I design and build a temperature and humidity probe for the Elk M1 Gold Alarm / Home automation panel. A parallax propeller microcontroller and an SHT11 sensor is used.
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Cooper Wiring Devices TR7735W-BOX night light teardown
A futile attempt to tear apart an LED night light in order to alter the sensitivity of the photocell.
Read MorePropeller-powered IN-12 Nixie Clock
My first self-designed Nixie Tube clock prototype. I use IN-12 Nixie tubes along with a parallax propeller microcontroller and a UP501 GPS module.
Read MoreNixie Tube Web Counter
I design a hit counter for smbaker.com using a Nixie Tube display module and a parallax propeller microcontroller.
Read MoreA python API for the Nest Learning Thermostat
I installed one of the nest Nest Thermostats (http://www.nest.com) not so long ago, but there are several things I wanted to automate. In particular, I wanted to be able to schedule the fan to turn on and off periodically to circulate the air in my house. The nest doesn’t have a way to do this, …
Read MoreScott’s iPad digital audio optical receiver / amplifier
Unhappy with existing receiver options, I decided to build my own digital-audio receiver. I used IN-13 nixie bar graphs, a MiniDSP/MiniAmp stack, and an airport express. I even added an Alps MotorPot controller by a parallax propeller microcontroller so the volume can be changed from a web browser. Eventually modified this project to play Pandora using a raspberry pi.
Read MoreWhy Health Savings Accounts are Not a Good Idea
Today I did some research on Health Savings Accounts. It’s difficult to get decent real-world insurance information for self-employed persons so I thought I’d share some of my conclusions in the hopes that someone can educate me as to why these HSAs are a good thing. To me, they seem like a pretty raw deal. …
Read MoreInsteon Home Automation
This post covers some installation tips about setting up automation products that use the popular Insteon technology marketed by a company called Smarthome. One of the reason for this tutorial is that I plan on creating some Insteon-related software products, and it makes sense to document a typical Insteon home installation that can be used …
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