 13 mm to 30 mm width.
The sensor calibration is also simplified. There is no need to adjust the potentiometer for each IR sensor. You just have to press the calibrate button for 2 seconds to enter calibration mode. Afterwards you need to sweep the sensors array across the line, press the button again and you are good to go.
The calibration data is saved in EEPROM and it will stay intact even if the sensor has been powered off. Thus, calibration only needs to be carried out once unless the sensor height, line color or background color has changed.
Maker Line also supports dual outputs: 5 x digital outputs for the state of each sensor independently, which is similar to conventional IR sensor, but you get the benefit of easy calibration, and also one analog output, where its voltage represents the line position. Analog output also offers higher resolution compared to individual digital outputs. This is especially useful when high accuracy is required while building a line following robot with PID control.
Features
Operating Voltage: DC 3.3 V and 5 V compatible (with reverse polarity protection)
Recommended Line Width: 13 mm to 30 mm
Selectable line color (light or dark)
Sensing Distance (Height): 4 mm to 40 mm (Vcc = 5 V, Black line on white surface)
Sensor Refresh Rate: 200 Hz
Easy calibration process
Dual Output Types: 5 x digital outputs represent each IR sensor state, 1 x analog output represents line position.
Support wide range of controllers such as Arduino, Raspberry Pi etc.
Downloads
Datasheet
Tutorial: Building A Low-Cost Line Following Robot
Developing CoAP applications for Thread networks with Zephyr
This book will guide you through the operation of Thread, the setup of a Thread network, and the creation of your own Zephyr-based OpenThread applications to use it. You’ll acquire knowledge on:
The capture of network packets on Thread networks using Wireshark and the nRF Sniffer for 802.15.4.
Network simulation with the OpenThread Network Simulator.
Connecting a Thread network to a non-Thread network using a Thread Border Router.
The basics of Thread networking, including device roles and types, as well as the diverse types of unicast and multicast IPv6 addresses used in a Thread network.
The mechanisms behind network discovery, DNS queries, NAT64, and multicast addresses.
The process of joining a Thread network using network commissioning.
CoAP servers and clients and their OpenThread API.
Service registration and discovery.
Securing CoAP messages with DTLS, using a pre-shared key or X.509 certificates.
Investigating and optimizing a Thread device’s power consumption.
Once you‘ve set up a Thread network with some devices and tried connecting and disconnecting them, you’ll have gained a good insight into the functionality of a Thread network, including its self-healing capabilities. After you’ve experimented with all code examples in this book, you’ll also have gained useful programming experience using the OpenThread API and CoAP.
40+ Projects using Arduino, Raspberry Pi and ESP32
This book is about developing projects using the sensor-modules with Arduino Uno, Raspberry Pi and ESP32 microcontroller development systems. More than 40 different sensors types are used in various projects in the book. The book explains in simple terms and with tested and fully working example projects, how to use the sensors in your project. The projects provided in the book include the following:
Changing LED brightness
RGB LEDs
Creating rainbow colours
Magic wand
Silent door alarm
Dark sensor with relay
Secret key
Magic light cup
Decoding commercial IR handsets
Controlling TV channels with IT sensors
Target shooting detector
Shock time duration measurement
Ultrasonic reverse parking
Toggle lights by clapping hands
Playing melody
Measuring magnetic field strength
Joystick musical instrument
Line tracking
Displaying temperature
Temperature ON/OFF control
Mobile phone-based Wi-Fi projects
Mobile phone-based Bluetooth projects
Sending data to the Cloud
The projects have been organized with increasing levels of difficulty. Readers are encouraged to tackle the projects in the order given. A specially prepared sensor kit is available from Elektor. With the help of this hardware, it should be easy and fun to build the projects in this book.
Build your textbook weather station or conduct environmental research together with the whole world. With many practical projects for Arduino, Raspberry Pi, NodeMCU, ESP32, and other development boards.
Weather stations have enjoyed great popularity for decades. Every current and even every long discontinued electronics magazine has regularly featured articles on building your own weather station. Over the years, they have become increasingly sophisticated and can now be fully integrated into an automated home — although this often requires loyalty to an (expensive) brand manufacturer across all components.
With your own weather and environmental data, you can keep up and measure things that no commercial station can. It’s also fun: expand your knowledge of electronics, current microcontroller development boards and programming languages in a fun and meaningful way. For less than 10 euros you can get started and record your first environmental data — with time and growing interest, you will continue to expand your system.
In this Edition
Which Microcontroller Fits My Project?
The Right Development Environment
Tracking Wind and Weather
Weather Display with OpenWeatherMap and Vacuum Fluorescent Display
Volatile Organic Compounds in the Air We Breathe
Working with MQ Sensors: Measuring Carbon Monoxide — Odorless but Toxic
CO2 Traffic Light with ThingSpeak IoT Connection
An Automatic Plant Watering System
Good Indoor Climate: Temperature and Humidity are Important criteria
Classy Thermometer with Vintage Tube Technology
Nostalgic Weather House for the Whole Family
Measuring Air Pressure and Temperature Accurately
Sunburn Warning Device
DIY Sensor for Sunshine Duration
Simple Smartphone Says: Fog or Clear View?
Identifying Earthquakes
Liquid Level Measurement for Vessels and Reservoirs
Water pH Value Measurement
Detecting Radioactive Radiation
GPS: Sensor Location Service Across the Globe
Saving and Timestamping Log Files on SD Cards
LoRaWAN, The Things Network, and ThingSpeak
Operating a LoRaWAN Gateway for TTN
Defying "Wind and Weather"
Mega Display with Weather Forecasz
Build your textbook weather station or conduct environmental research together with the whole world. With many practical projects for Arduino, Raspberry Pi, NodeMCU, ESP32, and other development boards.
Weather stations have enjoyed great popularity for decades. Every current and even every long discontinued electronics magazine has regularly featured articles on building your own weather station. Over the years, they have become increasingly sophisticated and can now be fully integrated into an automated home — although this often requires loyalty to an (expensive) brand manufacturer across all components.
With your own weather and environmental data, you can keep up and measure things that no commercial station can. It’s also fun: expand your knowledge of electronics, current microcontroller development boards and programming languages in a fun and meaningful way. For less than 10 euros you can get started and record your first environmental data — with time and growing interest, you will continue to expand your system.
In this Edition
Which Microcontroller Fits My Project?
The Right Development Environment
Tracking Wind and Weather
Weather Display with OpenWeatherMap and Vacuum Fluorescent Display
Volatile Organic Compounds in the Air We Breathe
Working with MQ Sensors: Measuring Carbon Monoxide — Odorless but Toxic
CO2 Traffic Light with ThingSpeak IoT Connection
An Automatic Plant Watering System
Good Indoor Climate: Temperature and Humidity are Important criteria
Classy Thermometer with Vintage Tube Technology
Nostalgic Weather House for the Whole Family
Measuring Air Pressure and Temperature Accurately
Sunburn Warning Device
DIY Sensor for Sunshine Duration
Simple Smartphone Says: Fog or Clear View?
Identifying Earthquakes
Liquid Level Measurement for Vessels and Reservoirs
Water pH Value Measurement
Detecting Radioactive Radiation
GPS: Sensor Location Service Across the Globe
Saving and Timestamping Log Files on SD Cards
LoRaWAN, The Things Network, and ThingSpeak
Operating a LoRaWAN Gateway for TTN
Defying "Wind and Weather"
Mega Display with Weather Forecasz
Developing CoAP applications for Thread networks with Zephyr
This book will guide you through the operation of Thread, the setup of a Thread network, and the creation of your own Zephyr-based OpenThread applications to use it. You’ll acquire knowledge on:
The capture of network packets on Thread networks using Wireshark and the nRF Sniffer for 802.15.4.
Network simulation with the OpenThread Network Simulator.
Connecting a Thread network to a non-Thread network using a Thread Border Router.
The basics of Thread networking, including device roles and types, as well as the diverse types of unicast and multicast IPv6 addresses used in a Thread network.
The mechanisms behind network discovery, DNS queries, NAT64, and multicast addresses.
The process of joining a Thread network using network commissioning.
CoAP servers and clients and their OpenThread API.
Service registration and discovery.
Securing CoAP messages with DTLS, using a pre-shared key or X.509 certificates.
Investigating and optimizing a Thread device’s power consumption.
Once you‘ve set up a Thread network with some devices and tried connecting and disconnecting them, you’ll have gained a good insight into the functionality of a Thread network, including its self-healing capabilities. After you’ve experimented with all code examples in this book, you’ll also have gained useful programming experience using the OpenThread API and CoAP.
The DiP-Pi Power Master is an Advanced Powering System with embedded sensors interfaces that cover most of possible needs for application based on Raspberry Pi Pico. It can supply the system with up to 1.5 A @ 4.8 V delivered from 6-18 VDC on various powering schemes like Cars, Industrial plant etc., additionally to original micro-USB of the Raspberry Pi Pico. It supports LiPo or Li-Ion Battery with Automatic Charger as also automatic switching from cable powering to battery powering or reverse (UPS functionality) when cable powering lost. Extended Powering Source (EPR) is protected with PPTC Resettable fuse, Reverse Polarity, as also ESD.
The DiP-Pi Power Master contains Raspberry Pi Pico embedded RESET button as also ON/OFF Slide Switch that is acting on all powering sources (USB, EPR or Battery). User can monitor (via Raspberry Pi Pico A/D pins) battery level and EPR Level with PICO’s A/D converters. Both A/D inputs are bridged with 0402 resistors (0 OHM) therefore if for any reason user needs to use those Pico pins for their own application can be easy removed. The charger is automatically charging connected battery (if used) but in addition user can switch charger ON/OFF if their application needs it. DiP-Pi Power Master can be used for cable powered systems, but also for pure Battery Powered System with ON/OFF. Each powering source status is indicated by separate informative LEDs (VBUS, VSYS, VEPR, CHGR, V3V3).
User can use any capacity of LiPo or Li-Ion type; however, must take care to use PCB protected batteries with max discharge current allowed of 2 A. The embedded battery charger is set to charge battery with 240 mA current. This current is set by resistor so if user need more/less can himself to change it.
In Addition to all above features DiP-Pi Power Master is equipped with embedded 1-wire and DHT11/22 sensors interfaces. Combination of the extended powering, battery, and sensors interfaces make the DiP-Pi Power Master ideal for applications like data logger, plants monitoring, refrigerators monitoring etc.
DiP-Pi Power Master is supported with plenty of ready to use examples written in Micro Python or C/C++.
Specifications
General
Dimensions 21 x 51 mm
Raspberry Pi Pico pinout compatible
Independent Informative LEDs (VBUS, VSYS, VEPR, CHGR, V3V3)
Raspberry Pi Pico RESET Button
ON/OFF Slide Switch acting on all powering sources (USB, EPR, Battery)
External Powering 6-18 V DC (Cars, Industrial Applications etc.)
External Power (6-18 VDC) Level Monitoring
Battery Level Monitoring
Inverse Polarity Protection
PPTC Fuse Protection
ESD Protection
Automatic Battery Charger (for PCB protected LiPo, Li-Ion – 2 A Max) Automatic/User Control
Automatic Switch from Cable Powering to Battery Powering and reverse (UPS Functionality)
Various powering schemes can be used at the same time with USB Powering, External Powering and Battery Powering
1.5 A @ 4.8 V Buck Converter on EPR
Embedded 3.3 V @ 600mA LDO
Embedded 1-wire Interface
Embedded DHT-11/22 Interface
Powering Options
Raspberry Pi Pico micro-USB (via VBUS)
External Powering 6-18 V (via dedicated Socket – 3.4/1.3 mm)
External Battery
Supported Battery Types
LiPo with protection PCB max current 2A
Li-Ion with protection PCB max current 2A
Embedded Peripherals and Interfaces
Embedded 1-wire interface
Embedded DHT-11/22 Interface
Programmer Interface
Standard Raspberry Pi Pico C/C++
Standard Raspberry Pi Pico Micro Python
Case Compatibility
DiP-Pi Plexi-Cut Case
System Monitoring
Battery Level via Raspberry Pi Pico ADC0 (GP26)
EPR Level via Raspberry Pi Pico ADC1 (GP27)
Informative LEDs
VB (VUSB)
VS (VSYS)
VE (VEPR)
CH (VCHR)
V3 (V3V3)
System Protection
Direct Raspberry Pi Pico Hardware Reset Button
ESD Protection on EPR
Reverse Polarity Protection on EPR
PPTC 500 mA @ 18 V fuse on EPR
EPR/LDO Over Temperature protection
EPR/LDO Over Current protection
System Design
Designed and Simulated with PDA Analyzer with one of the most advanced CAD/CAM Tools – Altium Designer
Industrial Originated
PCB Construction
2 ozcopper PCB manufactured for proper high current supply and cooling
6 mils track/6 mils gap technology 2 layers PCB
PCB Surface Finishing – Immersion Gold
Multi-layer Copper Thermal Pipes for increased System Thermal Response and better passive cooling
Downloads
Datasheet
Datasheet
Mastering the I²C Bus takes you on an exploratory journey of the I²C Bus and its applications. Besides the Bus protocol, plenty of attention is given to the practical applications and designing a stable system. The most common I²C compatible chip classes are covered in detail.
Two experimentation boards are available that allow for rapid prototype development. These boards are completed by a USB to I²C probe and a software framework to control I²C devices from your computer. All samples programs can be downloaded from the 'Attachments/Downloads' section on this page.
Projects built on Board 1:
USB to I²C Interface, PCA 9534 Protected Input, PCA 9534 Protected Output, PCA 9553 PWM LED Controller, 24xxx EEPROM Module, LM75 Temperature Sensor, PCA8563 Real-time Clock with Battery Backup, LCD and Keyboard Module, Bus Power Supply.
Projects built on Board 2:
Protected Input, Protected Output, LM75 Temperature Sensor, PCF8574 I/O Board, SAA1064 LED Display, PCA9544 Bus Expander, MCP40D17 Potentiometer, PCF8591 AD/DA, ADC121 A/D Converter, MCP4725 D/A Converter, 24xxx EEPROM Module.
Using the RFID Starter Kit
An Arduino board has now become ‘the’ basic component in the maker community. No longer is an introduction to the world of microcontrollers the preserve of the expert. When it comes to expanding the capabilities of the basic Arduino board however, the developer is still largely on his own. If you really want to build some innovative projects it’s often necessary to get down to component level. This can present many beginners with major problems. That is exactly where this book begins.
This book explains how a wide variety of practical projects can be built using items supplied in a single kit together with the Arduino board. This kit, called the 'RFID Starter Kit for Arduino' (SKU 17240) is not just limited to RFID applications but contains more than 30 components, devices and modules covering all areas of modern electronics.
In addition to more simple components such as LEDs and resistors there are also complex and sophisticated modules that employ the latest technology such as:
A humidity sensor
A multicolor LED
A large LED matrix with 64 points of light
A 4-character 7-segment LED display
An infra red remote-controller unit
A complete LC-display module
A servo
A stepper motor and controller module
A complete RFID reader module and security tag
On top of that you will get to build precise digital thermometers, hygrometers, exposure meters and various alarm systems. There are also practical devices and applications such as a fully automatic rain sensor, a sound-controlled remote control system, a multifunctional weather station and so much more.
All of the projects described can be built using the components supplied in the Elektor kit.
,
by Jean-François Simon
The RC-RICK-868-EV Wireless Modem: A Compelling Addition to Your Workbench
In this review, we're exploring the RC-RICK-868-EV, a specialized evaluation kit by Radiocontrolli designed for their RC-RICK-868 radio modem. This device stands out by employing...